Construction a challenge for ambulances navigating Montreal, dispatchers say

For almost nine years, emergency medical dispatcher Michael Alain has spent his days talking callers through medical emergencies and using a computer system to help paramedics navigate Montreal's complex series of road closures and detours. 

Construction is a challenge that dispatchers and paramedics have to deal with every day at Urgences-Santé. 

Dispatchers are in constant communication with Transports Québec employees, who try to notify them of road closures ahead of time. They then put those closures into their computer systems, so they can figure out the optimal route for paramedics. 

"The city is known for being under construction, that's for sure," Alain said. 

Even without the street closures, Alain said that driving an ambulance in the streets of downtown Montreal can be a challenge. Paramedics often have to cope with narrow streets and traffic that has been reduced to one lane. 

One of the biggest challenges the organization has had to deal with in recent years was construction on the Turcot Interchange, said Vincent Brouillard, director of the health communications centre at Urgences-Santé. 

"We actually had a big partnership with the people organizing the construction so that we were aware and we received the ever-changing plans and configurations so we can broadcast that to our paramedics and dispatcher," he said. 

Calls in the summer months 

Though Urgences-Santé receives most of their calls during January and February, the summer season comes with its own risks. 

"We get more calls of people drowning in pools or diving in pools with head concussions," Alain said. 

"We have more people under the influence, people passing out … when it gets hot out there we have a lot of people getting heat stroke."  

Preparing for festivals 

Urgences-Santé has a special protocol when it comes to dealing with Montreal's festival season. They communicate with event organizers to make sure emergency personnel could get through in case of an emergency. 

At events like Montreal's Grand Prix for instance, they have a command post with a few ambulances already on site, as well as paramedics who circulate on foot, so that they could get to patients as quickly as possible without having to navigate the crowd and closed streets. 

Urgences-Santé receives up to 1,200 calls per day, and has over 100 ambulances on the roads. They serve the Montreal and Laval areas. 

"Mobility's an issue for everybody and we're facing those challenges on a day-to-day," said Brouillard.