Lucy Michaud had just gone to get a dish from a kitchen cabinet when she saw her sister-in-law’s look change on May 13. “She said to me: ‘Come on, Lucy, your mouth is crooked,’” she remembers. Part of his body then became paralyzed and that’s when his loved ones called the paramedics.
Normally, she would have automatically been transported to the hospital closest to her home, on the South Shore of Montreal. The medical team on site noted that the severity of his stroke required specialized intervention, only offered in university hospitals. Ms. Michaud should therefore have been transported again by ambulance, this time to the Montreal University Hospital Center (CHUM).
However, the paramedics instead took the time to make a Teams call with a neurologist from the CHUM before leaving the home of this resident of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville.
The videoconference allowed the doctor to note that Ms. Michaud presented the symptoms of a AVC acute and that it was better to direct it directly towards the CHUM to undergo a thrombectomy, a delicate operation used to remove a large blood clot blocking an artery in the brain.
L’AVC started at 3:50 p.m. and by 5:30 p.m. I was in the operating room of the CHUMrelates Lucy Michaud. Thanks to that, I have no after-effects.
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Lucy Michaud considers herself lucky to have been able to participate in the pilot project when she suffered a stroke.
Photo : - / Mathieu Papillon
Avoid unnecessary detours
This new procedure for cases ofAVC is part of a pilot project created by the CHUM in March 2023. It targets certain sectors of Montérégie where, unlike Montreal, patients who undergo AVC are not systematically referred to a university hospital center.
The goal is to speed up patient triage and direct them to the right resource from the start.
We compared patients who went through teletriage with those who followed the usual trajectory, and those who had to undergo a thrombectomy had access on average more than an hour earlier.
This is a major difference since every minute that passes before treatment is provided increases the risk that theAVC leaves after-effects. Patients who were treated an hour earlier do better the next day
specifies Dr. Stapf.
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Vascular neurologist Christian Stapf is responsible for the pilot project at the CHUM.
Photo: - / Sébastien Labelle
This satisfaction of dealing more effectively with cases ofAVC is also shared by paramedics, even if the new procedure sometimes raises questions from patients’ families.
The paramedic will be able to calm things down and tell the family: “We’re going to take a little time to talk to an online doctor and we’re going to take the patient a little further away, but it’s for their own good.”
explains Michel Demeo, from Montérégie Prehospital Emergency Services.
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Michel Demeo works for the Montérégie Prehospital Emergency Services and is participating in the pilot project.
Photo : - / Mathieu Papillon
The CHUM pilot project is maintained until further notice in the Longueuil, Saint-Lambert and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville sectors. Those responsible would like to be able to extend it to the whole of Montérégie, which would however require the hiring of an additional nurse.
Lucy Michaud hopes that this desire will quickly become a reality and that more patients, like her, can be sent to the right place more quickly. I wish everyone had the chance I had
she summarizes.
