POOCH barks

P.O.O.C.H. members speak to a gathering of residents in Picton last summer. From left to right, Betsy Sinclair, Dave Gray, Leo Finnegan and Al Reimers.

Provincial politicians get earful from County hospital advocates

Representatives from three provincial parties fanned out across Ontario last week to host a series of meetings meant to gather ideas and opinions in advance of the provincial budget.

In Kingston the politicians met with members of Patrons of Our County Hospital, otherwise known as P.O.O.C.H., Dave Gray, Al Reimers and Betsy Sinclair.

Gray kicked off the County delegation’s presentation noting that it is the government’s most solemn task to provide high quality health care to its residents— particularly its most vulnerable citizens seniors.

Gray said cuts to services and beds at Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital (PECMH) have forced seniors to travel farther for health care. They must bear the cost of extra transportation and endure poor weather and often difficult road conditions.

He noted that County residents lack a reliable and extensive public transportation network that urban residents enjoy. Moving services out of this community diminishes access to care.

“It is immoral, not to mention political suicide, to cut beds and services to rural residents,” said Gray.

Al Reimers underlined the point that the needs of rural and urban communities are vastly different in terms of health care—that community hospitals such as Prince Edward County Memorial require special consideration. He further noted that PECMH had recently been recognized as the top performing hospitals in the province in acute patient care—but continues to be challenged by disproportionate cuts to resources.

He noted how this community abides a great affection for its hospital, but antipathy toward the Minstry of Health and Quinte Health Care (QHC). He challenged the politicians gathered in Kingston to probe why this is the case.

His view is that amalgamation forced PECMH into an arrangement in which the hospital lost its ability to set its own course—to decide its own future. This sense of loss of control was magnified later when QHC discontinued public membership in the corporation.

“The erosion of democratic process has since been followed by a number of cuts to medical services in our hospital that have been made with little or no public consultation,” said Reimers.

Betsy Sinclair cautioned the gathered politicians that the County is a microcosm of the impact of health care across the province. Centralization has moved services farther away from patients, while driving up the managerial costs. She noted that the decline in health care services has destabilized the community and the local economy. Some are forced to move to secure better access to health care—others choose not to move to the County.