Urgences-santé in LaSalle

Urgences-Santé’s operations centre – western region - has moved to its new 54,065 square feet premises located at 7400 St. Patrick Street in LaSalle, and has been serving the community since December 19, 2009. They took over the former warehouse of the ADV company.

As a result of the 20-year lease held by 6892531 Canada Inc., the owners invested a considerable amount of money to convert the premises, built in 2006, to make it compliant with the requirements of Urgences-santé for an operational centre. The staff consists of 300 paramedics, 15 executives, 25 vehicle maintenance workers, 25 instructors for the training centre (one of the most important in Canada), seven mechanics, one secretary and two senior clerks. The site has 58 vehicles, 49 of which are ambulances.

Substantial work went underway in November 2009 at the former St. Patrick warehouse and about 5,000 earth diggings took place, removing soil from the back of the premises. Only 6,800 square feet of the original premises were preserved. A mezzanine was added on the second floor to serve as the training centre and to integrate a relief site for an independent health communications centre in case of need. The new premises were equipped with two cafeterias, an employee lounge, an assignment area for paramedics, separate entrances for employees assigned in different departments, and large locker rooms.

Urgences-santé is the most important pre-hospital emergency organisation in Canada. More than 350,000 emergency calls are handled annually, more than 271,000 vehicles are deployed to intervention sites and more than 199,000 ambulances provide transportation each year. There is a fleet of 182 vehicles, of which 129 are ambulances distributed in three operational centres. Urgences-santé serves a population of 2.24 million people living in the island of Montreal and in Laval, a combined territory measuring 744 square kilometres.