The emergency rooms are overflowing… with skiers!

During the pandemic, the emergency room was overflowing because of COVID-19, and this time it’s overflowing because of the many skiers… who were injured on the slopes.

You read that correctly. The news, reported by Le Journal de Montréal and its investigative bureau, is quite surprising.

With the return to normal life, the average of six million visitors per year on Quebec’s ski slopes has returned, increasing the level of traffic in the emergency room, it seems!

[BUREAU D’ENQUÊTE] Les urgences débordées par les skieurs blessés (@archambaulthelo et @FDRouleauJDM) https://t.co/wnSFyfKIQo

— Le Journal de Montréal (@JdeMontreal) March 6, 2023

Of course, this increased during the spring break, putting enormous pressure on the emergency rooms of many hospitals across Quebec!

Dr. Nicolas Bernard, an emergency room physician at CHUQ Hospital (l’Enfant-Jésus), said that due to young age, lack of experience or excessive speed on the slopes, the emergency room was overflowing with injured skiers.

Emergency physicians are sometimes overwhelmed by the fact that the emergency room is overflowing. This is the case at the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital in Cowansville.

It should be noted that in Cowansville, a small emergency room, during the winter season, there can be no less than 10 patients coming from the mountains of Bromont and/or Sutton.

Are you surprised by these statistics?