CHUM Notre-Dame Hospital (Greater Montreal Area)

Canada / Quebec / Montreal / Greater Montreal Area / Rue Sherbrooke Est
 hospital  Add category
Montreal main french speaking teaching hospital. Notre-Dame Campus
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   45°31'32"N   73°33'44"W

Comments

  • Aug 30 2008 I an writing a letter of complaint regarding the Emergency Dept @ Montreal Notre Dame Hospital .My 24yr old daughter was visiting in Montreal when she developed severe chest pain left sided as well as numbness and pain in the left arm.She was treated very rudely by one of the receptionists because my daughter only speaks English and didn't under stand what they were saying to her.This particular employee took her finger pointing at her own ear went in circles with it then pointed at my daughter indicating she thought my daughter was dumb and stupid.After waiting a long time she had an ECG and finger prick blood test she never did see a Doctor and wasn't told what to do so left she is still feeling unwell but is back in Ont. visiting.I feel this is very unacceptable treatment ,I have worked in Health Care for 36 years as a R.N. and am very disapointed to think staff would treat a pt like that. Jean Taylor Mother of Jaime Keller.
  • I live in Montreal, but I'm not from here. I speak French now, but learned it late in life and as such, I don't speak it very well. I think a major factor in these stories is that you can't see a difference between a tourist and someone lives here, but couldn't be bothered to learn French - essentially a big fat F.U. to French Quebeckers. I wonder if the phrase "I'M NOT FROM QUEBEC" wouldn't be the best way to start an English conversation when visiting this province. You would be surprised how much English someone who can't speak English can speak. Likewise for French. If you can speak ANY French, now's the time to break it out! Accent be damned, all these people are looking for is a morsel of respect. Show them you realize you're on their turf, where French is king, and they will break out enough English to get the job done. Let's be clear: If my daughter were treated rudely by some desk jockey, I'd be livid, too. But let's not make it into another "I hate Quebec and everyone in it" stories. Remember that half the people in this province consider themselves Canadians first. Let's not judge all Quebeckers by one surly civil servant. Haven't we all had an experience with one in our own province, state or country? Incidentally, I find it somewhat ironic that the above comment rails on language issues but is rife with spelling errors, run-on sentences and non-existent punctuation. I'm not one of those Militant Grammarians, but come on. Spell check, at least.
  • Apologies to the OP, this site ignores your formatting and runs all your sentences and paragraphs together. It does, however, have a decent spell check. Just sayin'.
  • Nope. I had each nurse ask me is I speak French - while I speaking French. I am pretty good at it - and my French co-workers have no problem conversations with me. Additionally, they made two errors in testing my uncle - he has brain cancer and suffered a stroke. One nurse had the gall to take me aside and ask, "does he drink a lot?" In a condescending way. I will be contacting the media after I get his matters settle. Beyond unacceptable.
  • My son was admitted to the Psychiatric Intensive Care ward, a sudden and serious situation.My son has lived in Montreal for 10 years, but is not fully bi-lingual.`At the time he was admitted, he could barely converse in his first language, let alone a second one. I live in the west and could only communicate with the hospital by telephone. My Parisian French is limited but I make every attempt to speak French when I can. I had to call the nurses station to find how he was doing and frequently was told that no one was available who could speak English. He stayed for an extended period of time and found that he often was confronted with staff who refused to speak to him in English. As many of the other patients only spoke French he was very isolated, with no one to talk to, and all books and television in French only. Not a good situation for a person suffering from mental health issues. I came to Montreal to visit him and found that I had great difficulty finding anyone in the hospital who would speak English to me. My French education was in Parisian French and the reactions I received were expressions of amusement and impatience at my lack of comprehension of Quebecois. My requests to speak slowly were met with heavy sighs. With discussions of such serious situations as health diagnosis and medications, I was amazed that no one could provide some reliable language services. Anywhere in Montreal I experience more problems finding an opportunity to use my French, as so many people are bi-lingual, or at least make an effort to attempt to find a common ground with some French and English but in a facility where life and death discussions occur, translation was difficult, and attempts at English were few. At the same time I had the chance to go to a large gathering of Quebec public servants and found the same situation. Very few were willing to speak English to me, so as a guest, I was often left out of social discussions. I did not expect everyone to speak English, but my impression was that many were refusing to speak English, or were so out of practise that they could not. I understand that English language typists are not in high demand in the Quebec civil service, but certainly front line health care providers could be expected to have some bi-lingual skill in a city where a large portion of the population speak English. Following these experiences I have consciously listened on the streets where I live and admit there is rarely a day when I do not hear French spoke on the street. I have also asked in critical care situations and with public servants what the local policy is for those who do not speak English and the variety of language services available is impressive. I understand that the civil service of any province focuses on skills in demand for the job, but I cannot urge Quebec strongly enough to consider bi-lingual service in a hospital an essential component of the facility, particularly in a major city like Montreal that attracts students from all over the country to its universities. I love Quebec, and the fact that our country is bi-lingual as well as encouraging of many other languages, but I cannot help but feel that it is a patient's right to receive services in English in a Quebec hospital. To hope that a professional with English skills will happen to be on shift to communicate with a patient in a language they will comprehend is foolhardy, dangerous, cruel and probably a violation of a patient`s rights.
This article was last modified 6 years ago