There's a baby boom happening at this Montreal hospital — but not in the way you'd expect
A nurse going on maternity leave is nothing new... but how about 14 from the same birthing unit?
Unless you're looking to get pregnant, you might want to steer clear of the drinking water at Montreal's LaSalle Hospital.
That's the running joke among a whopping 14 nurses — all of whom work in the hospital's maternity ward and serendipitously became pregnant within weeks or months of each other.
"I think it's kind of like a trend," said Amélie Boisclair, who gave birth to her son William 11 months ago.
"When I first started here, a bunch of nurses were pregnant at the same time so I guess at some point, they kind of just put something in the water and we all [caught] it," she laughed.
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Many of the women — some almost ready to pop, others only weeks along — say they're excited to embark on their journey with people who have become much more than colleagues.
"It's really a big family here so being all in the same boat, it's a lot of fun and it's a big experience to go through all together," said Boisclair.
For Sabina Finnie, who is 28 weeks pregnant, working in the maternity ward lets you "see what's coming, and it's a very exciting experience."
She says it's comforting that her unique insight into the birthing process can be shared with her colleagues during her own pregnancy.
"I find that there's a lot more support, people really understand what you're going through," she said.
Maternity leave creates major staffing gap
Most of the women will continue working until just a couple weeks before their due date, says Shelly Arya, a co-ordinator with Montreal's West Island health agency, CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal.
She says the women will be offered more breaks, half shifts and positions where they're sitting more than standing
However, while management says they're thrilled about the dozen in the oven, the simultaneous maternity leave of 14 women will create some logistical issues in the ward.
"That's a little bit more than 10 per cent of my working population," said Arya.
"We're ecstatic, we are happy to accommodate, but at the same time it presents some challenges," she said. "How do we replace them? How do we continue maintaining the same expertise, the same quality of care?"
Arya says the hospital is on a major recruitment blitz and is putting in place accommodations to meet the ward's needs.
"We're coupling nurses and LPNs (licensed practical nurses) together … so that way they work in a team and can take on more patients," she said.
The hospital is also participating in all available recruitment activities, career days and employment fairs in order to expand their reach.
"I'll take all the help I can get," Arya said, adding that management is making it work so far.
In the meantime, Nancy Lyons, chief of the maternity ward at LaSalle Hospital, is pleading: enough is enough.
"When it was the flu shot clinic, I was telling them that we're going give them something [so] they cannot be pregnant," she joked.
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