{"id":29597,"date":"2024-05-23T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=29597"},"modified":"2024-05-23T10:53:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T14:53:45","slug":"release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"<FONT COLOR=\"#E00000\">RELEASE: <\/FONT> Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(May 23, 2024)<\/p>\n<p>Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfoundation.ca\/about-us\/our-clinic-and-hospital\/\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">dates back to 1910<\/span><\/a>. Its community supported its survival through two World Wars, the Great Depression, amalgamation, and many local hospital boards and provincial governments. Now, after more than a century, it is facing a potentially fatal blow with the imminent closure of all its inpatient beds. The closure is spearheaded by regional hospital executives without any democratic community input, and the Ford government is sitting on its hands letting it happen despite having the power to stop it, said community and health care leaders in a press conference at Queen\u2019s Park today.<\/p>\n<p>Echoing the strategy that was used to <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/9738313\/minden-ont-emergency-department-closed\/\">close the Minden hospital last June<\/a><\/span>, South Grey Bruce hospital executives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.560cfos.ca\/2024\/05\/02\/west-grey-council-aims-to-fight-durham-hospital-service-changes\/\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u201cblindsided\u201d the regional municipalities<\/span><\/a> when they announced the closure and removal of the inpatient beds just weeks ago. The closure is slated for June 3. Hospital executives claim that the hospital \u201cemergency department\u201d and some diagnostics will remain open. However, their plan is to close and centralize all Durham\u2019s remaining inpatient beds to Walkerton and Kincardine, and they have permanently closed the emergency department from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily.<\/p>\n<p>Leaders and residents are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetrillium.ca\/news\/health\/we-are-begging-durham-residents-call-on-province-to-stop-closure-of-rural-hospitals-in-patient-beds-8755481\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">calling for both the hospital board to stop and for provincial government intervention<\/span><\/a>. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.collingwoodtoday.ca\/the-blue-mountains-and-grey-highlands\/grey-county-wants-meeting-with-health-minister-over-durham-hospital-beds-moving-8724405#:~:text=A%20recent%20%E2%80%9Csave%20the%20hospital,ensure%20the%20hospital%20remains%20open.\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">700 local residents flooded a public meeting<\/span><\/a>, hundreds joined a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.owensoundsuntimes.com\/news\/local-news\/candlelight-vigil-to-support-durham-hospital-tuesday\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">community march and vigil on Tuesday<\/span><\/a>, and petitions are underway. Today, the municipality of West Grey announced it has retained a well-known legal firm from downtown Toronto who will be filing action with the courts and the Ontario Health Coalition demanded that the Ford government declare a moratorium on local hospital cuts and closures. Union leaders representing health professionals, nurses and health care workers have joined in, issuing stern media rebukes and vowing a major fightback.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fight to save Durham hospital is about saving access to public health care for all Ontarians, no matter where they live.\u00a0Residents of small and rural communities deserve high-quality public health care comparable to what\u2019s available in large urban centres,\u201d said Erin Ariss, RN, President, Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association. \u201cONA is united with community members calling on the Ford government to stop local hospital closures immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are two levels of decision makers that are responsible and could stop the hospital closure if they chose: the hospital board and the Ford government,\u201d noted Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition executive director. \u201cNeither has any mandate. No one anywhere voted to close their local hospitals. Previous governments have intervened, found staffing and kept the local hospitals open. The Ford government can &#8211; and must &#8211; declare a moratorium on hospital closures effective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf these decisions are being made without concern for local impacts and needs, and without local input, then sadly we are left to deal with this situation through large urban lawyers,\u201d said West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles. \u201cSBGHC seems to only listen to and take advice from large urban policy makers. So, one must fight fire with fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s happening at the Durham hospital is just the latest example of the Ford government ignoring the needs of local communities, just as they ignore the needs of workers,&#8221; concluded JP Hornick, President of OPSEU\/SEFPO. &#8220;Let us be clear that it is a political choice to systematically undermine our public hospitals and patients and our communities will suffer the consequences.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/Durham-Hospital-press-conference-media-release-web-vrsn.pdf\">Click here for printable version<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two World Wars, the Great Depression, amalgamation, and many local hospital boards and provincial governments. Now, after more than a century, it is facing a potentially fatal blow with the imminent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,90,16,73,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cuts-restructuring","category-cutsrestructuring-media-releases","category-hospitals","category-hospitals-media-releases","category-whats-new"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>RELEASE:  Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RELEASE:  Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ontario Health Coalition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\"},\"headline\":\"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":582,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Cuts + Restructuring\",\"Cuts+Restructuring Media Releases\",\"Hospitals\",\"Hospitals Media Releases\",\"What's New\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/\",\"name\":\"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/index.php\\\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"description\":\"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/logo_ohc_new-1.png\",\"width\":478,\"height\":240,\"caption\":\"Ontario Health Coalition\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ontariohealth?fref=ts\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/OntarioHealthC\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/ontariohealthcoalition\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tiktok.com\\\/@ontariohealthc\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4\",\"name\":\"admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RELEASE:  Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition","description":"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"RELEASE:  Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition","og_description":"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/","og_site_name":"Ontario Health Coalition","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","article_published_time":"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4"},"headline":"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital","datePublished":"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/"},"wordCount":582,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Cuts + Restructuring","Cuts+Restructuring Media Releases","Hospitals","Hospitals Media Releases","What's New"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/","name":"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital - Ontario Health Coalition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-23T16:00:15+00:00","description":"(May 23, 2024) Toronto, Grey Bruce \u2013 The Durham hospital, located in Grey County, dates back to 1910. Its community supported its survival through two","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-community-and-union-leaders-announce-legal-action-demand-ford-declare-a-moratorium-to-save-the-durham-hospital\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RELEASE: Community and union leaders announce legal action, demand Ford declare a moratorium to save the Durham hospital"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","description":"Our primary goal is to protect and improve our public health care system","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#organization","name":"Ontario Health Coalition","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/logo_ohc_new-1.png","width":478,"height":240,"caption":"Ontario Health Coalition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ontariohealth?fref=ts","https:\/\/x.com\/OntarioHealthC","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ontariohealthcoalition","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@ontariohealthc","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPy4Erf4xGLZV6CY23xdokw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/3bee6583f445dde27b35a7bba61b06b4","name":"admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29597"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29600,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29597\/revisions\/29600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}