Eva Baldi

Shawville July 10, 2021 

After closing its doors because of an onslaught of nurses resigning, the Gatineau hospital will be reopening its emergency rooms to the general public. 

The Gatineau hospital emergency room will open to everyone from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. starting July 18, 2021. The Gatineau hospital emergency room is still open to pregnant women, children under 17 and for emergency mental health services outside of these hours. 

A press conference was held via Zoom to address the reopening strategy. Josee Fillion, director of Centre intégré de santeéet de service de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) explained that they are choosing to reopen the emergency room slowly and sequentially.

This is being done in order to ensure that when the emergency room reopens at full capacity it will be able to remain open for the indefinite future. 

The original closing of the emergency room forced many people in the Gatineau area to travel to Papineau hospital and Hull hospital when in need of emergency medical attention. This is still the case if patients are looking for medical attention outside of the current 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. operating hours.