To enable the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal to accommodate more COVID-19 patients, the Jacques Lemaire Arena has become a temporary hospital. Photos shared by the Red Cross and CIUSSS show rows of white tents where there was once ice. Visit MTLBlog for more headlines. A new facility will make it possible to accommodate more COVID-19 patients. Through a collaboration between the Canadian Red Cross, the borough of LaSalle, and the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, the Jacques Lemaire Arena on boulevard Champlain has become a temporary hospital. It will supplement the nearby LaSalle Hospital with an ability to host "up to 40 patients from long-term care centres," including CHSLDs, according to a statement. "This initiative will therefore make it possible to support public and private nursing homes as well as private seniors' residences on the CIUSSS territory that need to transfer their residents with COVID-19 who require hospital care." Teams are "actively working on the layout of spaces for care staff and patients, the integration of medical equipment, as well as being responsible for the total disinfection of the premises so that the first patients can be admitted in a few days." The CIUSSS maintains that its "priority remains unchanged: to ensure the health and safety of patients, users, clients and residents, civilians and veterans, as well as staff." Photos posted to Facebook by the Red Cross show rows of white tents sitting where there was once ice. Croix-Rouge canadienne | Facebook CIUSSS de l'Ouest de l'Île de Montréal | Facebook This isn't the first temporary facility to pop up in Montreal. At the start of the outbreak, a drive and walk-through testing site occupied the Place des Festivals in the Quartier des Spectacles. It has since moved to the former emergency room at the Hôtel-Dieu. Across the continent, similar COVID-19 care centres are making use of spaces that have been emptied by the pandemic. In Boston, for example, the Convention and Exhibition Center has become the "Boston Hope Medical Center: providing up to 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients," a Facebook post reads. The #BCEC is being transformed into the Boston Hope Medical CenterThe #BCEC is being transformed into the Boston Hope Medical Center: providing up to 1,000 beds for Covid-19 patients. Thank you to all of our staff and partners who have and will continue to contribute to this incredible effort! #bostonhope . . . . . #boston #massachusetts #bostonusa #covid19 #coronavirus #bostoncommunity #bostonfieldhospital #fieldhospital #bostonseaport #seaportboston #southboston #bostonconvention #conventionscare #meetingvenue #bostonevents #bostonmeetings #inthistogether #fema #flattenthecurve #massdph #socialdistancing #mema #partnershealthcare #medicalcenter #eventprofs #conventioncenter #iavm #iavmreg1Posted by Massachusetts Convention Center Authority on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 Other uncanny transformations of familiar public complexes have occurred in New York and the suburbs of Los Angeles. Posted by Croix-Rouge canadienne on Sunday, April 26, 2020 The CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal did not provide details as to how long the hosptial at the Jacques Lemaire Arena will last. Stay tuned for more news.
