Fort Erie Healthcare SOS is a non-profit organization, a group of volunteers that have an ongoing campaign to express the concerns of the community to not only restore the Urgent Care Center at Douglas Memorial Hospital but to also save the services currently provided.
Douglas Memorial currently services Urgent Care from 10 am- 8 pm, 7 days a week and in addition diagnostic services include x-ray and ultrasound as well as bloodwork. The hospital also has fifty-five beds that take care of complex, chronic care, and palliative care patients. Outpatient clinics also include physiotherapy, mental health, and addiction services. Douglas Memorial currently services a population of approximately 36,000 and in addition often takes in patients from other municipalities to assist with overflow conditions at the large Urban Centres.
We have taken community members petitions, letters, and postcards to Queens Park again on May 14th in Toronto to urge the Minister of Health Sylvia Jones to continue to publicly fund and to restore our Urgent Care to 24/7 operation and to continue Douglas Memorials ongoing operation past 2028 when the new Niagara Falls Hospital opens. Our MPP Wayne Gates accepted our petitions and will present them to the legislature. MPP Gates and MPP Burch from Port Colborne and Welland questioned the Minister of Health repeatedly to get a commitment to not close our Urgent Care Centers but the Minister only responded with how much money the government is committed to spend.
Our community members have spoken loud and clear, Douglas Memorial is essential to our community’s health and well being, even with the number of services that have been shifted away from our centre, our community has affirmed time and again that Douglas Memorial is the lifeline for ER and can help large urban hospitals to free up serious & emergent acute care beds and services.
Fort Erie Healthcare SOS, Port Colborne Health Coalition and Save the Welland Hospital have all repeatedly expressed that the services currently being provided are essential and can bring healthcare close to home, make it accessible to both the patient and their family.
We know that when people are ill, they want their family close to them, to advocate for them or just to be able to address their needs when staff are busy. Having small local community-based hospitals allows the larger urban centres to focus on their priorities and specialized medicine and treatment.
We know that the Ontario Government is focused this year on providing funding for bricks and mortar and that they are relying on community funding for supplies, tools, and equipment. Sylvia Jones the Minister of Health made it quite clear that they have invested $56 billion over the next decade in health infrastructure, which includes $103 million in additional planning grants to support over fifty major hospital projects and add approximately 3,000 new hospital beds.
We in Fort Erie are calling on the Ontario Government to include Douglas Memorial to their list of communities. It only makes common sense when one looks at the statistics on population growth. When it was first decided to close our hospital in 2009 the community fought back and had assurances that we would continue to have a 24/7 Urgent Care Centre. With each passing hospital business plan the number of local hospital services in Fort Erie and surrounding areas have all lost services or in some instances like Niagara on the Lake their hospital was completely shuttered, and the community is forced to rely on clinic services or to go to Niagara Falls or St. Catharines Hospitals.
We know that for some people in Fort Erie the new Niagara Falls Hospital will be closer but still a 20-minute drive under clear weather conditions but depending on the time of day it could mean 4-6 hour wait in triage if not longer. One only must look at the wait times in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines to know that often it takes 10 or more hours to be seen. With Fort Erie Urgent Care patients can be seen, diagnosed, and treated within that time.
The Ontario Government says their focus is to ensure that every resident will have a family doctor that will help to alleviate people going to the Emergency Room or the Urgent Care Centre. We know that it can sometimes take days to be seen by our doctors and if there is a need for an x-ray or ultra-sound, MRI, or other diagnostic testing they will still send us to a centre. Here is where we often break ways from doing what is best for all or doing what is best for individuals. In Canada under the Canada Health Act everyone is treated fairly and equitably. In Canada we have paid taxes to ensure that every Canadian has healthcare and can be treated not by the size of their wallet but because they are a member of the community. We realized a long time ago that we needed to keep our society healthy and the best way to do that was to provide health services for everyone.
