New hospital west of Montreal means residents won't have to travel far for care - Action News
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Montreal

New hospital west of Montreal means residents won't have to travel far for care

Residents of Vaudreuil-Soulanges a regional county municipality in Quebec that includes suburbs like Vaudreuil-Dorion, Saint-Lazare, Hudson and L'le-Perrot have to travel to hospitals outside the area for hospital care. A new hospital will save them the headache.

Hospital is much needed in the area as population has been increasing for years

construction site
The new Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital is slated to open in 2026, and officials plan to bring in 5,000 employees. (Charles Contant/CBC)

The excavation work is done, and now crews are working on building the foundation of what will be a $2.6-billion hospital just west of Montreal.

It's a hospital the community needs.

As it stands, residents of Vaudreuil-Soulanges a regional county municipality in Quebec that includes suburbs like Vaudreuil-Dorion, Saint-Lazare, Hudson and L'le-Perrot have to travel to hospitals outside the area for hospital care.

And the number of people in need of that care has been steadily increasing, according to Jade St-Jean, spokesperson for the local health authority, CISSS de la Montrgie-Ouest.

"So, of course, that puts pressure on Valleyfield and Chteauguay hospitals, also Lakeshore, so this hospital is very needed," she said, as she and other officials gave the media a tour of the construction site on Monday.

The new hospital will have more than 400 beds to serve the community.There will be 11 operating rooms and a neonatal intensive care unit services people are currently travelling to Montreal for.

construction site
The new hospital in Vaudreuil-Soulanges will have 11 operating rooms and space for 404 beds. (Charles Contant/CBC)

"So for all of Montrgie-Ouest, a lot of new services will be provided to the population," said St-Jean.

The hospital will be located at the intersection of HarwoodRoad and Cit-des-JeunesBoulevard.It will be divided into two wings, with the first being the main entrance, auditorium and clinics.

The second wingwill have the emergency department with a capacity of 41 stretchers,said Jean Provencher, the hospital's operations director.

The new hospital will need to recruit nearly 5,000 staff. An international campaign to attract employees has been launched.

construction site
The excavation is done and the construction of the foundation of the Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital has begun west of Montreal. (Charles Contant/CBC)

Phillipe Gribeauval, president and director general of the health agency, said there will also be recent graduates available as CEGEPs and other institutions acceleratehealth training with help from the CIUSSS.

The project has been in the planning for four years, and the hospital is expected to welcome its first patients in 2026.

Excavation of the site got underway a year ago, with Minister of Health Christian Dub on the 25-hectare site as the mechanical shovels broke ground.

At that time, the project was estimated at $1.7 billion.

The need for a hospital in the region has been known for some time as the population has been growing.

In 2010, Quebec's Liberal government, led by Jean Charest, had planned to build one by 2018. But, a zoning issue delayed Quebec's acquisition of the land.

The current site was purchased in 2019 under the Coalition Avenir Qubec government.

with files from Chlo Ranaldi