(July 24, 2026) By: Mike Baker, The Highlander<\/p>\n
After recently spending three hours waiting for a routine bloodwork appointment at the LifeLabs location in Minden, 83-year-old Mary Hodgins believes the private company should bring a mobile unit to the Highlands to replace its temporarily shuttered Haliburton office.<\/p>\n
The Haliburton Lake resident attended the site, located inside the Minden Health Hub at 6 McPherson St., with her daughter July 7. Hodgins said she\u2019s been getting regular tests done in Haliburton for the past four years, with appointments usually done within about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a different story for her \u2013 and many others \u2013 in Minden, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we arrived, nobody advised you what to do. Other patients waiting told us we had to take a number \u2013 we then sat there for half-an-hour before talking to a nurse and figuring out what the routine was,\u201d Hodgins said. \u201cLong and short, we waited three hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t the only ones\u2026 there was a man who arrived at 8:30 a.m. and he brought his lunch with him just in case. He was called in at 11:30 a.m. Many people waiting with me that morning said they usually used the Haliburton lab,\u201d Hodgins added.<\/p>\n
LifeLabs closed its office at the Haliburton Family Medical Centre March 25 after Dysart brought a consultant in to investigate air quality concerns. Peterborough-based firm Pinchin Ltd. found limited ventilation to some units within the building and elevated carbon dioxide levels.<\/p>\n
Temporary trailer not planned<\/p>\n
Dysart CAO Tamara Wilbee told The Highlander last week the township spent around $26,000 fixing the issue earlier this summer, with work done by Walker\u2019s Heating and Cooling, She said there are plans to excavate the ground on three sides of the building in the fall to re-waterproof it. At an April council meeting, Wilbee said pooling groundwater, which has entered the rear of the building before, was likely contributing to the bad odour.<\/p>\n
In a July 15 email, a LifeLabs spokesperson said the odour issue has yet to be fully rectified and the site would remain closed, with no timeline for reopening.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvestigation and testing have confirmed there is no mould or gas leak concerns. We are actively working with the municipality and its consultants to better understand the issue and assess potential options to support a return to operations as soon as reasonably possible,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
To address the Haliburton closure, LifeLabs said staff have been redeployed to the Minden site. Hours have also been extended, with services available from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. \u2013 an extra two-hours-and-45-minutes daily.<\/p>\n
Hodgins said she only saw three staff, including two nurses and a receptionist working for Haliburton Highlands Health Services, the whole time she was there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were overwhelmed\u2026 the staff are doing what they can do, but they need help,\u201d Hodgins said, suggesting a mobile unit for Haliburton.<\/p>\n
LifeLabs did not respond to a question from The Highlander asking if the company had a protocol for office closures in rural communities, or if it would consider bringing a temporary medical trailer. Wilbee, though, said no application has been submitted to the township.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been no further discussion about a trailer. The goal is to get them back into their space inside the building,\u201d Wilbee said.<\/p>\n
Testing moving south<\/p>\n
In July 2024, it was announced that U.S.-based Quest Diagnostics was purchasing LifeLabs for approximately $1.35 billion. Since then, the company revealed plans to close a Sudbury lab and processing facility \u2013 later changed to a partial closure, with some services remaining \u2013 and, from January to March, cancelled afternoon hours at the Kenora lab collection centre.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) went public with LifeLabs\u2019 plans to move non-routine lab test analysis currently being done in Ontario hospitals to the U.S. In March, the company informed Ontario hospitals they won\u2019t be used as an alternate for procedures LifeLabs locations cannot complete. Instead, the work will go to Quest locations in the U.S.<\/p>\n
OHC executive director, Natalie Mehra, and board chair, Ross Sutherland, wrote an open letter to health minister Sylvia Jones in June calling on the government to step in.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades, these reference laboratory tests have been performed in Ontario\u2019s hospitals. Shifting them to the U.S. raises serious patient privacy and specimen quality concerns, delays results, harms the efficiency and independence of Ontario\u2019s medical laboratory system, transfers more Ontario health care dollars to the U.S. and reduces income to our hospitals,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Mehra and Sutherland said some transfers have already taken place, with Quest planning a three-phase process beginning in April. This won\u2019t impact routine samples collected at LifeLabs locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our view, these actions demonstrate a lack of concern about delivering high-quality medical laboratory services in Ontario,\u201d the pair said, calling on the Ontario government to cancel its contract with Quest and restore all outpatient lab testing to the control of public hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransferring the community laboratory work to the hospitals will make a more integrated health system and ensure public \u2013 and Canadian domestic \u2013 control over these vital services,\u201d Mehra and Sutherland wrote.<\/p>\n
On its website, LifeLabs claims to see more than 15 million patients and perform over 112 million laboratory tests in Canada annually.<\/p>\n
With another appointment coming up next month, Hodgins is hoping for a better experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a health issue that needs monitoring, so will be back again,\u201d Hodgins said. \u201cWe will see if there is any change.\u201d<\/p>\n