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Health coalition hopes to hear Niagara Falls health concerns
Posted: March 9, 2026
(March 8, 2026) By: Allan Benner, St. Catharines Standard
Town hall aims to gather resident stories as worries mount over long waits, ER crowding and privatized clinics.
Niagara Health Coalition is turning its attention to Niagara Falls this week, after a standing-room only crowd gathered for a town-hall meeting in Welland recently.
Coalition chair Sue Hotte said an event on Monday is the second of a series of town-hall meetings. The coalition plans to hold others throughout the region to focus on concerns about hospital and medical services in Niagara’s communities.
It’s taking place at Gale Centre, 5152 Thorold Stone Rd., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Speakers include Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra and Niagara Falls New Democrat MPP Wayne Gates.
Discussions at the town hall in Welland on Feb. 13 focused on plans for services in south Niagara communities, such as the recently announced closure of the extended care unit, the long-term-care home at the Welland hospital.
Hotte expects much of the conversation in Niagara Falls will focus on privatization of health-care services.
“We’re going to talk overall about the crisis in health care in Niagara,” Hotte said and referred to issues like wait times for medical procedures, as well as placements in long-term care.
Hotte said Mehra will likely discuss the provincial government’s investments in private, for-profit clinics, rather than hospitals, “and how it’s impacting everybody.”
She said the coalition is developing a report on private medical clinics and expects some of the coalition’s findings in the report will be discussed.
Hotte said they’re inviting members of the community to share their stories and concerns about health-care services they’ve experienced in the community.
“The basic problem is underfunding and how it impacts what Niagara is going to be doing,” she said. “Basically, we’re asking people to come with their stories. We’re talking about the long wait times in the ERs, the hallway medicine, long wait times to get access to diagnostics.”
She said the coalition heard from several community members during the last town hall in Welland and several discussed the impact the extended care unit closure is having on family members who have been living there.
Most of Welland city council, MPP Jeff Burch and MP Fred Davies attended the meeting, she added.
