Together for the HMR Fund: Thank you for being there with us!
12 May 2021
Dr. François Marquis, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital
Today, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but Dr. François Marquis, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, still needs your help. Read his appeal!
COVID-19 has been disrupting our daily lives for over a year
Reorganization of patient care areas, medical teams. and material resources; accelerated development of telemedicine; increased screening capacity; new vital installations; your support allowed us to be prepared, to adapt quickly, and to find innovative solutions for dealing with the pandemic while maintaining essential services for our most vulnerable patients.
Your support makes the difference!
A record number of tests
Your support funded the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment that enabled the HMR Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory to perform over 400 000 COVID tests—a record in Quebec—and carry out the screening tests for the quick identification of variants.
A new cancer unit designed for patients
François Quenot and his wife, Geneviève Rioux, greeted Dr. Marquis during a follow-up visit of Mr. Quenot at the HMR
Your generosity was key in providing the 36 rooms of our new cancer unit—built in less than a year—with personal equipment (refrigerators, microwaves, televisions, pedal exercisers) that enhances the wellbeing of our immunosuppressed and highly vulnerable patients. The hospital rooms used by these patients could then be converted into individual rooms for COVID-19 patients.
These accomplishments and many others would not have seen the light of day without your support.
New post-COVID challenges
Today, thanks to the sanitary measures put in place and to the vaccination campaign underway, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel: the number of cases, of hospitalizations and of deaths related to COVID is gradually going down. But the battle is far from being won.
New challenges are looming ahead which we must address right away to care for and ensure the well-being of our community.
That is why your support is as vital as ever. That is why the HMR Foundation created the Together for the HMR Fund and launched a campaign aimed at providing our hospital with the resources needed to maintain excellence in care, research, and teaching, which are at the heart of our ability to deal with the pandemic, and the challenges of tomorrow.
Thank you for donating to the Together for the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont Fund
By contributing to the Together for the HMR Fund right now:
- You will give us the means of acquiring additional ultrasound machines for rapid emergency examinations, as well as electrocardiograms.
- You will support research on COVID-19, by helping us secure the sequencing technology needed to carry out a study aimed at identifying and characterizing the diverse strains of SARS-CoV-2, to monitor the evolution of the virus.
- You will help us understand why so many people affected by COVID experience lingering symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, chest pain, insomnia, anxiety, loss of the sense of smell, etc.) for weeks, months and, potentially, years following infection.
- You will enable my team to conduct studies and acquire the rehabilitation equipment to help patients like Mr. François Quenot, who were weakened by their stay in Intensive Care, regain a true quality of life. Today, more than a year after being infected, Mr. Quenot is still not at 100% of his physical capacity. This goes way past simple shortness of breath.
- You will provide us with cutting edge equipment and technology that will help us deal with waiting lists and care for the growing number of patients who developed complications because of waiting too long to consult a doctor for fear of contracting the virus.
- Finally, maintaining essential services in all departments is an ongoing priority. We spare no effort to ensure the safety of our patients suffering from conditions other than COVID. However, dividing patient care areas into hot and cold zones requires a lot of human and material resources. The equipment, the staff, everything must be duplicated to prevent the spread of the virus. Your contribution to the Together for the HMR Fund will provide the training material and the equipment we need to meet this challenge every day.
You are at the heart of our efforts to deal with the pandemic and meet the challenges of tomorrow. The more we stand as one with the HMR, the more our medical teams will have the necessary resources to always provide the best care.
Your solidarity has made a difference in the past, makes the difference today in the face of the pandemic, and will make the difference again tomorrow. Thank you so much for being there with us!
Dr. François Marquis,
Chief of Intensive Care at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont and Associate Professor at Université de Montréal
