Port Colborne Mayor On Niagara Hospital Services – ‘The Status Quo Is Unacceptable!’

From Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey

There has been a great deal of attention given to providing equitable access to health care in South Niagara with an intention to enhance overall regional health care within the Niagara region.

Port Colborne, Ontario Mayor Vance Badawey

As mentioned at our last meeting of Council, collaboration is critical!!

Moving forward, our entire team is focused on delivering equitable access to health care and ensuring it is done in an efficient manner. We look forward to working in collaboration with representation from all South Niagara municipalities, most importantly, physician representation from those communities.

We have a desire to develop a critical and acute care pathway that is based on best practices and builds on the work we have already completed here in the City of Port Colborne.

We absolutely must develop an appropriate and equitable critical care pathway that meets best practice standards, STEMI protocols, and attracts physicians that will want to practice in Niagara.

Although we have addressed the primary care needs, and have developed an excellent Clinical Services Plan that will meet the needs of Port Colborne, we must collectively work on a plan to meet the further and overall needs of all the citizens of South Niagara.

Dr. Kevin Smith, the provincially appointed Supervisor to the Niagara Health System, has recommended a new South Niagara Hospital that will also include the north easterly community of Niagara Falls.

This is a strategic plan that will require input from our health care providers, our Health Minister, our LHIN, and most importantly, our residents.

For example, we need to know where gaps exist at the new north St. Catharines Hospital with respect to providing equitable access to care. We are quite certain we perceive those gaps to be in many aspects of care, which is why we have explored other options that can be looked at for the ensuing 6 or more years it will take for this process to be undertaken.

We have seen this happen in other communities, where promises are made for new hospitals, and they don’t come to fruition. We must be heard as one voice to the MOHLTC on what our needs are, and where the gaps in care occur.

With respect to Dr. Smith’s recommendation for a stand-alone UCC Model of Care, this is a model of care that works well when we have addressed our primary care model of delivery and work diligently to recruit physicians and allied health.

As our citizens become healthy, they will not have to access Emergency Departments for acuity of care as many currently do. We are working on program alignment and collaborative measures with our Inter-professional Care – Virtual Family Health Team, and this primary care reform will lend itself well with the UCC that is proposed. 

We are extremely fortunate to have high caliber physician leadership here in Port Colborne to undertake additional projects that enhance and improve the delivery of health care. We know they will continue to be a strong voice of leadership as we move forward.

As our electronic medical record systems become connected, we support this model, as long as acute care availability is equitable and timely according to best practice standards. 

From day one of the introduction of the Hospital Improvement Plan (HIP), we have collaborated with our Health care providers to ensure that the best possible Clinical Service Plan delivery model would be developed, and that the ministerial bodies would accept this plan.

We expect that a second new Niagara Hospital will serve all of Niagara better not just south Niagara. However, it must be done in a strategic manner and we must keep in mind that this is only a recommendation – ultimately it is up to the Minister to move this forward. Until then it remains the status quo for Niagara, in particular, South Niagara, and the status quo is UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

It is imperative the Minister makes an immediate decision. If she is not prepared to do so, it would be my suggestion to bring forward her expected deliverables for us to follow through with to ultimately enable her to make a decision. 

In the meantime, we carry on as we have. 

Renovations must be completed to the Port Colborne UCC site, as we have measurably brought forward a Clinical Services Plan modal in a collaborative manner which integrates Primary Care with Hospital restructuring. This modal can be utilized throughout South Niagara, hence the reason for consistent collaboration!!! 

There is a greater need today to collaborate to establish best practices to clinical pathways for all of South Niagara.

We have established the South Niagara Health Care Corporation to be a venue for this collaboration.

We met last Monday with a healthy turnout of interested individuals.

A brief overview of specific initiatives was provided with respect to the Interim Report from Dr. Kevin Smith keeping in mind a need for us all to understand the recommendations and the implications, as well as our intention to continue our focus – recognizing “best practices” and establishing critical care pathways based on best practices, that ensures equitable access to health care for our residents. 

Our intent is to align primary care with our acute care centre (UCC or Hospital) through continued collaboration.

Our direction, goals and objectives continue to evolve. This is not work that has a completion date attached to it. Our intent is to stay the course.

Although we believe Dr. Smith is in the right direction, we still have work to do. While the work, as mentioned above continues, we look forward to contributing to the discussion, our thoughts on a new south Niagara site, in particular, its location and the location of a stand-alone UCC.

Once again, focusing on “best practices” and establishing critical care pathways based on best practices that ensure equitable access to health care for South Niagara residents.

The South Niagara Health Care Corporation will be hosting a Strategic Planning exercise on June 4^th to receive input into the process of solidifying a South Niagara Clinical Services Plan modal in a collaborative manner which integrates Primary Care with Hospital restructuring. 

As well, we are currently collaborating with our health care partners just a few minutes from the border to establish a cross border partnership, which at this time must be explored as a possibility to ensure that all of South Niagara has equitable access to critical and acute care while this second site is being carefully considered.

We have met with these partners, and are ready to present to Dr. Smith as an alternative pathway that meets best practice standards, is fiscally responsible, and ensures that sustainability is possible for all of South Niagara.  

The Niagara Health System continues to have a great deal of difficulty in establishing appropriate critical care pathways due to our unique geography here in South Niagara.

We recognize the relationship that Windsor has with Detroit has worked well, and we have in fact met with Kaleida Health and liaised with Dr. Gord Vail and the Provincially appointed supervisor in Windsor, as they have a relationship with Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit that addresses critical care needs when necessary, in an expeditious manner that ensures all STEMI protocols are met.  

We are looking at fiscally responsible alternatives that have in fact been used in the past, and our partners in Windsor have collaborated and are very willing to assist with this initiative.

We anticipated this as the supervisory role of Dr. Smith, and thus believe that we can work together on a Clinical Services Plan in a collaborative manner with the LHIN, MOHLTC, NHS and all of the municipalities affected.  

We must develop a plan that meets the mandates of all ministerial bodies, while at the same time addressing our unique geography and fiscal challenges.

Health care is evolving, and we are prepared to roll up our sleeves and develop a process that will benefit all of Niagara not just South Niagara.

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