The format of Thursday’s meeting was not a debate, but the task force listening as the public gave deputations. After they introduced themselves, we didn’t hear anything more from Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s Capital Plan Development Task Force.
The task force was made up of members from throughout Muskoka: 7 from Huntsville, 5 from Bracebridge, 3 from Port Sydney, and one each from Skeleton Lake, Burks Falls, Port Carling and Muskoka Lakes.
There were 44 written submissions to the task force, and chairman Cameron Renwick said that the information in those submissions will be collated and then made available on the MAHC website.
Sven Miglin began the deputations by saying emphatically that we need to keep our two full acute-care hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge right where they are, and said that this option has never been fully evaluated by the task force.
Bev Lashbrook, executive director of Hospice Huntsville, spoke next, and talked about the hospice’s reliance on Huntsville’s hospital and Huntville’s physicians.
Phyllis Winnington of Community Advocates for Hospitals and Healthcare in Muskoka and Area (CAHHMA) raised several issues in a PowerPoint presentation, including the issue of increased travel time to a single site hospital, the superior state of our hospitals in comparison other community hospitals, and a number of broken promises made by MAHC regarding the amalgamation back in 2005. You can see all this information on the group’s website at www.cahhma.com
Huntsville Town Councillor Bob Stone spoke next, imploring MAHC not to waste any more time and energy on a model that does not have majority community support, is not consistent with municipal planning principals, would hurt our local economies and is not supported by local municipal governments. He said that two fully functional acute care facilities in Huntsville and Bracebridge is the only solution, and that anything less will not be supported. Bob emphasized that this process is not about finding the best possible solution for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare; it’s about finding the best solution for the economic prosperity and well being of Muskoka and our neighbours to the north and east. “Be sure that the cure is not worse than the disease.” he finished, to enthusiastic applause from the audience.
Bruce Kruger spoke next, and said that it would be “ludicrous” to locate a single new hospital in Port Sydney. He said that the continuation of our two hospitals is imperative, but added that if there had to be only one, it should be in Bracebridge. This elicited a few boos from the audience.
Lynn Emmons, a former RN at the Bracebridge hospital, spoke about our aging population and how a single site makes no sense as we get older, repeating Phyllis’ concerns about travel time. “Logic should trump politics”, Lynn said.
Dave Wilkin, an engineer, began by addressing Bruce’s remark about a single site in Bracebridge. “If we divide, we lose”, he said, to applause from the audience. Dave went on to give a very detailed PowerPoint presentation showing how a single site is simply not feasible, and that it is actually more affordable to retain two full acute-care hospitals. “Data never lies”, he said (and he certainly had data).
Dan Waters, who was our MPP in the 90s. spoke next, calling the closure of hospitals “an assault on rural Ontario”. He said that the single site model has been a “fixation” with MAHC since 2006, and said that despite the fact that over 80% of Muskokans have clearly said that we want two full acute-care hospitals, MAHC has refused to hear us. The province did not start this “folly” of a single site, he said; MAHC did. Dan said that we have lost control of our health care, and that the “12-year experiment” of amalgamation has failed. He called for the disbanding of MAHC and a return to two boards that will represent the public.
Lynn Quattrociocchi talked about the proximity of a hospital being critical in deciding where to build a home, and said that we must have two hospitals in Muskoka, each with emergency critical care. She shared the story of her son who had needed just such care, and went on to say that upgrading our two existing hospitals would be more cost effective than building a new one.
Jenny Kirkpatrick spoke next, both as a patient whose life was saved at Huntsville’s hospital and as the wife of a surgeon at Hunsville’s hospital. She said that the hospital is the heart of a community, and advocated for “the status quo with upgrades as needed”. She pointed out that this is what the majority wants, but that we don’t feel we’ve been heard by MAHC and that we don’t feel we’ve been told the truth. Jenny gave examples of why we feel this way, including poorly advertised meetings, meetings with no questions allowed, the poorly advertised survey with ill-defined choices, with MAHC knowing all along that we want to keep our two community hospitals. Jenny suggested, as Dan had, that we explore the option of de-amalgamation, and finished off by saying that time is critical when people need emergency care, asking “How many lives are we prepared to lose so that we can have a shiny new hospital?”
Rick Maloney, deputy mayor of Bracebridge, spoke on behalf of the Town of Bracebridge, saying that Bracebridge is against the one-hospital model, that two smaller hospitals are more responsive to local needs.
Marcia Mackesy asked whether MAHC had considered the correlation between distance and mortality rates, providing statistics saying that in a non-cardiac emergency, every 10 km in travel increases mortality by one percent. This means that someone travelling from Burks Falls to Bracebridge, a distance of 76.3 km, would face a 7.6 percent increase in mortality. “Have you taken into consideration that we’re talking about real people in life-or-death situations here?” Maria asked the task force. She also pointed out that as taxpayers, we have a say as to where our tax dollars go, that our opinions on the survey should be respected, and she provided more statistics to show that a hospital closure not only lowers the quality of our health care, but affects the local economy as well. “Listen to the people”, Marcia urged MAHC.
Sean Platt of “We Own It”, an organization concerned with keeping public services public, urged the task force to listen to the community and to listen to front line hospital staff.
Martin Mann advocated for two full acute-care sites, citing travel time as a factor. He shared that he had assisted in a rescue after a plane crash and that three of the four victims are alive today only because they were able to get to a hospital quickly. Martin urged us to contact our provincial government and tell them to do what’s right. “They work for us”, he said.
Natalie Mehra urged the task force to retain both sites, saying that the evidence does not support the notion that one new hospital would be bigger or would provide better service than the two we already have. She pointed out that hospital funding is finally increasing, so “don’t lower your expectations”. It’s taken us years of fundraisers, advocacy and volunteering to get the hospitals we have Natalie said. “Do not give them up.”
The final speaker was Mary Spring, who emotionally shared the story of her husband Don who had to be rushed to Huntsville hospital from out Limberlost Road. She said, “I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if we’d had to drive to Bracebridge.” Mary repeated what almost everybody told MAHC Thursday evening: we need two full acute-care hospitals, one in Huntsville and one in Bracebridge.