QUICK BULLETIN
By Doug Draper
In an announcement at this June 14 Niagara regional council meeting, the Region’s chair, Gary Burroughs, said the six mayors in south Niagara – representing Wainfleet, Port Colborne, Niagara Falls, Welland, Pelham and Fort Erie – have reached consensus on two areas where a new hospital could be located in Niagara, Ontario’s southern tier.
Those locations include the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) and Lyons Creek area near the border of Niagara Falls and Fort Erie and the East Main Street and Highway 140 area in Welland.
“The south Niagara mayors,” added Burroughs, following about a half a dozen meetings over the past few weeks, “are unanimous in their support for a south Niagara hospital.”
Early this May, in a draft plan he tabled for reforming the Niagara Health System and the way it delivers hospital services to Niagara residents, Kevin Smith, the provincially appointed supervisor of the NHS, asked mayors in Niagara’s southern tier to arrive at a consensus on a location for a new hospital by this June 15.
Burroughs said the decision mayors have made still has to go through the NHS, the area’s Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and the provincial government, and will be subject to public review and comment before any final decision is made.
Niagara At Large will have more to report on this later.
We invite our readers to share their views on this news below, remembering that we only post views by individuals who share their first and last names.
Niagara At Large 
Fort Erie residents will experience great difficulty using the winding roads to Welland from the OEW even if going via NF’s…. I think the Lyons Creek exit off the QEW would be more accessible & a more direct route.
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What about people that don’t drive? This is never considered of course … this is part of the problem why the “regional” hospital’s location (in west St. Catharines) was cited as being a bad location.
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Netherby provides quite quick direct access to Welland from Fort Erie to East Main and 140 and is more accessible to Port Colborne, Wainfleet, Pelham and of course Welland….but that is not the point….we need reasonable access to hospital care now until and should I say if the new south Niagara hospital is built….and that is not at the new complex in St. Catharines.
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The land speculators will have their maps out hoping to make a killing the way they did in St Catharines. but this time the jokes on them. They may be too old to enjoy the fruits of their investments.
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Let’s see whether McGuinty holds good on his threat to call an election, as he announced yesterday. If the Liberals get dumped, all bets are off.
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As I said on the other blog, I think Netherby and Montrose is most equidistant. Isn’t that the goal? Access? The roads can be improved and specifically maintained (plowing, etc.) and access from Fort Erie, Welland and NF is quite direct. Even Port has access to Netherby via the 140.
E. Main/406 is great for Welland but is redundant as it is so close to the new St. Catharines hospital and still way too distant for the south peninsula. If it’s going to be in Welland, save money and refurbish the current hospital.
The QEW/Lyon’s Creek site is great for NF and Welland and closer to Fort Erie but leaves Port and Wainfleet too distant.
As I also said on the other blog, either of these two proposed sites would be an even greater distance than Welland was for unfortunate folks like Reilly Anzovino. Are we supposed to consider that an improvement?
As for people who don’t drive, unfortunately that will always be a problem for some no matter where it will be situated. Often, even if people do drive, they will need an ambulance regardless. Perhaps they have no family to drive them and are too ill to do so themselves. That problem is insurmountable.
As Fiona says, if there is an election, and even if there isn’t, this new hospital is far from a sure thing. Even if the Liberals are re-elected they have lied before (GASP!!!). In the meantime there MUST be no further closures or cutbacks.
As far as choice of site, residents of the smaller communities must have an equal voice although outnumbered by those in the cities of NF and Welland. They have the same right to equal access to health care as them. Living in a city should not be the sole determinent if you live or die from a heart attack or other major acute illness or trauma. Of course big cities have the specialties but we also deserve basic urgent care.
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People who don’t drive are tired of having to pay thousands of dollars in cab fare to get to hospitals and other services. Regional transit is a start, but we need to make sure that wherever any key service is, there is direct access by transit.
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Absolutely!
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This is a continuation of the Liberal policy to close as many hospitals as possible. Once again Niagara will be the guinea pig – build one hospital to meet the needs of over 204,000 people living in 5 different municipalities plagued with the same problems inherent in the HIP plan- transportation, quick access to ERs and access to services to name a few.
There should be a new hospital built in Niagara Falls ( population over 70,000). Welland ( population over 50,000), Port Colborne ( 19,000) and Fort Erie ( 30,000) should each have their own hospitals. There is a business case to be made to keep these hospitals open – build one hospital of $ 400 million.
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