CHUM Hospital: Notre-Dame Hospital

I had an extremely disappointing experience with the security staff during the night shift at Hôpital Notre-dame. As an international visitor, I encountered several challenges, starting with language barriers. When I first approached the security lady for assistance, I had to use Google Translate to communicate, which is understandable. However, her responses were unhelpful and dismissive.nnI arrived at the hospital at 7 PM on a Wednesday and had been waiting for hours. By 1 AM, I was still in pain and had many questions regarding the process. When I asked the security lady if I could order food, she didn’t know. I then inquired about how to tell if I was next to be seen, and again, she had no answer. My third question was whether I could see a nurse because my chest pain was worsening. Her response was shockingly rude: “Why are you asking so many questions? Can you sit?”nnAfter waiting for over five hours, I needed to charge my phone again. I sat on the floor next to the outlet since I couldn’t find a more suitable place. Another security man had allowed this without issue earlier. However, the same security lady came over and started screaming at me to get up.nnThe lack of empathy and professionalism from the security staff, particularly during such a stressful time, is unacceptable. This hospital needs to ensure that all staff, including security, are trained to handle situations with care and respect, especially for international patients who might need extra assistance.

I went to this hospital last year after waiting a while to have a biopsy on my thyroid. I have a TIRADS 4 nodule. I was advised that I would be contacted if there was a problem with my exams, but more than a year has passed, and nobody contacted me. I had to find out in another country due to my voice issues. It turns out that they didn’t collect enough material for the exam, and I was neither notified nor was the biopsy rescheduled. I still have the problem, and the nodule has grown bigger. Shame on the Canadian healthcare system. This is disrespectful because I'm not asking for a favor from the government—I'm a taxpayer, and with this money, I could have paid for private care.

I have never in my life ever been treated as badly by medical professionals in my life. If you don’t speak french, don’t bother going here. They will lock you in an empty room for 6 hours, give you no medical attention, laugh when you ask for water and the cherry on top? There’s ONE doctor for the overnight ER shift… as if this isn’t one of the largest cities in Canada. So even after being ignored for 6 hours, I ended up leaving because there was no guarantee that I would be seen by even 8am. i arrived at 8:30pmnI was stared or laughed at everytime i asked for anything or informed the nurses my condition was getting worse.

Their service is good and they have a clue what they are doing, unfortunately the problem of waiting in emergency is universal to canada so I cant blame them, but the emergency room could be much better, the chairs are uncomfortable and they don’t offer much room to rest, there was a nurse there who was adamant on me speaking french even though I cant and was quite rude about it, finally their voice mail is entirely french and there is no english option provided.

Cut my finger pretty deep and went to this hospital for treatments and I had a pleasant experience. Everyone is super helpful and friendly, even the securities are kind and keep checking on everyone too. I came at 11:45am there was a good amount of people in the ER and I got to see the doctor at 14:30pm which is VERY QUICK here in Quebec.nnDuring operation the doctor and nurse kept entertaining to distract me because I was hurting. They did an amazing job and even got me an appointment with a plastic surgeon to make sure im completely fine after so im still waiting on that.nnI took one star out because after my surgery they dont tell me what to do for aftercare, how many times or where should I change my bandage, they just let me go like that. Thank you everyone for the amazing work you guys are true heroes! Keep it up and please dont change lol.