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To accommodate the large number of patients arriving at the emergency department for mental health reasons, Montfort Hospital is creating a separate mental health zone within its emergency department.
The hospital has launched a $2 million community fundraising campaign to cover the costs of a mental health emergency zone, scheduled to open in the fall.
Montfort Hospital on Montreal Street sees nearly twice as many patients needing mental health care as other hospitals in Ottawa and Ontario, accounting for about 8 per cent of all emergency visits, hospital officials say.
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Hospital director and chief executive Dominic Giroux said the new mental health zone would better support patients and staff. Work has already begun on the new emergency zone.
Giroux said the need is too great to wait, but interest from donors has been high.
“I think people understand the pressures that emergency departments are under in general,” he said, “and they understand that mental health needs have increased over the last few years and that our frontline care teams need the kind of support that the Mental Health Zone can provide.”
The zone will have a 24-hour mental health nurse on duty, soothing lighting and music, and special sensory rooms with beanbag cushions instead of stretchers, aimed at reducing anxiety and stress.
“We want to recreate an environment that is more like everyday life than a hospital,” said Jocelyn Veillard, director of the hospital's mental health program, who said the zones “will allow patients to receive care that respects their dignity.”
Montfort Hospital sees nearly twice as many patients needing mental health care as other hospitals in Ottawa and Ontario. Photo by Jean Levac/POSTMEDIA
The mental health emergency zone also aims to reduce workplace violence. Dr Francis Dubé, head of Montfort Hospital's emergency room, said the hospital's emergency room already has 24-hour security guards who can intervene quickly if needed to protect patients and staff. This will continue in the new unit, which is a “more appropriate environment.”
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Veillard said he hopes this environment will help reduce violent incidents in the emergency department.
Montfort Hospital has 60 inpatient beds for mental health patients, about three times as many as the similarly sized Queensway Carlton Hospital.
The high volume of patients seeking mental health treatment at Montfort's emergency department reflects the ongoing substance use and mental health crisis in society and the high need in the surrounding area, hospital officials said.
“I experience it every day,” Dubé said of issues surrounding substance use. “It's our daily life.”
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