(September 22 2023)<\/p>\n
By: Pauline Kerr, Walkerton Herald Times<\/p>\n
CHESLEY \u2013 Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, paid a visit to the Chesley hospital site for a brief press conference the morning of Friday, Sept. 15.<\/p>\n
Mehra joined Brenda Scott, chair of Chesley Hospital Community Support and co-chair of Grey Bruce Health Coalition\u2019s small and rural hospital caucus, for an in-person meeting at the hospital, and a number of others from across the province for a virtual meeting about concerns over hospital emergency room closures.<\/p>\n
\u201cChesley is now ground zero,\u201d said Mehra. \u201cThis hospital is the most at risk of closure in the province,\u201d following the permanent closure of Minden.<\/p>\n
At the time of the press conference, the Chesley hospital\u2019s emergency room (ER) was on a two-week complete closure until Sept. 25.<\/p>\n
She added that the four-hospital group that Chesley is part of \u2013 South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) \u2013 is one of the most \u201cunstable\u201d in the province. SBGHC hospitals in Walkerton and Durham were also dealing with ER closures the same time Chesley\u2019s ER was closed.<\/p>\n
Other hospital alliances suffering a similar instability include the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (hospitals in Stratford, Clinton, St. Marys and Seaforth), Wingham and Listowel, and Carleton Place in Eastern Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstability begets more instability,\u201d said Mehra, explaining that no nurse or doctor wants to accept a position at such a hospital. What\u2019s needed from the province is a clear message there\u2019ll be no more closures,\u201d she said, so hospitals will be able to recruit personnel. To date, the only message from the province is the opposite \u2013 the closure of Minden.<\/p>\n
As Scott explained, the number of ER closures, once a relative rarity in the province, has not slowed now that summer is over.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe notice the pace of ER closures is picking up speed, and changing\u2026 here we are, with the leaves changing colour, and this (Chesley) hospital\u2019s ER is closed for two weeks at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott went on to say, \u201cI\u2019m concerned it may foreshadow a permanent closure.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that three of the four hospitals in the SBGHC are hit with ER closures. The fourth, Kincardine, is not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a 75 per cent failure rate,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of those questions is why half of the 14-member SBGHC board of directors are part of the Kincardine hospital refurbishment committee \u2013 but there\u2019s no refurbishment committee for hospitals in Walkerton, Chesley or Durham.<\/p>\n
Another is how do ambulance services and other hospitals cope with the added pressure. Scott said people are now calling an ambulance for things that don\u2019t require one, for the reason that they figure paramedics will know which hospital ER is open. And the wait times at area hospitals with open ERs are becoming quite lengthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole system is affected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The community in Chesley isn\u2019t going to see their hospital close without a fight, said Scott. There\u2019s a large protest happening in Queen\u2019s Park on Sept. 25, planned by the Ontario Health Coalition and the unions. Scott hopes to see a huge turnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall, rural hospitals are a vital part of health care,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThey are not an \u2018add-on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That message hit close to home for Scott and her family when her brother suffered a serious heart attack only a week-and-a-half earlier. He was taken to the hospital in Chesley. Fortunately, the ER was open.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t have made it to Hanover,\u201d she said, adding that he has since received treatment at a larger centre.<\/p>\n
And yet it\u2019s those small, rural hospitals that are in danger of further ER closures and potentially, permanent closure.<\/p>\n
Mehra said there were 848 ER closures in the province last year. This year there\u2019ll be more \u2013 there were already 498 as of August.<\/p>\n
Mehra said it\u2019s at the point that if a hospital ER is closed in one place, there\u2019s no guarantee the one at the next-closest hospital is open.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d think that it would be \u2018all boots on the ground\u2019 and the province would be calling recently retired nurses and inviting them back to work,\u201d Mehra said. That\u2019s not happening. She said the province\u2019s priority is centralization and privatization \u2013 \u201cdrive the public system into the ground and privatize.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cWe\u2019re really worried. I think they\u2019re going to close this (hospital in Chesley, as well as those in Seaforth and Clinton). The public has to say this is unacceptable!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehra concluded by saying, \u201cThe province is the only one that can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Protest in Markdale draws double the expected numbers<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s press conference comes the day after another event not very far from Chesley \u2013 the grand opening of Markdale\u2019s new hospital.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Sept. 14, Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones attended the grand opening.<\/p>\n
They weren\u2019t the only ones. There were also 170 protesters (85 had been expected, said Scott) on the street outside the hospital, carrying signs demanding Greenbelt accountability and an end to health-care privatization.<\/p>\n