Editorials/Opinions
The following blog is designed to share opinions, editorials and letters highlighting the various issues, challenges and opportunities facing healthcare in Muskoka and area. Each article includes a link to the complete article, as well as the name or group writing the piece. The goal is to highlight a diverse discussion and share perspectives from experienced professionals within and outside the healthcare sector.
MAHC Capital Plan Development Task Force has begun reviewing operational costs and space needs for hospital models
The Capital Plan Development Task Force met on April 30. Reports: The task force reviewed a report on high-level operational cost forecasting for the three models. Task force members asked for clarification and revisions to the report for their next meeting. The task...
Health Minister awaits ‘formal’ notice calling on the dismissal of the hospital board, amidst a provincial election
It’s been over a week since Huntsville Council passed a resolution asking the Minister of Health to dismiss the Board of Directors of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC).
Community members packed the Algonquin Theatre on April 23 when the motion was passed. Many expressed fear of losing one of Muskoka’s two acute care hospitals, which service very different parts of the region.
Listen Up! Council’s call for dismissal of hospital board the right thing to do
A Bold but Necessary Step …
Huntsville Council took a very bold step last Monday in approving a motion calling for the dismissal of the Board of Directors of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC). It is my view that this could have been avoided, but after all was said and done it was the right thing to do.
MPP Norm Miller thanks volunteers for collecting hospital petition signatures
Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller made the following statement in the legislature on April 24 thanking the volunteers who have been working tirelessly to distribute and collect petitions to save the Huntsville District Memorial and South Muskoka Memorial Hospitals before reading the petition into the record again. Since launching the petition less than three weeks ago Miller has so far received petitions containing approximately 4,000 signatures.
Council passes resolution asking the Province to fire the hospital board
In the end, there was no persuading Huntsville Council on Monday night. The rift between it and the Board of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC) had become so wide that in an unprecedented vote, an overwhelming majority of councillors declared that they had lost faith in the hospital board and called on the Health Minister to immediately dismiss it.
Minister of Health’s response to MPS MPP Norm Miller
Minister of Health (Helena Jaczek) response to Norm Miller recent questions regarding the future of our hospitals and the dismal share (~1.2 %) MAHC got (of the $822M budget increase handed out) is troubling. She pointed to this reason: we didn’t have the same...
Hospital planning must consider societal costs, not just bricks and mortar
As the current discussion in Muskoka demonstrates, few things evoke emotional reactions more than hospital planning. Access to a convenient hospital has the potential to be a life or death factor for all of us, every day of our lives from the first day to the last day. But hospital planning is complicated and is fraught with (to borrow a phrase from Al Gore’s book) several inconvenient truths (ITs).
MPP Norm Miller and Health Minister at odds over funding for this riding’s hospitals
In today’s Question Period, Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller pressed the new Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Helena Jaczek, to support maintaining two hospitals in Muskoka and to ensure this area’s hospitals get a fair share of funding.
MPP Norm Miller launches petition to keep two hospital sites
Parry Sound-Muskoka MPP Norm Miller launched a petition this weekend calling upon the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to commit to maintaining core services at both Huntsville Memorial Hospital and South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.