Ontario Health Minister Isn’t Saying ‘No’ To West Niagara Hospital Rebuild – Debbie Zimmerman

By Doug Draper

The funding for a rebuild of the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby, Ontario may still be on the table.

Grimsby, Ontario regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman

At least that is the suggestion Grimsby regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman says she got during a meeting this May 28 with the province’s health minister Deb Matthews.

“There was no outright ‘No’ to anything,” Zimmerman  told Niagara At Large this May 30 meeting with Matthews during annual ‘Niagara Week’ meetings Niagara’s regional and municipal councillors hold in and around Queen’s Park to lobby for the interests of this region. “I think it was a very positive meeting.”

That may give a glimmer or more of hope to the roughly 12,000 of residents in Grimsby, West Lincoln, Lincoln and other neighbouring communities who joined a rally one evening at the beginning of this May to let Matthews and her provincial Liberal government know they want this hospital to be rebuilt for the future of residents in their communities. The rally was a response to news that the provincial government was planning to deep six funding it had previously promised for a rebuild for the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital.

Zimmerman said that while Matthews left open the possibility of provincial funding for a hospital rebuild, estimated to cost $136.8 million, she also said that given the multi-billion-dollar deficit the province faces, it is getting tougher to finance such projects. The minister also underscored the province’s desire to focus less on hospitalizing people and more on health care strategies that keep people out of hospitals.

The Grimsby regional councillor was accompanied at the meeting with other are representatives, including Niagara’s regional chair Gary Burroughs and a member of the region’s land ambulance and paramedic services who stressed to the minister that the West Lincoln hospital, given its place as the only hospital in Niagara’s west end, plays an important role in stabilizing patients from that area who need ready access to emergency care.

Zimmerman said the regional government is working with West Lincoln Memorial Hospital representatives on plans for services at the hospital that complement the province’s long-term health care strategies and demonstrate the continued need for the hospital despite is proximity to full-service hospitals in Hamilton and one scheduled to open next year in west St. Catharines.

In the meantime, Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak, joined by Grimby Myaork Bob Bentley, West Lincoln Mayor Doug Joyner and Lincoln Mayor Bill Hodgson, tabled a petition at Queen’s Park signed by more than 12,000 west Niagara residents, urging the provincial government to fund the hospital rebuild.

“A petition of this size is rarely seen on a province-wide issue. For a community of our size to join together and collect 12,000 signatures in just a few short weeks is testament to the hard work and dedication of the many men, women and children who stood up for a cause they believe in,” Hudak said. 

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