Sainte-Justine is the provincial mother-and-child reference centre for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, emergency and trauma medicine, and intensive care. The hospital’s Infectious Diseases and Acute Care researchers are committed to helping develop new therapies and solutions to prevent and cure these diseases and other health problems associated with critical care.
Infectious Diseases
As a state-of-the-art hub for maternity and pediatric care, Sainte-Justine is dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases across a continuum of services. The three main thrusts of patient care and research are infection and pregnancy, vaccination, and infection prevention and control.
Acute care: When every second counts
Each year, the CHU Sainte-Justine’s emergency department receives 12,000 accident victims, which represents approximately 15% of all emergency room visits. Of these, 1,200 are admitted to intensive care to receive acute critical care.
Trauma care is the art and science of making the most of those few minutes, and even seconds, in which a child’s future hangs in the balance. This discipline endeavours to reconcile the need to act as quickly as possible with the need to act as effectively as possible to minimize the damage caused by and the consequences of an accident.
The real key to excellence in trauma care is having the wherewithal to make the right decisions at the right moment. That is why we are concentrating on continuously optimizing our approaches to acute critical care. By focusing on open communication and flexible procedures, we are making sure everyone’s expertise contributes to making an informed decision during those first critical seconds.
- 12,000 young accident victims are received in the CHU Sainte-Justine’s emergency department every year.
- 10% are admitted to intensive care to receive critical acute care.
- Accidents represent 15% of all emergency room visits.
“I want to be a Dr. Clown policeman!”
Jérôme does not remember the accident. It was on July 25th.
He was riding his bicycle, and even though his parents must have told him a hundred times to wear his helmet, he simply forgot. As he got on the road, a passing car struck him. The crash was violent.
Jérôme’s condition was critical: he arrived with numerous traumas, including a severe head trauma. He had to be transferred quickly from his local hospital to the CHU Sainte-Justine. Once assessed, he scored a 4 on the Glasgow Coma Scale: 77% of children who score between 3 and 5 do not survive.
Jérôme was put into an induced coma for 18 days to improve his chances, to give his body and brain time to recover slowly and gently.
Once he awoke, there was still a lot of work to do. The occupational therapist, physical therapist, nurse, specialized youth educator, psychologist and many others did everything in their power to help Jérôme get back on his feet and back to his old self again. And it was a success!
Now 12 years old, Jérôme dreams of becoming a clown when he grows up. “A Dr. Clown policeman who makes children laugh!”
