(May 9, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Tabitha Reddekop,\u00a0Metroland Media<\/p>\n
OSHAWA — The Durham Health Coalition wants local residents to vote in a May 28 referendum to stop cuts to local public health-care.<\/p>\n
The local group joined a province-wide referendum started by the Ontario Health Coalition on April 25, along with 19 other communities, to protest cuts through ballots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to protect the services we deliver to our community that are there for those who need it,\u201d says Sara Labelle, a board member of the Ontario Health Coalition, a provincial volunteer organization that advocates for public health-care.<\/p>\n
The DHC, the local chapter, will set up ballot stations during the month of May to allow Durham Region residents 16 years old and up to vote on hospital funding cuts.<\/p>\n
The OHC says consistent cuts to health care have led to patients having to travel longer distances for care, along with hospitals being understaffed and overcrowded.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatients are lying in stretchers in the hallways of our hospitals because they are too full,\u201d says Natalie Mehra, the executive director for the OHC. \u201cBy every reasonable measure our hospitals have been cut too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Granville Anderson, a Durham MPP, says that the Ontario government has increased hospital funding regularly since 2004, with more increases prepared for 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur government continues to invest in community hospitals, including those in Durham,\u201d he says. \u201cFar from making cuts, our government has increased funding for hospitals in Ontario from $11.35 billion to $17.3 billion, an increase of 53 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Mehra calls those statistics \u201cmanipulative\u201d and \u201cdisingenuous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is, according to the government\u2019s own data from the Ministry of Finance, Ontario\u2019s government has given hospitals zero per cent increases for the past four years,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the 2016 budget, hospitals operational budgets are receiving a one per cent increase. Inflation is projected to be 1.8 per cent. That means real dollar cuts to hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to statistics from the National Health Expenditures Database in 2015, Ontario hospitals receive on average more than $500 less per person compared to other provinces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking the Ontario government to improve our hospitals\u2019 funding just to meet the average of the rest of the provinces,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coalition hopes to gather 200,000 votes to persuade the government to increase funding.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The ballots) will give us the leverage we need to secure that conversation with the health minister,\u201d says Ms. Labelle, who is also a laboratory technician at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa.<\/p>\n
She also notes that the Oshawa hospital has not received significant cuts compared to other Ontario hospitals, but the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences has lost more than 20 beds and almost 50 jobs since 2013.<\/p>\n
For the referendum, 50 to 100 ballot boxes will be distributed throughout the Durham Region during the month of May.<\/p>\n
To find out more or where you can vote this month, visit the DHC Facebook page https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/durhamhealth\/ or follow the organization on twitter @DurhamHealthC<\/p>\n