Accessibility issues linger at MUHC superhospital

Bathrooms without automatic door openers.

A cafeteria where food is out of reach for wheelchair users.

Patient-registration counters obviously designed at a height intended only for someone standing.

These are just a few of the problems the MUHC's patients' committee says still haven't been corrected in the hospital's new location – one year after the move to the Glen site.

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The committee's secretary, Lisa Rosati, who gets around in a wheelchair, took me on a quick tour to show me some of the worst offences when it comes to accessibility.

She pointed out a sign next to a bathroom promising universal access, then had to ask for my help to open the heavy door because the bathroom was not equipped with an automatic door opener.

The patients' committee says only two public washrooms were fully accessible when the hospital, which spans five square blocks, opened in April 2015.

"The builders will tell you everything has been done to code, but we're not an office building or a restaurant," said Rosati, who's been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in her late 20s.

"Patients come in different shapes of low mobility," she said.

"Those universally accessible bathrooms do meet codes without the electric push buttons, so that's why it was built that way," said Imma Franco, the MUHC's head of technical services. "There wasn't a requirement for [the construction crews] to do more." 

However, Franco said, the MUHC has now taken on the task of retrofitting all of the washrooms.

Report chronicles issues

The patients' committee has put together a detailed preliminary report documenting the major problems, including those clinic registration counters that are set too high and food refrigerators in the cafeteria that are hard to reach.

"In the cafeteria, I'm not able to get my own food," said Mona Arsenault, who visits the hospital once a week.

Single-stall washrooms are cramped, with soap dispensers and grab bars fixed too high on the walls for anyone in a wheelchair. 

"It wasn't thought out," concludes Arsenault about the hospital, as a whole. "It's not practical."

Hard to fix problems

Rosati called some of the choices made as the building was being designed "senseless" and "disgraceful," saying patients weren't considered, let alone consulted.

And most frustrating, according to the patients' committee, is how long it takes to fix issues once they're flagged.

"You need to go through layers of hierarchy to get permission to do anything," Rosati said.

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Rosati commends the MUHC's administration for listening to patient concerns.

She blames SNC-Lavalin, the engineering firm that manages the building, built as a public-private partnership, for compounding delays in fixing issues.

The company refused an interview with CBC, saying it didn't want to speak while the $330 million lawsuit SNC-Lavalin has filed against the MUHC is before the courts.

Many patients are left scratching their heads at what they call illogical choices made by SNC-Lavalin, such as a ban on marking the walls.

"Heaven forbid I scratch the walls," Rosati said with a laugh, as she gestured to some signs that had to be printed on computer paper and posted next to the official signs to help people find their way.