<\/span>CHESLEY \u2013 Natalie<\/span>\u00a0Mehra, 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Mehra joined Brenda<\/span>\u00a0Scott, 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cChesley is now<\/span>\u00a0ground 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<\/div>\n <\/span>At the time<\/span>\u00a0of the press conference, the Chesley hospital\u2019s emergency room (ER) was on a two-week complete closure until Sept. 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>She added that<\/span>\u00a0the 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Other hospital alliances<\/span>\u00a0suffering 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cInstability begets more<\/span>\u00a0instability,\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<\/div>\n <\/span>As Scott explained,<\/span>\u00a0the number of ER closures, once a relative rarity in the province, has not slowed now that summer is over.<\/p>\n <\/span>CHESLEY \u2013 Natalie<\/span>\u00a0Mehra, 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Mehra joined Brenda<\/span>\u00a0Scott, 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cChesley is now<\/span>\u00a0ground 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<\/div>\n <\/span>At the time<\/span> of the press conference, the Chesley hospital\u2019s emergency room (ER) was on a two-week complete closure until Sept. 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>She added that<\/span>\u00a0the 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Other hospital alliances<\/span>\u00a0suffering 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cInstability begets more<\/span>\u00a0instability,\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<\/div>\n <\/span>As Scott explained,<\/span> the number of ER closures, once a relative rarity in the province, has not slowed now that summer is over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cWe notice the<\/span>\u00a0pace 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Scott went on<\/span>\u00a0to say, \u201cI\u2019m concerned it may foreshadow a permanent closure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>She noted that<\/span>\u00a0three of the four hospitals in the SBGHC are hit with ER closures. The fourth, Kincardine, is not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cThat\u2019s a 75<\/span>\u00a0per cent failure rate,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>One of those<\/span>\u00a0questions 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<\/div>\n <\/span>Another is how<\/span>\u00a0do 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cThe whole system<\/span>\u00a0is affected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u201cSmall, rural hospitals<\/span>\u00a0are a vital part of health care,\u201d Scott said. \u201cThey are not an \u2018add-on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>That message hit<\/span>\u00a0close 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<\/div>\n <\/span>\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t have<\/span>\u00a0made it to Hanover,\u201d she said, adding that he has since received treatment at a larger centre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>And yet it\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0those small, rural hospitals that are in danger of further ER closures and potentially, permanent closure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>Mehra said there<\/span>\u00a0were 848 ER closures in the province last year. This year there\u2019ll be more \u2013 there were already 498 as of August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n