By Doug Draper
In a move that has at least some people in his old hometown of Fort Erie wondering what took him so long, Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has joined the rising call of south Niagara residents for a public inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Reilly Anzovino.
The 18-year-old Fort Erie college student died shortly before arriving at the emergency room of the Welland hospital site following a Boxing Day traffic collision on Hwy. 3 in her hometown.
Wondering if she might still be alive had the Niagara Health System not closed the emergency rooms last year at the Fort Erie and Port Colborne hospital sites, thousands of south Niagara residents are calling on the province’s Liberal government to investigate.
Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor wrote Ontario’s chief coroner, Andrew McCallum, on Jan. 4 calling for an inquest, followed shortly thereafter by Peter Kormos, the Welland riding’s provincial representative amidst a growing chorus of area residents making the same call. On Jan. 11, Reilly’s parents, Tim Anzovino and Denise Kennedy, called on the coroner (their letter is included in a separate posting on this) for an inquest and the following day the province’s NDP leader, Andrea Horwath held a media conference in front of Fort Erie’s Douglas Memorial Hospital.
Hudak, who has disappointed some of his old Niagara South constituents with his relative silence on the emergency room closings, finally waded in this Jan. 14. with a public call for an inquiry which reads as follows.
“It is with deep sadness that I offer my condolences to the family of Reilly Anzovino- a
young woman whose untimely passing has touched the entire community,” Hudak said.
“I have spoken with the family and they have requested my assistance in their call for a
coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding their daughter’s death. At their request, I have written to the coroner to request an inquest into this matter.
“There are many unanswered questions about this tragedy including the impact of the
Local Health Integrated Networks’ decision to close the emergency rooms in Fort Erie
and Port Colborne.
“As the Leader of the Official Opposition, I will use the scrutiny of the Legislature and the resources of my office to do my part to help the Anzovino family get the answers they
deserve. Together, we can ensure that a tragedy like this is not repeated.”
A citizens group in Fort Erie, known as the Yellow Shirt Brigade that is fighting to save services at their local hospital, has expressed disappointment that Hudak has not shown up at gatherings they have held over the past year, including one in front of the hospital last September to protest the imminent closing of the ER. During that gathering, an individual asked to speak to the crowd at the last minute to offer apologies that Hudak could not be there to express his support for the residents.
Hudak launched a an online petition last fall which thousands of residents have signed, urging the province’s Liberal government and the Hamilton-Niagara-Haldimand-Brant Local Health Integration Network (a non-elected bureaucratic body created by the province) to finally approve the tens-of-millions of dollars in funding that will be needed to build a new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby to replace the aging hospital site.
There is some speculation among critics of the way the province has been going about cutting services at smaller hospitals and consolidating them at larger hospital sites that a new West Lincoln hospital may never be built. They fear their may be an unspoken plan to eventually consolidate hospital services for the Grimsby/West Lincoln area at larger hospitals in Hamilton and at the new hospital complex the Niagara Health System (NHS) is now building in west St. Catharines.
Ironically, the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and NHS were created while Hudak was still sitting as a cabinet minister in the former Conservative governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.
In related news, Theresa Anzovino, an aunt of deceased Fort Erie teen Reilly Anzovino, is appealing to the public at large to support the campaign for a coroner’s inquest into Reilly’s death by writing the chief coroner and Premier Dalton McGuinty. Her appeal, along with contact information for the chief coroner and premier are included below
Please consider supporting this campaign for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Reilly Anzovino.
Please circulate to friends and family
Reilly Anzovino died on December 27th as a result of injuries causing internal bleeding that were sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Reilly was a passenger in the vehicle accident that occurred on Highway Three at Nigh Road. The accident was a result of weather conditions, namely icy roads. It took 30 minutes to transport Reilly from the accident site to the Welland hospital site and she died shortly before arrival. It’s estimated that the Port Colborne facility is about 10 minutes away, the Fort Erie location 13 minutes. Did the 17-20 minutes time difference make a difference in the life of Reilly?
The issue of public concern is:
Did the closure of the Douglas Memorial Site and the Port Colborne site played a role in Reilly’s death given the extra time it took to transport her to Welland? Was time was a factor in obtaining the blood transfusions needed to stabilize her condition before she could have been transferred to a trauma centre?
Please contact the following people by letter or email:
1. Dr. Andre McCallum
Office of the Chief Coroner
26 Grenville Street
Toronto, ON, M7A 2G9
2. Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M7A 1A1
Tel 416-325-1941
Fax 416-325-3745 dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
3. Please copy MPPs :
a. kim@kimcraitor.com
b. pkormos-qp@ndp.on.ca
c. timhudak@niagara.net
Please forward this to family or friends. Perhaps this is Reilly’s legacy!
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Niagara At Large 
Doug, There is a problem with the coroner’s email address. Also the postal code for Dr. McCallum which is M7A 2G9.
I sent a letter I have copied below:
January 15, 2010
Pat Scholfield
71 Lakeshore Road West
Port Colborne, ON L3K 2S2
Dr. Andre McCallum
Office of the Chief Coroner
26 Grenville Street
Toronto, ON
M7A 2G9
Dear Dr. McCallum:
I am writing you in regards to the death of an 18 year old Fort Erie girl, Theresa Anzovino on December 27, 2009. Many of us are concerned her death may have been preventable as emergency departments at hospitals in both Fort Erie and Port Colborne had been downgraded to urgent care centres and Miss Anzovino was transported to Welland hospital, which took almost twice as long. We wonder if Miss Anzovino had been taken to the closest hospital, stabilized and transferred, would she be alive today?
