The interruption of obstetrics services at the Gaspé hospital center worries many women about to become mothers. Some fear that the current labor shortage will force them to travel for more than an hour to go and give birth in Chandler.
A few days before the birth of her second child, Geneviève Leroux still does not know where she will give birth.
Her pregnancy follow-up took place at the Gaspé hospital center, located about fifteen minutes by car from Douglastown, her village. “I really loved my experience there,” she says. We visited the premises, we met the doctors and the nurses. All of this is very reassuring! »
A few days before her delivery, she does not know if she will have to drive more than an hour to go, in full labor, to the Chandler hospital. The Gaspé obstetrics unit experienced a first interruption of services from June 16 to 22. The lack of staff could force the Gaspésie Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) to once again suspend the activities of the hospital’s obstetrics department.
“Not knowing the place of birth stresses me out a lot,” says Geneviève Leroux. I know I’ll be welcomed in Chandler, but it still adds a layer of the unknown. »
Intervention plans
The CISSS points out that for the moment, the service is working again. He admits in the same breath that “it is possible” that other interruptions occur during the summer, a situation decried for a long time in eastern Quebec.
“The obstetrics department at the Gaspé hospital is fragile,” said Lou Landry, deputy CEO of the CISSS de la Gaspésie, by email. There is currently a 50% shortage of nurses. »
Pregnancies, maternity leave, vacant positions that cannot be filled: several factors explain the current shortage. The CISSS tries to fill shifts by using independent labor or by calling for help from the Network of Obstetrical Emergency Nurses, an initiative set up in 2021 following of a year in which Quebec counted 793 days of service interruption in obstetrics due to the lack of nurses.
The CISSS de la Gaspésie has planned intervention plans in the event of a stoppage of services, specifies Mr. Landry, and contacts pregnant women 36 weeks and over one by one before each interruption. The service center says the most recent affected eight women in late pregnancy.
Every two weeks ?
The House of the Parenfant family in Gaspé fears that these episodes will become chronic this summer. Its coordinator, Marie-Andrée Nadeau, hears that the obstetrics unit would only be open every other week during the summer period.
“In past years, it happened that there was an uncovering during a weekend, or even two at most,” she says. What is announced, without it being confirmed yet, is that it will be closed every other week and that all patients must go to Chandler during the periods of uncovering. »
The CISSS pays the accommodation costs incurred by the women who must travel to Chandler to obtain a service. It is, for Marie-Andrée Nadeau, a little balm on the anxiety experienced by families.
“We know that during childbirth, anything can happen quickly. It may go very fast, and having to do this route is not ideal, she tells the Duty. There might be an ambulance service, but is that what women want, to give birth in an ambulance? »
For Geneviève Leroux, the answer is categorical. “Preparing for childbirth requires a lot of visualization, and a possible ambulance trip doesn’t fit in at all with my mental preparation. It’s not something I can imagine, she sighs. We will still face the music when it happens. »
