Rural healthcare in the spotlight during coalition townhall
Rural southwest Ontario hospitals, particularly those which have borne the brunt of staff shortages and rotating closures, were in the spotlight during a town hall hosted by Ontario Health Coalition.
During the Tuesday town hall, the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) and Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) said provincial moves towards privatization could impact local healthcare services.
"In turn, the smaller hospitals have lost services as governments have forced downsizing,” said Doug Allan with the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC). “Local services have been cut and closed and centralized to other larger hospitals. This is a very significant worry we have about small hospitals that the services will to the extent that they remain will be rationed and moved to larger centres.”
Prior to the town hall meetings, the Ontario Hospital Association said in a media release discussions will surround urgent action to support local public hospitals instead of funneling millions into for-profit corporations to privatize public hospital services.
One local hospital in Seaforth has been seeing its emergency department face numerous closures through the year.
Seaforth nurse Tricia Delange spoke at the meeting and said the hospital only has two registered nurses in the ED at a time.
"Whenever a patient comes into the emergency department who needs a transfer, who's had a heart attack or a stroke, something major, that patient needs to go to a bigger centre that's obviously more specialized to that need," said Delange. "That nurse needs to go with the patient in the ambulance to that bigger centre. That leaves one nurse by themselves in the emergency department where another trauma can very easily and quickly come in.
"We don't have people on call. We go through our list of the ten nurses we have that work there and we can and we beg and we ask."
One member of the health coalition said lost services and staff shortages are two large contributing factors for many hospitals throughout rural areas, with Seaforth being one of the hardest hit.
The Clinton Public Hospital, which is also managed by the HPHA, has seen its own share of temporary closures this year to its emergency department. The hospital faced a prolonged closure starting in 2019 which lasted over a year.
The town hall was the latest in a series shining a spotlight on the issues local hospitals are facing in the province.
The next virtual town hall is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. and will focus on the town of St. Marys, which has also dealt with a number of closures and staffing issues at its hospital.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
He didn't trust police but sought their help anyway. Two days later, he was dead
Jameek Lowery was among more than 330 Black people who died after police stopped them with tactics that aren’t supposed to be deadly, like physical restraint and use of stun guns, The Associated Press found.
Fluid in eye cells can 'boil' if you watch the eclipse without protection: expert
Millions of people in parts of Eastern and Atlantic Canada will be able to see the rare solar eclipse happening on April 8. But they should only look up if they have proper eye protection, experts say.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.