Language unity sought for new hospital project
Published March 11, 2004
BY CAROLE ZABBAL

In 37 years, Laval has seen many changes, not least of which a population explosion in the area, states Martin Berman as he explains why he is so busy campaigning for a new hospital for the city of his home. “There is a problem,” he affirms. What he and his organisation really want it to drum up enough popular support for a badly needed hospital in Laval that can address the needs of the entire population, but especially of the English-speaking one.
The idea has been germinating for some time, and is the brainchild of the organisation Alliance Quebec, who are involved in the campaign for the new hospital, though do not plan on running it. The group call themselves the Western Laval Hospital Community and are using the slogan ‘Citizens for a new bilingual health center in Western Laval’ to get the community involved. They brought the idea up to mayor Gilles Vaillancourt and the city council of Laval, who is in favour of it, according to Berman. However, although Vaillancourt told Berman he would be happy to back the project, he would not spearhead it, as it crosses his jurisdiction. Indeed, the creation of a new hospital would effectively go far beyond the powers of the city, and must be approved at a provincial level instead.
The population in Laval has reached over 353,000, with a 10.4% growth expected until 2011. Currently, there is only one main hospital in Laval, Cité de la Santé de Laval, which is completely overwhelmed. “Our hospital services the entire Laval population; if that was the equivalent on the island of Montreal, you’d have at least 5 or 6 hospital the size of Cité de la Santé to treat people. It was bad seven years ago, it was bad five years ago, but now it’s at the point where it’s a real disaster. We are starting from a disaster point. We have to get another hospital,” Berman emphatically told TCN.
Indeed, many Lavallers must travel to Sacré-Coeur or one of Montreal’s other numerous hospitals in order to get treatment for health problems. And the time taken in travelling could cost numerous lives: “A lot of people who are taken in ambulances are in a terrible condition and they have to get to Sacré-Coeur, or to the General in Montreal, it’s quite a distance. Someone with a heartattack ahs to be treated within 15-20 minutes. If it takes three-quarters of an hour to get to a hospital, they won’t make it,” Berman stated. He also told TCN that he tried to get figures for the number of people who die in transit to the hospitals but they couldn’t be released. “But they have to be substantial,” he said.
And distance is not the only reason the group believes Laval needs a new hospital. There’s also a language issue. At least a quarter of Laval’s population do not speak French at home, and yet the group charges that Cité de la Santé is unilingually French. Communication is extremely important when it comes to a health emergency, and finding someone who speaks the language is not always an easy task. Berman has thought often of this scenario. “There’s a lot of elderly people in Laval who are unilingual Greek, or unilingual Italian, or unilingual Arabic. They may understand some English but not necessarily any French. These people are in a terrible situation- imagine the panic of an 80- year-old woman who speaks only English, imagine the panic involved in being in a hospital where you need medical attention and you can’t tell them what is wrong with you, it has to be terrible.”
Berman is not too concerned which language would be predominant in the new hospital, as long as both English and French are present. “It’s a hospital for all the citizens of Laval. We have 50,000 Greeks, 30,000 Italians, 15-20,000 Jewish people, and we are at a point where we have to be respected for who we are. We are in desperate need of medical attention. We are people who need access to hospitals in a language we can be understood in!”
He means for the hospital to also serve as a unifying point for citizens. “The hospital is for everybody. We don’t care what language you speak or about your politics. If you need blood type A, do you really care who it came from?” he asks.
The organisation is confident of the response they’ll get from all communities in Laval, as well as from the different levels of government. The state of the government’s health budget doesn’t seem to phase him, either. “In bad times, money is being spent. In good times, money is being spent. So let them direct the money to where it’s really needed. There’s no such thing as a bad time; people get sick in bad times as in good times.” Berman and the organisation plan on making a lot of noise to get the citizens participating and writing to their local MPs. “The time has come,” Berman stated ominously. “It’s not going to come from Quebec City on its own. Only when there’s enough citizens getting together does anything happen.”
The organisation is willing to wait, but they want community support for this project. “We know things like this don’t happen overnight. We would be very happy if within a few years there’s a provincial study of the needs of a hospital in Laval, and it construction of the hospital starts in 10 years from now, I would consider that a success. If anything comes quicker than 10 years it would be an ultra-success, a miracle.” And one thing is for sure, they’re not about to start turn down any miracles.
Cité de la Santé could not be contacted at time of print.