On July 28, 2010 a gentleman, Don Davis of Port Colborne was a fatality when it took 47 minutes for an ambulance to transport the man to Welland hospital. Port Colborne hospital was approximately five minutes away. Our mayor called for a public inquest at the time. We were told a coroner’s investigation would take place. On November 23, 2009 Mr. Davis’ son Don Davis sent a letter to the coroner, Dr. Jack Stanborough in Hamilton requesting the results of the investigation. To this date no response has been received.
We are requesting a coroner’s inquest into each of these deaths as the public is concerned if the deaths may have been preventable and if recommendations could come out of an inquest that would prevent future unnecessary fatalities.
Respectfully,
Pat Scholfield 905-835-8249
People’s Healthcare Coalition
cc. Premier D. McGuinty
Kim Craitor, MPP
Peter Kormos, MPP
Tim Hudak, MPP
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This tragedy was been a stunning disaster for not one, but two well-known families and all their relatives who are well weaved into the fabric of this town.
Two weeks is a respectful period of time for Hudak, a Fort Erie native, to wait before piping in. Craitor, I don’t think, waited even until the funeral.
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Make sure it’s a three-level inquest: 1) medical cause of death; 2) proximate cause, such as MVA in snowstorm; and 3) remote contributing factor(s). The pathologist and the police handle the first two well. But only a broad enquiry, not always automatically done, can bring remote factor(s) and rare artifacts, such as a “recent ER closure by NHS causing time-critical delay and death,” to light. NHS and its LHIN and government sponsors most certainly will not want the latter. Don’t assume miracles! The coroner will have to be prepped accurately to start and have personal guts to finish. Total freedom from ‘political’ influence is essential. So, simply ‘getting an inquest’ is not quite enough, it has to be the right kind of inquest.
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To all readers (including our ‘home town boy,’ Tim Hudak, ON conservative candidate):
Although I seem to be a ‘complainer’ right now, I’d like to make it very clear that Canada’s universal Medicare system is among the best in the world: worry-free of individual cost, thorough and generally accessible, high quality, etc. Our people are living longer, are pretty healthy, and are getting taller (if not always slimmer). Our system is good for doctors, too, as they do not have to make decisions about whom to exclude from service (as in US-HMO insured care). And doctors here, while not wealthy, can choose where they practice and do make a good living. Medicare is not socialism! It is democracy at work, “removing choice from the rich person’s wallet and placing it on everyone’s ballot.” My concern is seeing an outfit like NHS in the act of perverting that hard-won Medicare system.
Bill Hogg
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Not sure why the author of this blog has not checked his facts. Mr. Hudak has been a strong advocate against the closure of hospital ER’s in both Port Colborne and Fort Erie.
The facts are as clear as day and if the author would have done some research before writing, he might have found statements and actions have been made/taken by Mr. Hudak in regards to his opposition to the closures of these hospitals ER and the mismanagement of the hospitals by the LHIN previous to his recent comments/actions.
In the Welland Tribune on September 19, 2009, Mr. Hudak made the following statement in regards to the ER closures of Fort Erie and Port Colborne hospitals “We oppose the LHIN’s decision to close down the emergency rooms in those two hospitals,” Hudak said.
Here are a couple more comments made by Mr Hudak’s in regards to the LHIN and their mismanagement of these hospitals.
September 24, 2009.
“The Minister of Health is paid to look after health care,” Hudak said. “We’re strongly opposed to the LHIN (Local Health Integration Network). They’re un-elected, unaccountable individuals who are in charge of health care.”
October 30, 2009
“The Premier has changed his tune to where his billion-dollar boondoggle is a good thing. Well, Premier, why don’t you tell the people from Fort Erie and Port Colborne who have seen the services at their hospitals cut and their ERs closed,” Hudak said.
On April 29, 2009 Tim Hudak spoke at Queens Park at Save Our Services (SOS.) Rally. Hudak specifically speaks in regards to the Fort Erie and Port Colborne hospital. To view the YouTube clip, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRXWDERvToM
Mr. Hudak has also been a huge advocate for the new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital and did a petition earlier this year that has over 2000 responses.
Above are examples of just a few of the comments and actions that Mr Hudak has made and taken, there are many more.
So quite honestly in my opinion, Mr. Hudak has been a strong advocate for the people of Port Colborne and Fort Erie in regards to the closure of ER’s and the lack of services that ultimately Dalton McGuinty is responsible for doing with this LHIN. I don’t think Mr Hudak was slient at all surrounding the recent death of Reilly Anzovino and the questions being asked, rather he was respectful and gave the family time to grieve as oppose to turning it into political gamesmanship. I think that Mr. Hudak is the only one who has approached this terrible situation respectfully for the family’s sake.
The real questions that should be asked, should be directed towards Mr. Craitor and his Liberal government. Mr. Craitor is the one that allowed the closure of this ER in his own riding and is now playing politics when there is a very serious issue at hand and the people of his riding need emergency services in Fort Erie, as well as Port Colborne and many other rural areas in Ontario.
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