Friday May 15 marked the first day that patients recovering from COVID-19 have started to be taken into a temporary hospital ward set up on one of the ice rinks at Place Bell, the CISSS de Laval announced in a statement.
According to the regional health authority, 15 patients are initially being accommodated and more may be accepted as soon as next week. The hospital beds and other equipment were set up on the rink surface at Place Bell in order to free up space to take in recovering COVID-19 patients from Cité de la Santé Hospital, as well as from retirement residences throughout the Laval region.
Officials with CISSS de Laval pointed out that the operation wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of Cité de la culture et du sport de Laval, which manages Place Bell, and the City of Laval, which owns the facility, as well as from labour unions.
The temporary medical unit is equipped to take in up to 50 patients, all of whom are accommodated in private cubicles equipped with a bed, an easy chair, a table and a bedside lamp. Between 75 and 100 CISSS de Laval employees are being assigned to work at the Place Bell unit.
“This non-conventional site is meant to be a convalescence centre where it is possible to offer quality care to users, while freeing up acute care beds at Cité de la Santé Hospital,” said CISSS de Laval president and CEO Christian Gagné.