MONTREAL – There’s still a lot of work to do but after years of preparation, staff at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) are feeling pretty confident about the massive hospital transfer on April 26.
“I’ve been at it for two years now. And for the last month it’s taken all my time. But it’s okay,” Michèle Lortie, the MUHC project director at the Glen site told Global News.
Up to 250 patients will be transferred to the new, state-of-the-art MUHC hospital in NDG from the 122 year-old Royal Victoria on avenue des Pins.
It’s the largest single day hospital move in Canadian history.
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2,500 staff members – including volunteers and physicians – will be involved in the logistically challenging process.
Twenty-nine ambulances will move patients and 100 trucks measuring 24 feet long will assist.
Nineteen transfer teams are involved with 600 people working to help make the transfer as smooth as possible.
GALLERY: Inside the Vendome station-MUHC superhospital tunnel
On average, one patient will be moved every three minutes.
Transfers start at 7 a.m. and will continue until 3 p.m.
”I think it’s a big day.I think it’s a lot of things to think about,” said Dr. Jean-Marc Troquet, MUHC Chief of Emergency Medicine.
“I think the team is quite ready… we’re a hospital, we’re used to dealing with emergencies and acute care so we’re ready for that no matter what happens.”
The logistically complex transfer will be preformed by Health Care Operations, an Ontario based moving company that specializes in hospital transfers around the world.
Hospital equipment, furniture, files and other material will be brought to the new hospital starting this Wednesday in preparation to receive the patients on Sunday, April 26 to start providing care.
The reason the move is happening on a Sunday is to minimize traffic congestion.
The trucks and ambulances will follow a specific route along Avenue des Pins to Atwater, and finally Ste-Antoine street.
READ MORE: Quebec to cut superhospital specialists by 10%
The roads haven’t been closed to regular traffic so far but hospital officials are working with the city of Montreal, the Quebec Transport Department and the Montreal Police Department to ensure transfers vehicles don’t get slowed with delays.
Once the transfer is complete, the original Royal Victoria site is slated to close permanently.
The Montreal Children’s Hospital will follow with a transfer date scheduled for May 24.
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