A Submission from the Ontario Health Coalition
(A short preface from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – This is a worthy cause but I think many in Niagara, Ontario know where we are at now. The NHS opened its super hospital at a north Niagara site in west St. Catharines, and many services at other hospitals in central and south Niagara have been shut down and consolidated into this site.
Chidlren at a rally this past winter in Welland, Ontario for saving services at Welland and other suth Niagara hospitals. The services were sucked into the north Niagara, west St. Catharines, Niagara Health System new health centre anyway. Maybe children like this should have been rallying for south Niagara hospital services a decade ago? File photo by Doug Draper
I often wonder where the Ontario Health Coalition was when Niagara area doctors and nurses, and other citizens in this community wanted this new west St. Catharines hospital to be located at a more central site in the region. Perhaps it was still hoping that we could go on sustaining hospital services at small sites throughout the province at a cost that is virtually unsustainable. There seemed to be a denial on the coalition’s part that some consolidation of services is the only way to make hospitals work in an age of rising medical staff and technology costs, and that the only alternative might be to at least make sure any new hospital is located in a central, accessible site for people in regions like Niagara.
Having said that, there may be some merit in attending the Ontario Health Coalition’s rally on the grounds of Queen’s Park this June. I don’t know. – Doug Draper, NAL.)
Toronto, Ontario –What: Day of Action at Queen’s Park Main Legislative Building.
Citizens from communities across Ontario will bus, van and car pool to Queen’s Park on June 4 to participate in a Day of Action to protect local health care services. Hospital funding continues to be cut every year – and small and rural hospitals are under grave threat.
Already, some communities are facing major service cuts that threaten the future viability of their local community hospitals – and this is after only the first year of a 5-year “austerity” plan by the provincial government. On June 4, citizens from across the province will stand up to protect local hospital services. Events include a rally at the Ministry of Health, a media conference, meetings with rural MPPs and a meeting with all three political parties.
Momentum is building as more and more communities from across Ontario are organizing to participate.
Participating communities include:
Quinte West, contact Sally Freeman 613-392-2841 x4489 – bus will leave 8 am from the Ramada Inn, Trenton
Petrolia & Lambton County, contact Arlene Patterson 519-542-1895 – van(s) will leave at 7:30 am from Arlene’s house
Wallaceburg & Chatham, contact Shirley Roebuck 519-677-4460 – van(s) will leave at 7 am from the Walmart mall parking lot near the Beer Store
Niagara, contact Sue Hotte 905-932-1646 – Pick-ups are being arranged
Perth and Smiths Falls, contact John Jackson 613-285-4048 – bus will leave Perth at 6:30 am from Barnabe’s Grocery Store at the mall and 7 am from the Smiths Falls Walmart
Iroquois Falls, contact Mike Garneau 705-221-2525 vans are being coordinated Alexandria and Cornwall.
When: Tuesday June 4, 2013 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: Queen’s Park, Main Legislative Building
For more information: Natalie Mehra, Director, Ontario Health Coalition 416-441-2502 or ohc@sympatico.ca
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