By Doug Draper
This Christmas season will obviously be a difficult one for the surviving members of Reilly Anzovino’s family.
A fundraiser for Reilly Anzovino and family
What has haunted Reilly’s family and other members of her community ever since is whether she might still be alive today had the Niagara Health System – the provincially-sponsored board responsible for operating most of the hospitals in the region – not included in a controversial “Hospital Improvement Plan” it released two summers ago decisions to close down, earlier last year, emergency departments at hospitals in Fort Erie and neighbouring Port Colborne.
This question will be a focus of an Ontario coroner’s inquest, likely to commence in the first half of next year, and a citizens’ group called the Yellow Shirt Brigade – mostly south Niagara residents fighting for fair access to hospital services in that part of the region – is hosting a Christmas fundraiser to support the Anzovino family in whatever costs they are burdened with during the course of the inquest.
The fundraiser will feature the Port Colborne Chorale performing a benefit concert called “Bringing Christmas To You” on Sunday, December 12 at 7p.m. at the St, George’s Roman Catholic Church on 56 Ridgeway Road in Crystal Beach in Fort Erie.
Tickets to the event are $10.00 and can be purchased at the door. You can also send a cheque to Joy Russell, Yellow Shirt Brigade, P.O. Box 764, Ridgeway, ON. L0S 1N0.
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater binational Niagara region.)
Niagara At Large 
All cheq
LikeLike
All cheques for the Anzovino Fundraising concert should be made out to “Anzovino Inquest” as the monies will be held in trust at the Lawyers.
As you all know Christmas is a time for giving and if we, as a community, can help the alleviate the financial burden put on this bereaved family, by the exorbitant cost of the Coroner’s inquest into their young daughter’s death, then we are giving the gift of love and support. There will be no charity receipts given as it is not a charity. It is just a gift from your heart.
If the results of the Coroner’s inquest can save more lives in Fort Erie and Port Colborne then it is a gift that keeps on giving.
The Anzovinos have paid more than enough, as the cost of human life is just too high a price to pay.
LikeLike
I have heard this coroner’s inquest could cost $47,000 and the government will NOT pick up the tab. I quess they expect the family to pay for this. This inquest could be of major importance to south Niagara’s health care and hospital care system. Is the system safe with the emergency rooms at the hospitals in Port Colborne and Fort Erie no longer functioning as emergency departments? This forces our paramedics to take seriously injured patients, such as Reilly, to an emergency room further away rather than being stabilized and transferred at the closest hospital.
Would Reilly have survived had she been stabilized and transferred at Port Colborne or Fort Erie hospital….but almost more importantly….will other people die en route in the future because of a trip to a functioning ER that is just a bit too far?
We need to get these answers for all the citizens of South Niagara to prevent other unnecessary deaths. Out of this inquest may come recommendations that will address safe distances for the location of emergency departments.
Whether or not you can go to the Chorale fundraiser, I would urge EVERYBODY to donate to this cause. It truly is a matter of life or death….and could be yours.
LikeLike
If you live in an area where there is no ready access to a hospita,l this inquest could change how these services are provided,my feeling is, we are all at risk, if you live in either Fort Erie or Port Colborne, The Yellow Shirts are assisting the Anzovino family quest, is really everybody’s quest,this is a nagging question, what if? she could have had speedy stability, in a timely manner. We all need an answer.please support the family Anzovino quest.
LikeLike
This inquest is a must. This particular death I hear is not the only one that was caused at least in part by hospital closures and the not so “hip” Hospital Improvement Plan. Just wait until this new behemoth opens in St. Catharines and watch the congestion and increased number of traffic accidents because of location driven improvision.
LikeLike