Upcoming Salon des vins 2016 will benefit Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital foundation

Dr. Manon Proulx (fourth from right) has been named Honourary President of the upcoming 13th edition of the Salon des vins de Vaudreuil-Soulanges with proceeds going to the Fondation de CSSS de Vaudreuil-Soulanges to benefit the long-awaited regional hospital.

Dr. Manon Proulx has been named Honourary President of the upcoming 13th edition of the Salon des vins de Vaudreuil-Soulanges with proceeds going to the Fondation de CSSS de Vaudreuil-Soulanges to benefit the long-awaited regional hospital, it was announced at a press conference last Thursday, October 22.

“I’m very honoured to have been chosen,” Proulx told Your Local Journal. “The mission of this foundation is very important and I think the organization is very good. We want to work with them and I hope I can do something to have the hospital finally in Vaudreuil-Soulanges.”

Proulx shares residents’ frustrations about still having to wait almost one decade for an official government announcement on where the new hospital will be built, but is confident that Vaudreuil-Soulanges will be the next area chosen for the health care facility.

She said that’s because with a total population of over 140,000 residents, Vaudreuil-Soulanges has the unenviable reputation of having the largest population base without a hospital in all of Canada. Having a hospital would also help to bring in more doctors into the area because physicians who are starting their practices want to be associated with a hospital, said Proulx.

PHOTO BY JOHN JANTAK

“The new hospital is so important for us and all the doctors in the area,” Proulx said. “We are really waiting for this facility. We want to be able to give our patients a good quality of care close to where they live.  Now they have to go outside the area to Hawkesbury, Valleyfield, or Pointe-Claire.”

According to Proulx, the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region also has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in Quebec, with one doctor for every 2,500 people. But Proulx stressed that despite the ratio, the availability of choices for the region’s residents even though they may not be convenient, is still better than what patients in more remote areas have to endure where choices aren’t available.

Proulx is well-regarded and recognized by her peers for her specialty in family medicine and was awarded the prestigious Family Physician of the Year Award for Quebec from the College of Family Physicians of Canada in 2014.

She practices family medicine at the CSSS de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, is Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine at the Université de Montréal and works as a Clinical Instructor supervising residents and clerkships at McGill University.

Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon and former Honourary President of the Salon des vins said that in addition to benefiting the hospital, the 2016 edition of the salon is maturing with age and will feature an extensive selection of 250 wines, with many fine and unique specialities that people will be able to sample and enjoy.

The incentive to launch the 2016 Salon des Vin more than six months than six months early was made by event founder Franco Donato to give people another option to consider when thinking about Christmas gift and shopping ideas.

The event is hosted by the Société des Alcools (SAQ), Desjardins Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Viva Media, and the City of Vaudreuil-Vaudreuil. It will be held at the Vaudreuil-Dorion Arena, 9 rue Jeannotte near Avenue St. Charles, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. For more information and to purchase tickets, call (450) 455-6171 ext. 72665.

© 2015 Your Local Journal.

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