{"id":19957,"date":"2022-11-17T14:09:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T19:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=19957"},"modified":"2022-12-02T14:39:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T19:39:27","slug":"unprecedented-hospital-crisis-prompts-series-of-town-hall-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/unprecedented-hospital-crisis-prompts-series-of-town-hall-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unprecedented’ hospital crisis prompts series of town hall meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

(November 16, 2022)<\/p>\n

By: Calvi Leon, Northern News<\/p>\n

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A health coalition is holding a series of emergency meetings across Southwestern Ontario to urge the provincial government to tackle the hospital crisis.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Health Coalition, a network representing more than 400 organizations, will host online town hall meetings across Ontario, including Seaforth, St. Marys, Clinton and Windsor, during the next two weeks.<\/section>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re not going to get through this winter,\u201d Natalie Mehra, executive director of the coalition, said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will die if we don\u2019t address the crisis in our public hospitals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we are calling emergency town hall meetings that we\u2019re going to roll into a mass action plan across Ontario to try to force the government to stop ignoring, sidestepping and downplaying this issue, and address the crisis and support the public hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group is pushing back against what it says is the privatization of Ontario\u2019s health-care system and sounding the alarm on the slew of issues plaguing hospitals, from operating at overcapacity to long ER waits and chronic staff shortages.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Hospitals in Southwestern Ontario are no strangers to such problems, Mehra said.\u201cLondon hospitals have been overwhelmed for years. Windsor as well,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we are in an unprecedented emergency now. It\u2019s like nothing we\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

London Health Sciences Centre issued multiple notices in recent months asking Londoners to avoid unnecessary visits to its emergency rooms that saw wait times of up to 20 hours for non-urgent care last month. The emergency room at Children\u2019s Hospital reported double the typical volume of patients in its emergency room last week, as a surge in seasonal respiratory illnesses among kids continues to strain pediatric hospitals provincewide.