Saint-Jérôme ER: Almost 30 Hours on a Stretcher at the Height of the Crisis

Quebec's 5th most overcrowded general emergency room

In 2025-2026, 37.3% of stretcher patients at Saint-Jérôme Hospital spent more than 24 hours there - nearly double the ministerial target of 15 hours. This places the hospital 7th in the provincial ranking across all installations, and 5th among general emergency rooms (the two above it are psychiatric facilities with a different patient dynamic).

In January 2026, the situation reached a critical peak: 196% stretcher occupancy, with 130 patients present simultaneously in an emergency room built for a much lower capacity^[2]. That same month, the Laurentides region's emergency rooms averaged 167% occupancy, with peaks of 191% at Saint-Jérôme and 197% at Saint-Eustache^[1].

A chronic problem, not an anomaly

The current situation does not surprise those who have followed Saint-Jérôme's emergency room for years. In 2022, average stretcher stay reached its peak: 28 hours 22 minutes - nearly double the provincial average of the time (16h45) and more than double the government target of 12h30^[4].

This is not new. In 2015-2016, average stretcher stay at Saint-Jérôme was already 24.1 hours, against 15.3 hours as the Quebec average^[9]. The hospital has exceeded the provincial average for at least a decade. And in January 2025, Saint-Jérôme was among the 7 Quebec hospitals whose situation had deteriorated on both key indicators (overcrowding and stay duration), even as the provincial trend improved^[11].

Laurentides: the region with the longest wait times in Quebec

Saint-Jérôme is not an isolated case within its region. In 2025-2026, the Laurentides region records an average stretcher stay of 21.1 hours - the 2nd worst in Quebec, behind Outaouais (22.5 h). In September 2024, regional emergency rooms were running at 158% occupancy against 120% as the Quebec average - and that was outside the winter peak^[3].

In 2023, a study by the Institut économique de Montréal confirmed that Laurentides records the longest median wait times in Quebec: 7 hours 16 minutes before seeing a health professional, against 5 hours 11 minutes as the provincial average^[7]. At Saint-Jérôme specifically, the median wait before seeing a doctor reached 8 hours 48 minutes - the worst in the entire region^[7].

In February 2025, the Quebec government noted that the stretcher occupancy rate in the 450 area (which includes Laurentides) reached 132%, while the provincial average was at 115%^[8].

The physician shortage as a backdrop

Emergency room overcrowding cannot be solved within the hospital walls alone. Approximately 100,000 Laurentides residents are waiting for a family doctor^[6]. When primary care is inaccessible, the emergency room becomes the only option.

In September 2023, two Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts clinics announced the departure of 14 family physicians out of 40 over 24 months - leaving at least 10,000 patients without a doctor^[5]. This reflects a deeper structural trend: the Laurentides medical desert drives additional patients to Saint-Jérôme's emergency room, the reference facility for a catchment area stretching from Prévost to Wentworth-Nord.

What the data does not show

The 37.3% overcrowding rate measures the share of stretcher patients waiting more than 24 hours. It does not capture waiting room time before being admitted to a stretcher, nor patients who leave without being seen. Real-time data (etatdesurgences.ca) provides a snapshot, not an annual average - both indicators are complementary.

Our data covers overcrowding rates by region (Laurentides: 31.4%) and by installation (Saint-Jérôme: 37.3%), but not average stay duration by installation. The 21.1-hour figure is a regional average that masks significant variation between the region's individual facilities.