Glen site running smoothly
But concerns about budget cuts dampen enthusiasm of some staff
With her million-dollar view of Mount Royal and the downtown skyline from her pale-mint room on the 10th floor of the McGill University Health Centre at the Glen, 22-year-old Audrey L’Espérance might be feeling like she was living in the lap of luxury — if she wasn’t battling a life-threatening illness.
Diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), at the beginning of April, the industrial engineering student has had a front-row seat to the monumental change in health care with the birth of the Glen on Sunday. And she likes what she sees. Having come from a cramped private room at the Royal Victoria Hospital, where only two visitors at a time were allowed, she enjoys holding court for groups of friends in her large new room with a private shower and a flat-screen TV.
L’Espérance, whose interview was arranged by the MUHC public affairs department, said she still gets her daily dose of chemotherapy like clockwork, as well as her other pills and treatments.
She says the food is good, although she’s not able to make menu choices yet. But a cheesy baked pasta that arrived for lunch on Wednesday seemed to please her.
“If I had to be sick, I would want it to be here,” said L’Espérance, who has a good prognosis. “I really feel I was lucky to end up here.”
The balloons and “welcome/ bienvenu” signs plastered everywhere tell you that this wasn’t an ordinary week at the already bustling, newly installed Royal Victoria Hospital at the Glen.
With the historic move just a few days in the past, the hospital’s vitality was already palpable on Wednesday as an army of doctors, nurses, technicians, support staff and volunteers brought the sprawling building to life for a multitude of patients, from the gravely ill to the mildly injured.
With patient care being the top priority, staff said things were running smoothly overall. But there were some concerns that this was the calm before the storm.
Marie Dupuis, a nurse in hema- tology oncology, said budget cuts haven’t fully kicked in yet, but when they do, staffing will drop to one nurse for every four or five patients from the current one nurse for every three patients in her department.
“It’s going to be a lot more challenging,” she said in an interview. “We have a lot of complex cases and transplant people.”
The Montreal Gazette took a peek inside the Glen on Wednesday, checking out everything from patient rooms to the Cedars Cancer Centre to the packed cafeteria. Having seen only a desolate building until now, the energy of the building, with people coming and going, made it finally seem like a real hospital.
Still, there’s construction going on amid everything and some elements are still not fully in use, such as the innovative radiation bunkers in the cancer centre, which is expected to see 700 patients a day.
For now, though, everybody across the spectrum of users and staff is focused on adapting.
Like the woman in the parking lot, hobbling on an injured ankle, who mistakenly parked closer to the children’s emergency room and was making a long, painful trip across the expanse of the complex to get help.
Or the man who approached a security guard at the cancer centre, sheepishly saying: “I’m lost again.”
Or the woman sitting in a wheelchair in the lobby, who just had a heart transplant and had been waiting more than an hour for adapted transportation. Her mother said it was too long in her weakened state, and it’s never taken so long at the Vic.
“I think the vans don’t know where to go,” she said. “They’re confused. Maybe they needed a summary from the hospital.”
So, yes, there were shortcomings and glitches and some stress as people adjusted to the Glen.
But there were also smiles, and lots of them.
On the faces of nurses who reported that some of the new technologies — such as a medicine cart and the pneumatic tubes to send off blood samples to the lab quickly — were working well and making their lives easier.
On the face of hospital spiritual-care professional Erin LeBrun, who said the individual rooms for patients have made them happier and her job easier. “In terms of confidentiality, people feel more comfortable talking,” she said.
On the face of volunteer Gwen Nacos at the Cedars Cancer Centre, who said patients are thrilled with how new and clean the facility is. “They’re nervous about coming, but once they get here they’re like, ‘Wow!’” she said.
And, most emphatically, on the faces of patients.
“It’s a little confusing, but really bright and beautiful,” said Evelyne Winkler, as she was leaving after her first visit there.
“I’ve never been hospitalized before,” L’Espérance said. “But I have to say this is really nice. It feels like the Four Seasons.”