Kramberger: Consider options before heading to the ER

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Its doors are open 24/7, but West Islanders should consider all available alternatives before heading to Lakeshore General Hospital’s emergency room with non-threatening health conditions life.

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Like many hospitals in the Montreal region and throughout our province, the Pointe-Claire facility’s emergency room is operating at excess capacity, in recent weeks often with an occupancy rate of around 180 percent. The LGH has a functional capacity of 31 stretchers in the ER, but some days there may be around 55 patients on a stretcher, with up to 20 of them waiting for more than 48 hours.

These gurney percentages don’t reflect outpatients sitting in a crowded ER waiting room who might leave immediately after being seen by medical staff, noted Dr. Robin Nathanson, an emergency physician and co-director of the emergency department at Lakeshore.

If they don’t know where to go for care, people can call the 811 (Info-Santé) health information line, which is staffed by qualified nurses who can assess non-emergency symptoms.

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Those lucky enough to have a family doctor or pediatrician might as well start there before heading to an ER.

There are also private network options, including Medistat Medical Clinic in Pierrefonds, as well as Brunswick Medical Center and Statcare in Pointe-Claire.

“At the end of the day, it’s not that we don’t want to see people in the emergency department. The message is really that we want people who can be safely seen in the community to be seen in the community. We want people to be aware of all their options. Obviously we are open 24 hours a day for medical emergencies or anyone who needs to be seen. Really, when there’s something they’re not sure about, or there are community resources for them, we want them to use them as much as possible,” Nathanson said.

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Hospital staffing shortages and lack of access to family doctors are ongoing problems that contribute to overcrowding in emergency rooms.

Last month, a local labor union advised the public to avoid going to Lakeshore due to lack of staff, and a similar request was made in August 2020.

LGH is looking to add an on-site GMF unit, which will help patients on a waiting list for a family doctor, Nathanson said, adding that there are similar university-affiliated family medicine units at St-Mary’s and in the Jewish general hospitals.

The new $1.5 billion Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital, whose construction is scheduled to begin later this year, should also, in about six years, help ease the pressure on the LGH.

Do not expect miraculous solutions to emergency problems from the province.

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Western Islanders can take steps to avoid the emergency room by calling their family doctor or putting their name on a government waiting list for family doctors and considering walk-in clinics.

A call to our family’s pediatrician in Dorval this week proved to be the right choice, as an appointment was given for the next day and then a diagnosis and prescribed treatment was provided within 30 minutes. To think that I considered other options, such as a possible long wait in Montreal Children’s ER, to treat a non-emergency irritant while the solution was more accessible.

Our health care system isn’t perfect, of course, but Western Islanders should take note of all their options before heading to the emergency room on impulse.

Albert Kramberger is editor of the West Island/Off-Island section of the Montreal Gazette.

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