Solidarity

Ruth Kollars says Belleville General Hospital staff are overworked and can’t take on additional patients that would come if the capacity of hospitals in Trenton or Picton were reduced.

POOCH lends its support to Our TMH in fight to preserve hospital services in the community

Supporters of Trenton Memorial Hospital are worried. All summer, long rumour and speculation have swirled about the future of the hospital. Many fear the hospital’s surgery may be on the chopping block as QHC struggles to keep its head above water, bogged down by a provincial funding scheme that rewards the most efficient hospitals and punishes laggards.

QHC is in this latter category. It says this is because it manages four geographically distinct sites. The province’s funding agency, the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) challenges that argument, insisting the formula compensates for the multi-site configuration of QHC. The LHIN has told QHC it must improve or risk seeing its funding cut further.

The losers in this argument are the residents and patients who rely on healthcare in this aging community. The bottom line is that QHC’s funding is likely to be reduced this year and for several more years—until the hospital corporation can get its costs in line with better-performing hospitals in the future.

This spells trouble for the small hospitals in Trenton and Picton. While Picton has long had loud and enthusiastic community support, Trenton Memorial’s support has been muted. That is until this past year. Residents and healthcare professionals in that community have become increasingly alarmed by the possibility that major cuts could be made to Trenton Memorial.

The action group Our TMH was formed to voice the community’s concern and disapproval of additional cuts to the local hospital. In a short time, it has managed to grab headlines and drive the debate around the threats to healthcare in the region.

In August, withering criticism of QHC by Our TMH and renewed speculation the hospital corporation was preparing to eliminate surgery services in Trenton forced QHC board chair Tricia Anderson to respond.

In a statement, Anderson said her board had not made any final decisions, and that community consultations are continuing through October. Anderson anticipated decisions could be made in the a November meeting.

“We must review and analyze every option in order to ensure we are making informed decisions,” wrote Anderson.

She added that her board was committed to an emergency department, inpatient beds and diagnostic equipment at all four hospitals.

It is this latter bit that concerns folks worried about the steady centralization of hospital functions in Belleville General—at the expense of patients and healthcare professionals in the County and Quinte West.

Ruth Kollars joined the picketers outside Belleville General Hospital (BGH) on Monday afternoon. Her dad passed away at the hospital last month after a two-and-a-halfweek stay. Kollars complained that nurses and personal support workers were overworked. She says her dad died alone—between shift changes. Kollars believes BGH is struggling with overworked staff doing the best they can. She doesn’t understand how diminishing capacity in Trenton and Picton will improve conditions at BGH.

“How are they supposed to [bring] more people into the system?” wonders Kollars. “The must first properly care for the people they already have here.”

Delegates from Patrons Of Our County Hospital (POOCH) joined about half a dozen protesters from Our TMH in front of BGH on Monday. In Trenton, an estimated 400 frustrated residents came out to register their concern.

“We joined the Trenton Memorial group to show our support and to show the flag for the County,” said POOCH founding member Dave Gray. “Trenton Memorial is at risk the same way Prince Edward County Memorial is. We have to support them.”

Another POOCH member, Betsy Sinclair, said the turnout in Belleville was small but enthusiastic.

“So many people honked their horns, waved or shouted support,” said Sinclair. “We had a great time and met some interesting people. We were visible.”

She hoped the protest might rouse people in the County, many of whom have grown weary of the 15- year-long struggle to retain services, capacity and physicians in this aging community.

“POOCH is still working to bring the realities and inequity of healthcare funding to the people of the County,” said Sinclair.