Health officials say four labs have been damaged after burst pipes flooded a building at Montreal’s Douglas Mental Health University Institute Monday, renewing calls to modernize the aging health-care campus.
Cascading water and crumbling ceiling tiles were visible Monday inside the Lehmann pavilion, where a failure in the sprinkler system flooded the laboratories specializing in depression and Alzheimer’s disease research.
Verdun MNA Alejandra Zaga Mendez of Québec solidaire said the incident highlights the deteriorating condition of buildings.
“I’m not surprised at all,” she told Global News in an interview.
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The local health authority says Monday’s incident was major and damaged the second and ground floors of the pavilion.
The CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal says cold weather and the age of the facilities were likely factors.
Zaga Mendez has been petitioning the Quebec government for months to renovate the facility, gathering about 600 signatures so far. She said more than 65 per cent of the buildings on campus are deemed to be in poor or very poor condition.
“It’s been years that the CAQ promised to update the infrastructure,” she said. “Now we have to wait for a ceiling to fall apart with flooding. This is going to cost millions of dollars for the Douglas to repair, and it has an effect on health services.”
During its first mandate, the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced plans for a multimillion-dollar modernization project at the Douglas Hospital facility, but those plans were later shelved. It remains unclear when or if the project will be revived.
Restoration crews were on site Tuesday as assessments continued. The cost of damage to research equipment and the building has not yet been calculated.
A website for the Douglas suggests the building that was damaged was built between 1894 and 1910.
— With files from The Canadian Press