(November 13, 2019)<\/p>\n
By: Elizabeth Payne, Ottawa Citizen<\/p>\n
From long wait lists for long-term care to people being treated in hospital hallways and ambulances being unable to unload their patients at overcrowded hospitals, Ontario\u2019s health system is under stress and underfunded, a coalition of health workers, caregivers, parents and others said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
A handful of people with the Ottawa Health Coalition \u2014 which is affiliated with the Ontario Health Coalition, a group that advocates for public health care \u2014 braved the cold outside The Ottawa Hospital\u2019s Civic campus Monday to protest cuts to health services and inadequate funding.<\/p>\n
Albert Dupuis, co-chair of the Ottawa Health Coalition, said the organization is planning a rally at TD Place on Dec. 7 to send the message to the provincial government that the health system needs to be better funded.<\/p>\n
\u201cOntario didn\u2019t vote for this. The government doesn\u2019t have a mandate for what it is doing to our health care system. (Ontarians) voted to end hallway medicine and you don\u2019t end hallway medicine by cutting the funding levels for institutions that are already over strapped.\u201d<\/p>\n
The province has increased funding to hospitals and long-term care, but generally not at the rate of inflation, which means health institutions, which were already strapped, are trying to do more with less, said Dupuis, who works delivering medication at the General campus of The Ottawa Hospital.<\/p>\n
Dupuis said he sees the results of underfunding, including people being treated in the hallway.<\/p>\n
Christine Collins, who attended the protest, is sole caregiver to her elderly brother who has dementia and disabilities. She says he needs to be in long-term care but she is unable to even get him on a list.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is killing me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Ontario Health Coalition says the government announced plans to eliminate some public health units through planned amalgamations\u00a0 and make \u201creal dollar cuts\u201d to hospitals and long-term care homes.<\/p>\n