Hi there my name is Dan Waters.
None of the people on the board or the executive of MAHC will be surprised at how I feel about closing hospitals. – Least of all Evelyn Brown to whom I’ve made it very clear that closing schools and hospitals in our area is what I call an assault on rural Ontario. Further it is contrary to the current government’s “PATIENTS FIRST ACT”. Having a small group of like-minded individuals removing services where communities have put them in place over years of blood, sweat, tears and much money is most certainly not putting “PATIENTS FIRST”. And increasing the annual salaries of the people at the top of the organization I’m certain hasn’t helped much either.
As MPP for this area in the early 1990’s the same kind of lofty ideas were presented about amalgamation for the communities of North Simcoe to match those of South Simcoe. They amalgamated and instead of gaining community infrastructure, they lost it: Including fire halls and municipal services. Costs went up and services went down. Cameron Renwick, who leads the “task force” believes that “If you can’t dream it, you can’t do it”. What I would like Cameron to know is that 3 communities dreamed of having hospitals in their community and made it a reality. Burk’s Falls has lost their hospital and now Huntsville and Bracebridge are at risk of losing theirs.
It is 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 healthcare – and after six years of the same answer, this group is still asking the SAME question. Is it a brainwashing technique? When I googled that question the search engine came up with a list of altzheimers and other forms of dementia in the list of answers. I hope that is not the reason.
There is no doubt that there is a “ONE SITE” fixation from the current group. In 2006, most board members agreed that an amalgamation could maximize the efficiency of hospital resources by rationalizing services between sites. Currently there is some purchasing power that has been gained through working with Huntsville Hospital, South Muskoka Memorial, the Burk’s Falls Health Centre and Orillia Soldier’s Memorial Hospital. That type of collective co-operation can still go forward even when the hospitals disband MAHC and go back to having their own boards.
The LHIN could take better care of business when it comes to these co-operative initiatives and expand them to include all hospitals in their catchment.
We no longer have a public board that is representative of the people in our area. People are vetted first to make sure they agree with the current direction of the hospital executive which is the “One Site NOT STATUS QUO” option. That kind of action for a publicly funded orgainization should be made a criminal act along with the congratulations they shell over themselves with their “FULL POSSIBLE PAYROLL” even when they fail at staying within their budget. Truly that is shameful. Seeking to lower the payroll for some while accepting a bonus. . . call it what it is. . . also needs to be made a criminal act.
The management has asked the LHNN to expand the coverage area to include East Parry Sound. Not to bring better healthcare to those residents, but it appears to me to change the centre of the catchment area and move the boundary north so instead of Bracebridge being the central location for our LHIN – Huntsville becomes the centre. Funny thing: that is where management lives. My guess is either a new build in Port Sydney or add on to the existing hospital in Huntsville. and Bracebridge would lose their hospital. Huntsville doesn’t want to lose their hospital, and they don’t want Bracebridge to lose theirs either. And in fact the two town councils have had a joint meeting to make it clear to the board their preference for our communities. WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN? The people of Muskoka and East Parry Sound have realized their dream. Three acute care hospitals with emergency services. Burk’s Falls has been closed because someone dreamed of closing it, and now our other two hospitals are at risk. Muskoka’s population has put their shoulders to the wheel and built their community hospitals. We intend to keep them. No one is dreaming of shutting them down except the current executive of MAHC.
I’d say Our DREAM now is to disband MAHC and go back to two boards and two hospitals that are supported locally. The current leadership is lost. Your 12 year old experiment has failed. Let’s figure out how to return to planning for what we want for our communities and get rid of this group of lemmings that is leading us over a cliff.
We are losing funding by using over census beds all the time, and why? Because management cut beds. The beds are still there, but we don’t get funding for them. We can’t turn people away when they are sick, but we don’t get paid for the bed any more. We need to bring people in on overtime to care for the patient load because we decreased the staff when we cut the beds, but we don’t get funding to cover their wages. This isn’t management it’s a circus.
I’m asking you to reconsider the whole MAHC experiment and indeed to de -amalgamate our hospitals and to return to a public board that is representative of our communities. It appears to me that we the people have lost control of our healthcare and we want it back again. Over 80% want 2 acute care hospitals with emergency services which is the status quo and this present management and board refuse to hear it. Let’s call it a failed experiment and listen to the dream of the people and elected councils of Muskoka. 2 HOSPITALs.
Remember: The province did not start this folly, and didn’t ask for it. It was MAHC management that initiated this and they who refuse to listen to the public. Their leadership is taking us to a place where there are sure to be extended travel times for our residents that will threaten lives.