English stories

Local women will have to give birth in Montreal

le vendredi 09 avril 2021
Modifié à 14 h 45 min le 09 avril 2021
Par Valérie Lessard

vlessard@gravitemedia.com

Pregnant women meant to give birth at the Anna Laberge Hospital in Chateauguay, or the Suroît Regional Hospital in Valleyfield will have to go to one of three designated Montreal hospitals due to staff shortages. Over the next few months, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Ouest (CISSSMO) will refer patients to the LaSalle, St. Mary’s or Lakeshore General Hospital, and will also offer reimbursements for transportation. The mothers-to-be affected by the change will be contacted by their doctor in the coming days. CISSSMO has entered into an agreement with the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal to temporarily modify services offered in the region, affecting mainly induced deliveries. It aims at preventing service disruptions to local hospitals, which are in need of nurses and auxiliary nurses. "We want to limit transfers to CIUSSS hospitals in the West Island of Montreal as much as possible, but it is of utmost importance to ensure safe and quality services to mothers at this pivotal stage in their lives and that of their baby”, CISSSMO Deputy President and CEO Patrick Murphy-Lavallée said in a press release. Contacted, CISSSMO spokesperson Jade St-Jean said the news was disseminated to silence false rumors that the Mother-Child Center at the Suroît Hospital was going to close. The Birth Pavilion at Anna-Laberge receives approximately 2,000 births per year while the Mother-Child Center in Valleyfield welcomes 1,000 a year.