A few may have lost their way and want to head to the front of the line and are willing to pay. With the number of private clinics and diagnostic services opening and the long wait times we are experiencing through our hospital services, people are being forced to choose alternatives outside of the hospital system. We know that we have had a two-tier system, which is those that could afford to travel elsewhere or to pay for services not immediately available have done so. People do not have that opportunity and rely on our publicly funded system to provide the healthcare services that we need when we need them.
It is up to each of us to continue to make our healthcare the best it can be and to provide the services that our community members need.
Douglas Memorial Hospital requires public funding, and our community members have made some specific requests that could become part of the Governments current budget priorities:
- 24/7 Urgent Care Services
- Rehabilitation and physiotherapy
- Maternal and Pediatric Care
- Casting
- Mental Health and Addiction Services
- X-ray, ultrasound, and MRI
- Pick line and wound care.
- Minor operations
- Diabetes clinic
- Stroke clinic
- Palliative care
- Complex Care
- Acute and Chronic care.
We do not have regular public transportation in our community we have to either rely on family and friends or pay for a drive service to reach the hospital or the services needed, that are often in other communities associated with the large Urban Hospitals. This is not available to many people, the cost prohibits their treatment.
Our weather conditions in the winter are stressed and the highway closes during heavy snowstorms.
The cost to park often makes it unaffordable for families to visit, keeping the patient in isolation.
Hospital staff are under stress about having to relocate to the large Urban hospitals along with having to worry about forcing people to leave their own community and to seek treatment elsewhere.
Patients are angry and frustrated with a system that no longer cares about the whole person, and they do not feel that they are being heard and often this is passed onto the front-line staff.
Fort Erie Healthcare SOS is committed to continue to collaborate with our community, the local business and community groups along with municipal, regional, provincial, and federal representatives to “SAVE OUR HOSPITAL.”
Our meetings are open to the public and our events are posted on our website www.healthcaresos.net . Come join us Fort Erie we know that with a strong presence and with your ideas and your help we can have influence that will last a lifetime. With your help and your support, we are the answer to the long wait times and to hallway medicine.
The public is speaking up and using testimonials to help the people in power understand why we are fighting to SAVE OUR HOSPITAL
Eva wrote: “With our aging population we need local health care. My mother suffered with dementia and had many episodes where she was sent to Niagara Falls hospital, where she waited for hours, often alone and afraid until someone could get there. If we had an ER in Fort Erie, we could have been there in 5 minutes.”
Natalie wrote: “24 hour/365 ER. There are NO health care services available after hours in town, and that is unacceptable. Especially considering this area has a huge influx of summer tourists and residents AND unpredictable winter weather which often makes traveling to out of town care options dangerous and/or impossible.
Carol wrote: “We need a full functioning hospital with diagnostic equipment. This will encourage more medical professionals to our area. Greater Niagara Medical Imaging could be encouraged to use space in Douglas Memorial instead of the expensive buildings they are presently using.
These are only a few of the hundreds of testimonials that our community members have submitted. We need to hire staff in all locations, and we are simply asking to be part of the plan when the new students graduate and need a placement Fort Erie could be a training ground for Registered Nurses, Personal Support Workers, Technicians and Doctors. Let us continue to be part of the solution, lets make sure that our community members are provided the best care possible, close to home and family. We can do this with your help and support; come join our team of volunteers to SAVE OUR HOSPITAL.
Thank you to everyone that has volunteered, that have signed petitions or letters or made a statement on a postcard. Thank you to all the local businesses that have helped us get our message out or that have helped us advertise our events and promoted our work. Thank you to all the community services that have helped us fund raise so that we can continue to bring information to the community. Thank you to our elected representatives that have supported our rallies and outings by taking the time to speak out in support of our hospital. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts – we will work tirelessly to keep you informed and to work towards our mandate to SAVE OUR HOSPITAL! Follow us on social media and put out a lawn sign to show your support. We are members of your community, and we want to hear from you. Fort Erie Healthcare SOS will be at the Ridgeway Market all summer and our next petition signing outside of Douglas Memorial will be June 19th from Noon until 2. You can sign the petition on line or send a direct message to the Minister of Health and Premier on our website www.healthcaresos.net
