Montfort opens an Emergency follow-up clinic at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub
Orléans, June 27, 2024 – The population of Orléans and the east end of Ottawa can now leave Hôpital Montfort more quickly following a visit to its Emergency. The hospital has opened a new Post-Discharge Assessment Clinic at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub so that certain patients who require medical follow-up after a visit to Emergency can be referred for care within their community.
This new service responds to an urgent need, given that close to one third of patients who go to Emergency at Montfort do not have a primary healthcare provider. This innovative clinic allows patients who require medical follow-up after a visit to Emergency to return home while receiving the assessments they need by being referred to the clinic at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub, where they will have one or two follow-up appointments.
“In the past, patients who required more extensive investigation for a health problem sometimes had to spend hours at Emergency, or were even admitted,” explains Dr. Francis Dubé, Emergency Physician and Chief of Emergency Medicine at Montfort.
“The new clinic will help reduce the length of certain stays at Emergency, prevent repeated visits to the hospital, and improve the experience of patients, who will now receive the follow-up they need after being discharged from hospital more quickly.”
“Once the initial assessment and treatment have been carried out at Emergency, patients will be able to leave the hospital with a follow-up appointment at the Hub a few days later,” explains Valérie Dubois Desroches, Senior Vice-President of Patient Care at Montfort. “During their appointment, the patient will receive an assessment by an internist, and the clinic’s team will coordinate everything to ensure continuity of care after that.”
Aside from the medical assessment, the new clinic will facilitate referrals to specialists, organize access to rehabilitation services, and coordinate the request for home services with partner organizations. After one or two follow-up appointments at the clinic, patients can be referred to the appropriate level of care based on their condition: to their family physician (if they have one), and to specialists or services in hospital, if necessary.
“We offer patients a smooth transition after their visit to Emergency,” adds Gasline Ternier, Clinical Director of Integrated and Ambulatory Care at Montfort and responsible for the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub. “The environment at the Hub is exactly what’s needed when it comes to offering integrated care in the community, since it offers a comprehensive range of medical and community services under one roof.”
Headed by Dr. Marlène Mansour, Chief of Medicine at Montfort, the clinic boasts a team of internists and a care coordinator, and benefits from other nearby health professionals as well as community and clinical services, including medical imaging and laboratory facilities.
“This new approach demonstrates once again that we’re person-centred at Montfort,” says Dominic Giroux, President and CEO of Montfort. “We’ll improve the patient experience at Emergency by reducing the lengths of some stays, we’ll prevent some people from having to be admitted, or to have to return to the hospital, and we’re improving the service offer at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub.”
The Post-Discharge Assessment Clinic opened on June 13 at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub, in Orléans, and receives, only by appointment, patients who have been referred after a visit to Emergency at Hôpital Montfort. Presently, the clinic is open two days a week and expects to receive 600 patients a year. For more information about the clinic, visit the Hub's website.
About the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub
The Aline-Chrétien Health Hub is a unique and innovative model that brings together a wide range of specialized and community healthcare services under one roof.
It offers:
- Radiography, laboratory and counselling walk-in services for youth and families
- Services with a medical referral to specialized clinics, rehabilitation, medical imaging, geriatrics and mental health
- An Ontario Medical Supply store
Each year at the Hub, Montfort conducts more than 50,000 clinical visits and medical imaging examinations as well as activities with partners, namely, Bruyère, CHEO, the Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre, Geriatric Psychiatry Community Services of Ottawa, Home and Community Care Support Services Champlain, Ottawa Public Health and the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa.
With the Hub, residents of Orléans and Ottawa East, from newborns to seniors, have access to integrated services close to home, focused on their needs and offered in both official languages.
About Montfort
Montfort is Ontario’s francophone teaching hospital, offering exemplary person-centred care. Montfort serves more than 1.2 million people in Eastern Ontario in both official languages. Montfort received its third Accreditation with High Commendation from Accreditation Canada in 2022, and is the first hospital to be designated as a Francophone Best Practice Spotlight Organization (BPSO) by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.
With its main partners, the University of Ottawa and La Cité College, as well as other post-secondary programs, Montfort is preparing the next generation of French-language healthcare professionals. Since 2015, it has been one of Canada’s top 40 research hospitals, thanks to the activities of the Institut du Savoir Montfort. Montfort aims to become “your reference hospital for exceptional services, designed with you and for you”. In 2019, it was named one of the world’s top 1000 hospitals.