Le Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM)
A pillar of Quebec’s healthcare system
The CHUM, which comprises Hôtel-Dieu, Hôpital Notre-Dame and Hôpital Saint-Luc, is the most frequently visited hospital centre in the Greater Montreal Area. It is also one of the most important hubs in Quebec’s entire healthcare network. The CHUM dispenses general, specialized and ultra-specialized medical care to patients in the immediate Montreal area and from other regions of Quebec. Its client base represents 3 million Quebecers, in other words, some 40% of Québec’s population.
With over 16,000 employees, among them 860 physicians, dentists and pharmacists, 4,000 nursing staff and 670 volunteers, the CHUM offers treatment each year to several hundred thousand patients.
As the gateway to the Université de Montréal network of university hospitals, the CHUM is also an important centre of medical teaching in Quebec. Every year it welcomes some 5,000 students and trainees who are preparing for careers in healthcare.
A major reference centre
Because the CHUM is an important source of reference for numerous advanced medical sectors, most healthcare institutions in Quebec regularly depend on its resources. The term "reference centre" means a hospital centre whose competence in a particular field is officially recognized in its region or in the entire province. Other hospital centres forward cases they consider too complex, serious or specialized to be treated locally.
Among the key areas of excellence at CHUM are:
- Cardiology: The CHUM is world famous for its cardiology department.
- Transplants (liver, kidney, pancreas and lung): The CHUM Lung Transplant Clinic is the only department of its kind in Quebec and the second largest lung transplant centre in Canada. CHUM also performs more liver transplants than any other medical institution in Quebec. The first liver transplant from a living donor in Quebec was performed here.
- Breast cancer: The CHUM Integrated Breast Treatment Centre sets the standard for all of Quebec in terms of diagnosis, treatment and follow-up.
- Lung cancer: The Bronchoscopy and Intervention Centre receives patients from every region of Quebec. Its highly efficient diagnostic techniques allow cancers to be detected faster.
- Radiation therapy: CHUM is recognized as a leader in radiation therapy in Quebec. The CHUM is the largest radiotherapy centre in Québec and the second largest in Canada. Its department of Radiation Oncology receives over 5,000 patients a year...one-third of the Quebec patients who need this type of treatment.
- Addiction: The CHUM Addiction Services unit includes a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic activities and serves as a model for similar programs elsewhere in Quebec and around the world.
- Limb replantation: Anyone who loses an arm, hand, finger or other body member, no matter where they live in Quebec, is sent to the CHUM Replantation department for treatment.
- Major burns: The CHUM Major Burns Unit is the foremost centre of expertise in Quebec for the treatment of severe burn victims.