Enhancing services in Restigouche West: New ultrasound unit at the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Joseph de Saint-Quentin
Saint-Quentin, Monday, April 16, 2018 – A new general ultrasound unit was recently installed at the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Joseph de Saint-Quentin. Located in the facility’s Emergency Department, it will serve the communities of Saint-Quentin and Kedgewick and surrounding areas.
From left to right: Sylvie Bourgoin, President of the Foundation Dr. Romaric Boulay; Nicole Labrie, Primary Care Manager – Northwest Zone; and Gilles Lanteigne, President and CEO of Vitalité Health Network
The President and CEO of Vitalité Health Network, Gilles Lanteigne, is confident that this new equipment will be of great benefit to the Restigouche West region. “We are once again demonstrating our determination to provide quality care that meets the needs of our rural communities. We are working tirelessly to deliver continuous primary health care services as close as possible to where our patients live, as outlined in our 2017–2020 Strategic Plan,” Mr. Lanteigne stated.
The unit, valued at nearly $34,000, was funded by the Fondation Dr Romaric Boulay thanks to the community’s generosity. It provides the facility with new technological capabilities exceeding those of the old equipment. “The new unit (commonly dubbed Fast-Echo) will provide faster diagnoses, determine the severity of conditions and allow patients seen in the Emergency Department to be referred more efficiently. It is a crucial piece of equipment in a hospital such as Saint-Quentin’s, since we are far from our regional hospitals,” explained Nicole Labrie, Primary Health Care Manager and the facility’s representative.
Sylvie Bourgoin, Chair of the Fondation Dr Romaric Boulay, added that the Foundation’s objective has always been to improve the health care services delivered to the population. “We are an entirely local organization and 100 percent of the donations we raise go toward the Saint-Quentin hospital. It is always a pleasure for us to work hand-in-hand with Vitalité Health Network to provide the local population with the best possible care.”
In smaller hospital facilities, the Emergency Department’s ultrasound unit is used for emergency cases as well as for the facility’s routine cases. It is often an extension of patients’ physical examination and allows a myriad of conditions, such as trauma, some fractures, and cardiopulmonary arrests to be diagnosed quickly.
