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The Montreal Sacré-Coeur Hospital Foundation announces the largest donation in its history: a $20 million gift from the Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation to the Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital. This transformational gift will make it possible to both expand and reimagine the emergency department, creating a calmer, more private environment tailored to the needs of people in distress, and to establish the Véronique Racanelli Chair, a research chair dedicated to schizophrenia.
An Emergency Department Twice the Size, Completely Reimagined
“My first experience in the emergency department was traumatic. Knowing that people who come here will soon be welcomed into a space that is better suited to their needs, calmer and more reassuring is deeply heartening,” says Ms. Nathalie Gagné, who was recently treated in the emergency department of the Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital.
Every year, the emergency department of the Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital welcomes approximately 3,500 patients of all ages, each facing very different circumstances. The current facilities no longer fully meet the needs of patients, their loved ones, or healthcare teams. The emergency department expansion and renovation project responds to an increasingly urgent reality.
Upon arrival, patients find themselves in a shared waiting room and, when their condition requires hospitalization, most sleep side by side in an open dormitory. Noise, close quarters and a lack of privacy can intensify distress and disorganization. Opportunities to withdraw to a quieter space or speak confidentially with a member of the care team are limited, and there is currently no dedicated space where families can remain with their loved ones. The project will double the size of the emergency department and create calming rooms, as well as spaces dedicated to confidential consultations, families and community organizations that will support patients following their discharge from hospital.
“In a psychiatric emergency department, those first interactions are critical. The environment in which a person in crisis is welcomed can help ease their distress and support their recovery. These new facilities will address challenges our teams encounter every day and will allow us to provide care that is safer, more respectful of each person’s dignity and better tailored to their individual needs,” says Dr. Alexis Thibault, Medical Chief of the Psychiatric Emergency Department.
Understanding Schizophrenia to Improve Treatment
Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, are among the most common mental health conditions seen in the emergency department. Schizophrenia affects approximately one in 100 Quebecers and often emerges in early adulthood. Its course varies considerably: some people respond well to treatment, while others experience persistent symptoms or relapses.
Developed in partnership with the Université de Montréal, the Véronique Racanelli Chair will bring together basic researchers and clinicians to better understand these different trajectories and develop treatments that are better tailored to each patient. It will help accelerate the translation of discoveries into concrete interventions, while training a new generation of schizophrenia specialists in Quebec.
“Two people living with schizophrenia can experience completely different trajectories. Our ambition is to better understand why and translate this knowledge into earlier, more personalized interventions that can sustainably improve patients’ outcomes. Another objective of the Chair will be to measure the functional impact of better supporting patients in the community as a contemporary approach to care,” explains Louis de Beaumont, Director of Research and Innovation at Santé Québec Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal — Universitaire.
A Lasting Legacy for Albert-Prévost
An institution with more than a century of history that has made a significant contribution to advancing psychiatry in Quebec, the Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital is recognized for its clinical expertise as well as its commitment to education and research.
“The Racanelli family is making an extraordinary contribution. This historic gift will provide patients with a more welcoming and reassuring gateway to the care they need, while offering hope to patients and their loved ones through research into schizophrenia and other areas. I am convinced that the next decade will bring not only a better understanding of mental illness, but also even more effective treatments to address it,” says Julie Pouliot, Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal Sacré-Coeur Hospital Foundation.
With this exceptional gift, the Lise and Giuseppe Racanelli Foundation is accelerating the work to expand the psychiatric emergency department at the Albert-Prévost Mental Health Hospital. The next steps in the project, including the development of plans and specifications leading to construction planning, will begin shortly.