Lakeshore General Hospital dealing with coronavirus outbreak, regional health authority says

The Lakeshore General Hospital is the latest in Montreal to experience an outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Santa-Cabrini and Sacré-Coeur hospitals have also experienced outbreaks of the virus in recent days, with the two former institutions forced to suspend some surgeries as a result.

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute is also on the list of affected hospitals, while the Montreal General Hospital experienced an outbreak earlier this month.

The Lakeshore, located in Pointe-Claire, is a designated centre to treat patients with COVID-19.

The CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Ile-de-Montréal, the regional health authority, confirmed the development at the Lakeshore in a statement, saying “following a new outbreak at the hospital, we have a team on site that is currently reorganizing the containment areas.”

There are currently 79 confirmed cases of the illness at the hospital and patients are isolated in a containment zones with the required protective measures in place, according to CIUSSS spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé.

The CIUSSS acknowledged that the hospital is currently over-capacity, though it added that “the emergency situation is not critical at this time.”

READ MORE: Coronavirus outbreaks force surgery cancellations at 2 Montreal hospitals

“There’s a cohort of patients in every hospital that can easily be selected to be taken care of at an acute care institution,” said Dr. Patrick Charlebois, a colorectal surgeon at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).

Some of the COVID-positive patients at the Lakeshore will be transferred to a newly built field hospital in LaSalle.

Others patients will go to hospitals where there are no reported outbreaks.

During his daily briefing on Thursday, Premier François Legault expressed confidence in corrective measures being deployed at affected hospitals.

“We’re confident that in the next few days, at those three hospital — Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Douglas and Lakeshore — that the situation will become under control,” he said.

While the transfers should ease some of the caseloads, the situation remains difficult for staff dealing with COVID patients.

“They don’t know if they’re going to have their equipment when they start their shift, if they’re going to go into their rooms,” said Elizabeth Rich, vice-president of health and safety for the nurses’ union.

Then there’s the fear of bringing the illness home.

“They go to their families, so for sure people are scared,” Rich said.

— With files from Global’s Tim Sargeant