(May 4, 2016)<\/p>\n
Author: Robin MacLennan, Barrie Today<\/p>\n
Elizabeth VanHoutte’s<\/span> father died on a stretcher in the Emergency Department at Orillia<\/span>Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital. There were no beds available.<\/p>\n “He spent 72 hours there, on a stretcher” VanHoutte<\/span>\u00a0said. “We have to rally people to stop the cuts happening in our hospitals.<\/p>\n “We’re all sitting here feeling helpless, wondering what we can do. The cuts that are happening are heart-breaking for the people who work at the hospital. It’s devastating for patients . . . this is disgusting.”<\/p>\n Ontario’s Health Coalition came to Orillia<\/span> Tuesday night, one of dozens of stops across the province as they rally volunteers to fight for fair funding for community hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are calling a volunteer-led referendum to try to make the public\u2019s overwhelming opposition to the cuts to their local community hospitals so visible, so impossible to ignore, that the Ontario government is forced, finally, to listen,\u201d said Natalie Mehra<\/span>, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know that the overwhelming majority of Ontarions<\/span> want the cuts to be stopped and services restored as a top priority issue, but people need a way to make their voices heard. That\u2019s what we are trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n The group is calling for volunteers to hold a referendum across the province on May 28, hoping to get over 100,000 votes against cuts.<\/p>\n Coalition representatives held a town hall in Orillia<\/span> on Tuesday evening, attracting a standing room only crowd of over\u00a0150\u00a0at the Best Western Mariposa Inn, one\u00a0week after Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital announced it would be cutting 16 beds and 48 full and part-time\u00a0jobs – the equivalent of 35 full time positions.<\/p>\n Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Hospital has announced cutting\u00a056 jobs to balance the budget<\/p>\n In Midland, community members are fighting to save the birthing unit as the hospital faces a $10 million shortfall.<\/p>\n “That’s 70,000 hours of care that will be lost,” said Sara Labelle<\/span>, coalition representative.\u00a0“Ontario has the fewest hospital beds left than any other province in Canada.”<\/p>\n Armed with statistics showing nine years of reduced hospital funding across the province, P said a referendum will be a “stronger voice” for government action than a petition.<\/p>\n “They are pushing services out into the community where you get less for more money,” she said. “The people of Orillia<\/span> and Midland shouldn’t have to travel to Barrie or Toronto for health care services they need.”<\/p>\n The group is asking for two commitments from the province. The first is to restore adequate funding for hospitals and the second is to ensure that spending is focused on “care and services” and not administration.<\/p>\n