Repairs to Chisasibi hospital hemodialysis unit force patients south for much of the summer
CBC
Issues with low water pressure and an "outdated' water supply in the hemodialysis unit at the Chisasibi hospital have forced the relocation of several Cree patients from northern Quebec to Montreal for much of summer.
Displaced since mid-July, some of those affected say they are frustrated by delays and say the hemodialysis facility in Chisasibi has long been too small, inadequate and has had an issue with mould.
"I think the mould was there for a long time," said Nellie Bearskin House, who has been a dialysis patient under the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay for the last 13 years. The Chisasibi hemodialysis unit serves all the coastal Cree communities.
"People could smell things and could detect something was not right in the unit. I feel the [Chisasibi] hospital dialysis unit is so underdeveloped all these years. They didn't concentrate on the unit."
As a result of Bearskin House's diabetes, the 67-year-old lost her sight in 2009, and has also lost both her feet and more recently, several fingers. In 2012, she also needed a triple bypass.
The Cree health board says a total of 21 patients needed to be relocated to Montreal because of an "obsolete" water system and that repairs to the dialysis unit will be carried out in two stages — this summer and then again in November. It's not clear how much the repairs will cost.
"We had been having problems with the water system with low pressure readings that interrupted the dialysis treatment," said Priscilla Weapenicappo, the interim director of Chisasibi Hospital for the CBHSSJB, in an email response to a request for information.
She also said that in December of 2021, an expert in mould was brought in to do a full evaluation of the unit and while mould was found, the readings were low.
"Where the mould reading was done [it] showed minimal readings after the exploration's holes were covered," said Weapenicappo.
"At this time, the decontamination wasn't done due to COVID restrictions and it would have been more detrimental to [patients'] health to be relocated at this time," said Weapenicappo in the email.
Calling it a "collective" decision with all the stakeholders, the board felt it was best to move ahead with a decontamination, cleaning and repairs of the water system and dialysis unit this July, despite the disruption to patients' lives.
The renovations are happening against a backdrop of a planned new regional hospital. In October of 2019, Quebec announced a $300 million investment to build a new 52-bed regional hospital in Chisasibi.
During the first phase of work to the hemodialysis at the existing Chisasibi hospital, the unit and locker room are being disinfected, the walls redone and a new water system installed, according to the board website. An initial Aug. 22 completion date has been pushed off twice and patients are now being told they will be able to return home on Sept. 1 or 2, according to Weapenicappo.
The second phase of work is planned for November, when a whole new water system will be installed. Patients will again be sent south for 2 to 4 weeks.
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