Dialysis Unit at the Montreal General Hospital Gets a Facelift

The inauguration of the new unit took place on June 17. Due to social distancing regulations, in-person attendance was limited but the ceremony was broadcast via ZOOM for others to join virtually.

Excitement was in the air June 17th when the new dialysis unit at the Montreal General Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (MGH-MUHC) was officially inaugurated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The former Oncology Day Centre on B7 was transformed into a modern unit that boasts plenty of natural light, a state-of-the-art dialysis water system, and nine new private stations. They were organized to meet social distancing requirements and patient protection measures. In addition to the 15 chairs on L2, the new space on B7 has nine fully equipped stations for a total of 24.

“Thanks to the MUHC administration and the hard work of the project team, we have a brand new beautiful dialysis unit that was constructed to meet patient needs during the pandemic and beyond,” said Dr. Rita Suri, Director of Nephrology. She was accompanied by Dr. Pierre Gfeller, President and Executive Director, Dr. Ewa Sidorowicz, Director of Professional Services, Chantal Souligny, Director of Nursing, and Dr. Murray Vasilevsky, Director of Dialysis.

Hady Labieniec has been a dialysis patient at the MGH for 11 years and was the first to be treated in the new space that offers incredible views of the city. “All the nurses here are terrific. When I come to my dialysis appointment, it’s like coming to see my friends and I know when I get home, I’ll feel better.”

Harold Villaruel, a clinical nurse specialist in dialysis and nephrology, says the extra space and windows will make long appointments more enjoyable and make it much easier to respect social distancing between patients. “The space on L2 is more open but this new unit offers more closed rooms and lends itself to being much better for infection control measures. It’s also much more comfortable for our patients who can spend up to four hours here for their treatment.”

Nancy Filteau, the dialysis nurse manager, says her team came together quickly during the pandemic to ensure that the volume would never decrease and that infection and prevention measures were applied across the board. “What I’m most proud of is our teamwork. We never decreased our services and continued running at 100% throughout the pandemic,” she says. Drs. Suri and Vasilevsky presented Nancy Filteau and Alexander Tom, Dialysis Technologist and Informatics Specialist, with an Award for Excellence and Commitment at the ceremony.

Asked about her thoughts on her new view, Ms. Labieniec says she can even see the St-Lawrence River and the bridges from her chair: “Very interesting and very nice!”

Congratulations to all of the teams who came together to make this transformation possible!