(May 9, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Louis Pin, The Daily News<\/p>\n
It’s been a rough week for Natalie Mehra.<\/p>\n
As the executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, Mehra was in North Bay a day before coming to Wallaceburg, a more-than 600-kilometre drive.<\/p>\n
At each stop she’s faced with cuts, disgruntled communities and difficult situations.<\/p>\n
And yet the relationship the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has with the Sydenham Campus ER is, according to Mehra, perhaps the most dysfunctional she’s ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s immoral and irresponsible,\u201d Mehra said. \u201cI’ve never seen hospital leadership say a hospital is unsafe \u2026 I’ve been extremely disturbed to see what the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance has done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehra was at a Wallaceburg general meeting Monday to discuss the possible redistribution of resources and responsibility between the Sydenham Campus ER and the Health Alliance, in the Chatham-Kent Health System Capital Plan. It would mean Wallaceburg and surrounding communities would be without a 24-hour emergency facility.<\/p>\n
Mehra says she’s never experienced a coordinated public campaign to shut down a hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Premier and the Health Minister even said there was no intention to close the emergency services,\u201d Mehra said.<\/p>\n
Wallaceburg residents at the meeting were clearly frustrated \u2013 with the Ontario government, the news media, the LHIN, the Health Alliance, amalgamation, and Chatham proper.<\/p>\n
Some were more blunt than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people in Chatham, they don’t know, don’t care,\u201d said Keith Southern. \u201cWe’re killing people with this stupidity. And who goes to shit? \u2026 Wallaceburg.\u201d<\/p>\n
The meeting and decision comes after the Sydenham Campus ER was reportedly unsafe. Municipal councillor Carmen McGregor, at the meeting, said she wanted to firmly express that the centre is still functional and not unsafe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d like to dispel the fear \u2026 that the emergency centre in this community is unsafe,\u201d McGregor said. \u201cIt’s not \u2026 it’s not like a small hospital with less staff makes an unsafe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGregor pointed out that the current building still has an expiration date, and fixing everything wrong with it would be far more expensive than building an entirely new building altogether.<\/p>\n
Still, she said, keeping 24-hour service was essential to Wallaceburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work to keep the services in our community,\u201d McGregor said. \u201cWe’ve lost so many basic local services.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGregor isn’t the only councillor frustrated about the Health Alliance\u2019s plan. Coun. Jeff Wesley is also opposed to the Capital Plan.<\/p>\n
Shirley Roebuck summed up the general feeling at the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t believe \u2026 this is a smart move,\u201d she said. \u201cThis hospital has a role to play. And we even support Chatham and Lambton, whenever they send their patients to our little emergency room.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe [Wallaceburg] citizens support this hospital,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd a simple walk-in clinic does not meet the needs of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGregor said a publicly supported motion is headed to Chatham-Kent council in the near future.<\/p>\n