Public Rally Planned To Save Hospital Services In Central And South Niagara

By Doug Draper

While the Niagara Health System hosts public tours this January at the mega hospital it will soon open in Niagara, Ontario’s north end, citizens in central and south Niagara are organizing a rally to demand that services in their hospitals not be moved away.

Welland Hospital, along with the Niagara Falls hospital site, are due to soon lose maternity and other services. File photo by Doug Draper

The rally, planned for Saturday, January 19 at 1 p.m. near the hospital in Welland, is a response to continued plans by the NHS – the body responsible for managing most of the hospital services in Niagara – to move obstetric, pediatric, mental health and other services from the Welland and Niagara Falls hospitals to that new hospital, scheduled to open in west St. Catharines within the next few months.

Kevin Smth, a provincially appointed supervisor parachuted in to Niagara a year and a half ago to temporarily administer the NHS’s affairs, announced last year that he would see the system follow through on recommendations in its so-called “hospital improvement plan” to move those services and others to the St. Catharines complex until such time – if it ever comes – that the province okays a new hospital for residents in central and south Niagara.

Wayne Gates, a Niagara Falls city councillor, president of the Canadian Auto Workers’ Local 199 and one of the organizers of the rally, told Niagara At Large  he is hoping as many people as possible turn out at the rally to make it clear to the NHS that for many, moving acute care services out of the Welland and Niagara Falls hospitals is not acceptable.

“People in our communities don’t want these services to leave, our doctors don’t want them to leave, and the only one who wants it is Smith and he is not staying here,” said Gates. As for the idea the supervisor floated last year of returning some services, including maternity, to the region’s southern tier if and when a new hospital is built, Gates said he believes “that hospital is never going to be built in my lifetime.” That’s why it is important for people to protest the services leaving in the first place, he stressed.

Pat Scholfield, a Welland area resident and longtime citizen advocate for fair and accessible hospital services for all Niagara residents, put it this way in a note she sent to Niagara At Large: “Local doctors say, once these services leave our hospitals, they will never return and will lead to the dismantlement of both our hospitals and ultimately lead to the inability to retain a vital emergency department.”

A  theme of the rally, said Gates and Scholfield, is “putting women and children first” since, as Scholfield added, “this portion of the population will be impacted dramatically by the removal of obstetrics and pediatrics.”

The January 19, 1 p.m. rally will be held at the Welland Arena, located on 501 King Street, across the street from the Welland Hospital and just south of Lincoln Street. Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati and Welland Mayor Barry Sharpe are among those expected to participate.

Members of the public attending the rally are encouraged to bring their own signs and pregnant mothers and parents of young children are also being encouraged to attend.

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