By Doug Draper
The Globe and Mail has joined Niagara At Large and other media and residents across Niagara in asking if a Fort Erie teen, who died enroute to a Welland hospital emergency room the day after Christmas, would still be alive today if the emergency room at Fort Erie’s hospital had not been shut down.
This Saturday, Jan. 23 Globe features a heart-wrenching account by Denise Kennedy, mother of 18-year-old Reilly Anzovino, of the circumstances around Reilly’s death from internal injuries following a traffic accident on a stretch of Hwy. 3 in Fort Erie during the late hours of this past Boxing Day.
Reilly’s parents, along with Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor and numerous other residents in southern and central areas of Niagara, have since called on the Ontario coroner’s office to hold a public inquest to determine if a decision by the Niagara Health System (the body responsible for operating most of the region’s hospitals) to close the Fort Erie hospital’s emergency room this past year may have been a factor in Reilly’s death.
Niagara At Large cannot run the Globe and Mail article in its entirety. But you can read it and reach your own conclusions by clicking on the following link:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/teens-death-ignites-debate-over-emergency-room-closures/article1441451/
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There is pride in Fort Erie. We are proud of our citizens , our politicians , and the Anzivino Family who continue to voice Hospital related issues. We were proud of our Hospital and with continuing united voices, perhaps someday we can recue it from its image of today as a dumping ground for the NHS.
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That is the 2nd questionable death in Niagara since the NHS closed the emergency department at Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals. The first in July took over 47 minutes to arrive at Welland hospital and the patient died…..he lived around five minutes from Port Colborne hospital. December 27th young Reilly was also taken to Welland hospital. Port Colborne Hospital or Fort Erie would have taken about half the time to reach. Reilly perished.
Minister Matthews says she is convinced closing our emergency departments provides better quality health care. Quality health care is not much use if the patient dies before they get there.
We need a coroner’s inquest.
I extend an invitation to the Premier of Ontario and the Minister of Health to come to Fort Erie. Maybe if they see first hand the destruction they have caused to our Community they will see the light and restore our ER and give us back the quality of health care that we are all entitled to. The Minister of Health has stated that she feels that we are getting a better quality of health care then we had before. WOULD SHE LIKE TO MOVE TO FORT ERIE AND LIVE HERE WITH HER FAMILY? I am sure that answer to that question is NO. Decisions are being made by people who do not live in Fort Erie or Port Colborne. The NHS and LHIN are appointed and not ELECTED to their jobs. They are doing the bidding of the Premier and their high paying salaries make them loyal followers of the ill conceived plan of the HIP. Each Community is suppose to have an elected representative, where is the elected representative for Fort Erie or Port Colborne? Decisions that are being made are coming from people who don’t give a damn about the people in the Southern part of Niagara. We are the throw away Communities. One thing is for certain, we will not give up the fight to bring our ER back. The Citizens of Fort Erie deserve their Hospital, and we will not quit fighting to get it back.
I am a proud member of the Yellow Shirt Brigade of Fort Erie.
Donna Frankson