It was following the Council of Ministers of Wednesday, April 28th that the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, announced the departure of Yves Masse from the position of CEO of the Integrated Health and Social Services Center of Montérégie-Ouest (CISSSMO).
For several weeks, the management of the CISSSMO and its workers have been at loggerheads. On March 4th , VIVA MÉDIA announced the resignation of the director of professional care. She provided a link between the staff and the managers. Also during this time, on March 9th , Dr. Sylvain Dufresne, president of the Association des médecins omnipraticiens du Sud-Ouest and coordinator of RLS Vaudreuil-Soulanges came out publicly to denounce the shortcomings of management. Dr Dufresne even let it be known that he feared doctors would resign. Following Dr. Dufresne’s statement, a request was sent to CISSSMO by VIVA MÉDIA in order to obtain an interview with Yves Masse. However, this went unanswered.
Still during the same period of time, a group of doctors denounced the management of senior managers. Doctors have not been kind to senior management. They used the terms lack of vision and poor governance to refer to leadership.
On March 26th, dozens of nurses held a symbolic walkout in the parking lot of Hôpital du Suroît to denounce the working conditions at the CISSSMO. Union representatives then demanded that Yves Masse come out of his office to get mandates to reduce the daily supply of service. Mélanie Gignac, president of the local union then insisted that if the situation continued, that the CISSSMO could have to close by the end of 2021.
On April 6th , as part of a press briefing, the staff from the Mother-Child Center and the Save the Mother-Child Center coordination committee, in Valleyfield, asked the government to put the CISSSMO under supervision. That the situation could not continue. The work climate and the many uncertainties of the nursing staff were strongly denounced.
There have been many announcements since 2021 in connection with the CISSSMO. On April 11th , management announced that unit 3B at Hôpital du Suroît was to be temporarily closed due to a wave of unplanned departures. Staff were then redeployed to other units which were already understaffed.
Against all odds, on April 21st , the CISSSMO Board of Directors gave its vote of confidence in the current leadership. In a letter sent to the media, the chairman of the CISSSMO board openly expressed his confidence in Yves Masse. However, the latter was dismissed from his duties on April 28th , so a week later. According to information obtained exclusively by VIVA MÉDIA, some members of the board of directors abstained from voting on the motion of confidence.
