Public meeting on future hospital planning sparks barrage of support for keeping both Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals
NEWS Mar 05, 2018 by Alison Brownlee Bracebridge Examiner
Sven Miglin (left), Phyllis Winnington-Ingram and Bob Stone are among the first speakers to address the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare capital plan development task force at a public meeting on future hospital planning, urging members to protect both the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals, on March 1. March 1, 2018. – Alison Brownlee/Metroland
Several of the speakers at the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare capital plan development task force public meeting on future hospital planning held March 1 in Bracebridge argue the province has a responsibility to fix a flawed hospital funding formula and increase hospital funding in general. March 1, 2018. – Alison Brownlee/Metroland
The Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare capital plan development task force public meeting on future hospital planning held in Bracebridge on March 1 draws more than 100 people from across Muskoka and East Parry Sound, many of whom advocate for retaining and upgrading both the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals.
MUSKOKA — Residents stood united on one key point — a one-hospital future for Muskoka was simply unacceptable.
Sixteen speakers took to the mic for the nearly three-hour Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) capital plan development task force public meeting on future hospital planning held at the District of Muskoka offices in Bracebridge on March 1.
There were also more than 40 written submissions.
Speakers largely argued for two full acute-care hospitals. And they collectively advocated for the renovation of the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospitals, rather than new builds.
De-amalgamation of the two hospitals was referenced more than once. As were concerns about closed-door task force meetings.
Residents also demanded hospital leaders spend their energy petitioning the province for better hospital funding, rather than using underfunding as justification for considering a single-hospital model.
Here were some of their comments:
- “The task force has been there for seven months and this is really the first full public session that we’ve had. If you want community support, you’ve got to talk to the community. You’ve got to listen to the community. And you’ve got to be respectful of the wishes of the community.”
— Sven Miglin, former hospital board chair
- “If future planning does not support all of the current hospital services as they exist today at Huntsville hospital, we have a major concern that, eventually, health-care providers will migrate closer to a new hospital site.”
¬— Bev Lashbrook, executive director for Hospice Huntsville
- “I remember when the hospital boards of Bracebridge and Huntsville amalgamated years ago … and that meant it was going to save the hospitals we had.”
— Phyllis Winnington-Ingram, a representative of Community Advocates for Hospitals and Health Care in Muskoka and area
- “Two of the five stated criteria for evaluating future models are municipal impact and community support. … Why, then, is the one-hospital model being discussed? … I implore you to not waste any more time and energy on that model.”
— Bob Stone, Town of Huntsville councillor
- “It’s ludicrous to suggest that a new hospital be located in the (village) of Port Sydney in order to appease two larger centres. Just the infrastructure alone required for a hospital to be built in Port Sydney would be astronomical and costs (would be) better spent on the construction of new or renovations to our two existing hospitals.”
— Bruce Kruger, former ambulance attendant and retired OPP detachment commander
- “A single site away from our respective centres of caring community, especially as we get older, does not make any sense to me. We should push the ministry to revisit the disadvantage of their funding to a medium-sized hospital. Why won’t logic trump politics on behalf of our growing senior population.”
— Lynn Emmons, breast cancer survivor and former hospital staffer
- “This thing is easily solvable by the government. … This can be fixed with a stroke of a pen, so let’s not hide behind the funding formula as a reason that we can’t have two hospitals. It’s nonsense.”
— Dave Wilkin, former hospital board member
- “It’s hard for the public to understand why it is, that after six years of local citizens being asked what kind of scenario they would accept for their future health care, and after six years of the same answer, this group is still asking the same question.”
— Dan Waters, former MPP Muskoka-Georgian Bay
- “I realize that a hospital cannot exist simply to provide emergency care; however, I believe that each of the current hospitals could provide other specialized care and not duplicate these services at both sites.”
— Muskoka Lakes resident
- “Nobody … has clamoured for a fancy, state-of-the-art, brag worthy facility. Nor for that matter has anyone hoped for a chronic care facility with minimal or no acute care. We just want to continue with our community hospitals.”
— Jenny Kirkpatrick, Huntsville resident
- “The town continues to support the position that a full range of core hospital services, including acute care, in-patient, emergency, diagnostic and surgical services, should be maintained on a multi-site basis at the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge and the Huntsville District Memorial Hospital in Huntsville.”
— Rick Maloney, Bracebridge deputy mayor
- “(A 2007 study showed) a 10-kilometre increase in straight-line distance for noncardiac care emergencies increased by 1 per cent the absolute increase in mortality. From Huntsville to Bracebridge is 36.8 kilometres. Therefore, if my child was to have an emergency, you are increasing his or her risk by 3.7 per cent, if there is only one acute-care site in Bracebridge. To me, that is unacceptable.”
— Marcia Mackesy, Huntsville resident
- “We need to contact our government and tell them to do what is right. After all, they are working for us.”
— Martin Mann, Huntsville resident
- “We need to listen to every community group actively participating in this project. Please listen to the front line staff that work in these hospitals.”
— Representative of public services advocate We Own It
- “The problems facing the local hospitals are a result of 10 years straight of real dollar budget cuts to the hospitals’ global budget. … And yet we are turning the corner now on the hospital funding issue, so this is not the time for leaders in the community to lead to community to lower its expectations.”
— Natalie Mehra, executive director of Ontario Health Coalition
- “We need an acute-care hospital in both Huntsville and Bracebridge.”
— Mary Spring, Lake of Bays resident
Cameron Renwick, task force chair, said early on the purpose of the evening was for task force members to listen rather than debate the public. And task force members would consider the comments before making their recommendation to the hospital board in late spring or early summer.
And Don Mitchell, task force vice-chair, reiterated no decisions had been made.
Renwick later noted verbal and written submissions would be collected and combined for the task force’s review and posted publicly on the MAHC website at mahc.ca.
But while Renwick said he didn’t hear anything unexpected that evening, he did comment there was “a certain amount of misinformation out there still” and the task force planned to publish a fact file to answer questions raised.
Could he give examples?
“There has been some talk about could we de-amalgamate and that there would be savings. There was also some discussions of if we were to de-amalgamate, then we would be called two small hospitals and that would work better for our bottom line,” said Renwick. “I don’t believe either of those two things would be beneficial.”
Audio failure thwarted a live steam of the meeting through the district’s webcasting technology, but Cogeco YourTV made a video of it available on its website at yourtv.tv/muskoka.
Mar 05, 2018 by Alison Brownlee Bracebridge Examiner