Submitted to NAL by Pat Scholfield and the Welland Health Care Committee
On March 24th the NHS will be removing Obstetrics and Paediatric Services (Mat/Child) from Welland Hospital and transferring them to the new hospital in St. Catharines, Ontario.
This hospital in Welland, Ontario will be seeing maternity and related services closed by the end of this March – another migration of hospital services from Niagara’s southern tier to a new hospital in north Niagara.
The removal of these services will have a dismantling effect on Welland Hospital and there is a concern Orthopedics may also be transferred in the near future as NHS supervisor Kevin Smith has proposed consolidating Orthopedics and the Hospital Improvement Plan recommends moving Orthopedics out of Welland Hospital.
Our local physicians are concerned the removal of these services will result in the loss of a vital 24/7 Emergency Department at Welland Hospital.
Welland distributed and received nearly 20,000 signed petitions requesting these services remain at Welland Hospital.
Welland Mayor Barry Sharpe has requested a delay of the transfer of Mat/Child until the new NHS board is appointed and has an opportunity to review this decision.
Kevin Smith has said No and the NHS plans to remove Mat/Child on March 24th.
We the people, sponsored by the Welland Health Care Committee, are planning a Bus Trip to Queen’s Park on Thursday March 21st to be leaving from Market Square in Welland at 8a.m. and returning at 3p.m. to attend the Question and Answer Period.
Our goal will be to object to the removal of services from Welland Hospital and questions will be asked of Health Care Minister Deb Matthews
WE NEED A STRONG VOICE IN OUR EFFORT TO SAVE SERVICES AT WELLAND HOSPITAL……..PLEASE JOIN US!!!!! ……WE NEED YOU!!!!
Call Pat Scholfield to reserve a seat on the bus at 289-820-8648 or email scholfieldpat@yahoo.com
Send this message and/or the attached flyer to all your contacts, call your neighbours, friends and relatives…..All are welcome!!
Pat Scholfield is a Niagara resident and long-time advocate for saving hospital services in Niagara, Ontario’s southern tier.
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It is called justification or errors for they, the NHS and the old Boy’s Club of St Catharines combined with other corporate peoples must show a wisdom they DO NOT POSSESS. …..And from day one this has been errors personified by a Creed of Greed and false Entitlement that is truly sickening.
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I’d like to remind NAL readers that the Welland General is also losing all its in-patient mental health beds. In-patient mental health in the Niagara Health System is being consolidated at the new St. Catharines Hospital — ALL Niagara’s mental health beds, paediatric and adult, will be in that location. So an entire generation of accepted practice in hospital psychiatry — small mental health departments in the local community hospital allowing family and friends easy access to the mentally ill patient, a practice that has been shown to speed up reintegration into the familiar (and thus non-threatening) community environment — has been thrown out the window, in the name of integration. BTW, the larger the psychiatric ward, the less likelihood of recovery, and the more likely that self-injurious practices (cutting, for instance) spread among the patient population.
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