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
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.