Montreal Hospitals Bursting At Seams

Lakeshore General Hospital

From The Montreal Gazette:

Summertime, and waiting is lengthy.

Off-season flus and closed beds mean this month is not the ideal time to wind up in hospital.

And annual summer vacations tax a hospital system already suffering from dwindling personnel: There isn’t a floor, unit, operating block or clinic without staff shortages, said Lise Therrien, president of the nurses union at Sacré Coeur Hospital, which recently went on a recruiting mission for about 100 nurses, student nurses and auxiliary aides.

“We’re at full capacity. But the patients aren’t any less sick,” Therrien said. “And when you’re down one or two nurses per unit or floor, it shows.”

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Update: One more Quebec death related to H1N1 -- CTV