(April 6, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Tara Jeffrey, The Sarnia Journal<\/p>\n
Shirley Roebuck says she wants Sarnia-Lambton residents to know what\u2019s really going on at Bluewater Health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hospital is overcrowded and overburdened,\u201d said the woman at the helm of the Sarnia-Lambton Health Coalition, which is set to host a town hall meeting on April 12 at the Sarnia Library Auditorium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nurses who work here are doing a \u2018Herculean\u2019 job of trying to provide safe and quality patient care with far less resources and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some 66,000 hours of hands-on nursing care were cut at Bluewater Health last year that, according to the Ontario Nurses\u2019 Association (ONA), along with \u2018devastating\u2019 service cuts including the closure of Petrolia\u2019s endoscopy unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to bring people out so we can tell them why this is happening,\u201d said Roebuck, a retired nurse. \u201cThe government is not funding hospitals adequately, so what we\u2019re seeing provincewide is severe downsizing, loss of jobs, loss of health care services and complete closure of hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting is one of many taking place across the province, hosted by the Ontario Health Coalition and other partner groups, said ONA\u2019s first vice-president, Vicki McKenna, who will speak at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t believe the public really knows, in many cases, what is going on,\u201d said McKenna.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the message we are taking to the public is, they should have an interest in this; they are the ones that can and will drive what happens in their communities. And the way they can do that is by speaking to their MPPs and hospital administration about what their expectations are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the decisions that are being made are solely based on money, and not what\u2019s best for the community and patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, some 50 RN positions were cut at Bluewater Health, said McKenna, pointing to reductions in the medicine unit, intensive care unit, palliative care, mental health and surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nurses are concerned about what\u2019s happening there, because it\u2019s their community too. They live there, work there and are proud of what they do,\u201d said McKenna.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they see things changing around them and not being able to provide the level of care they believe is expected and that they have been trained to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bluewater Health President and CEO Mike Lapaine said many hospitals are experiencing overcrowding due in part to the number of beds occupied by alternate level of care (ALC) patients \u2014 defined as those who no longer need acute services, but are waiting to be discharged to a setting more appropriate for their needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we were sitting with 55 alternate level of care patients,\u201d Lapaine said last week. \u201cAll of our funding and incentives are related to looking after acute patients \u2014 so it does put a financial strain on hospitals\u2026 and because of hospital funding reductions over the last several years, we are actually sitting at a deficit this year at $1.8 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that he has the \u201cutmost respect for our front line nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the burdens they feel are just that of our system as it stands today \u2014 basically the demands of the system almost outstrip the amount of supply we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many communities have successfully stopped hospital cuts, said McKenna, who is hoping the town hall event will help Sarnia-Lambton residents do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have communities that have literally risen up to fight back on hospital cuts,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is about informing people and letting them know they have a voice \u2014 and if they have concerns, they know where to go and what to do about it.\u201d<\/p>\n