Kincardine needs to take over management of its hospital, says foundation
By Liz Dadson

Southwest LHIN chairman Norm Gamble (L) chats with Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell at the health care meeting in Kincardine Friday afternoon

"It is time for Kincardine to manage its own hospital," says Gregg McClelland of the Kincardine and Community Health Care Foundation.

Speaking at the health care stakeholders' forum Friday afternoon in Kincardine, he said the public is concerned about the depletion of services at the Kincardine hospital and is suspicious of the motives behind the decisions made by chief executive officer Paul Davies and the health centre board of directors.

"It's time for a change," he said. "We need a new atmosphere of happier employees, such as we see at Goderich and Hanover."

This was greeted with thunderous applause from the audience.

McClelland said the hospital foundation consists of 10 volunteers and one part-time co-ordinator who fund-raise for equipment for the hospital.  "The mammography service was slated to go to Walkerton," he said. "We worked with Barry Schmidt (Kincardine representative on the board) and Dr. Rick Mann and after a closed-door session and a narrow vote, a digital mammography machine is now being purchased.

"This is important," he said. "More than 2,000 mammography exams are done in Kincardine. Sending those patients to Walkerton is an absolute disservice to the community."  There was applause from the crowd.

McClelland said there is a perception that Walkerton's services are being beefed up so it can compete with nearby Hanover.

He noted that raising funds in the Kincardine community is not easy, given the management of the hospital. "People are considering relocating to a community with a full-service hospital," he said. "It does not make sense to reduce services when this area is growing."

He said the foundation and the municipality have money in reserves for hospital expansion but "who at the ministry (of health) and at the LHIN (Local Integrated Health Network) is going to expand our hospital when services are being depleted?"  And depleting services does not bode well for recruiting and retaining doctors, he added.

McClelland said that before the announcement about the loss of free outpatient physiotherapy at the hospital, the foundation was out raising funds in an already difficult atmosphere - there was the $2 charge for parking, and then that increased to $3 for parking, plus the mould situation at the Kincardine Community Medical Clinic and the clean-up and addition required there.

"Then we hear that free outpatient physiotherapy is no more," he said. "We effectively now have two-tiered health care (with physiotherapy available at the Kincardine hospital but not covered by OHIP)." 

He said the public was told that the decision on physiotherapy was made because of a deficit in the health centre budget. "But then we heard that there was funding given for the new Walkerton medical clinic, from the reserves of the South Bruce Grey Health Centre.

"The hospital auxiliary and the Hip, Hip Hooray committee purchased equipment for the physiotherapy department at the Kincardine hospital. We're not sure where that equipment is now."

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13/01/2009 04:24 PM

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Earlier in the meeting, Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell spoke of the province's commitment to publicly-funded health care. The LHINs were created to assist with delivery and financing of the health care system, and improve accountability, she said. The province also developed strategies to reduce wait-times for surgery and that has achieved results, she said.

Mitchell said the provision of health care is changing in Ontario, with the introduction of Family Health Teams which include nurse practitioners, doctors and other services, in a team setting.

Referring to the physiotherapy decision in Kincardine, she said her intention was to ask the minister of health for a Family Health Team pilot project in Kincardine, to include physiotherapy services. "That solution would promote a community-based approach to health care," she said.

As for municipal involvement in health care, which is a provincial jurisdiction, Mitchell said it's up to each municipality how involved it wants to be.

Norm Gamble, chairman of the South West LHIN, said this agency is one of the largest, covering 22,000 square kilometres with 924,000 people. It includes 19 public hospitals on 32 sites, one private hospital, one Community Care Access Centre, and 75 long-term care homes with 6,636 beds.

Acting chief executive officer Michael Barrett said there is greater emphasis on local health system planning, with more local decision making about funding and allocations. Through the 2007-10 accountability agreement, the LHIN has an annual budget of $1.9 billion, he said. The LHIN then must negotiate hospital service accountability agreements. To date, 17 of the 20 hospitals have approved these agreements. Of the LHIN budget, 75 per cent goes toward hospitals, he said.

Following an emotional letter from the Kincardine Physicians' Group, calling for the dismissal of Davies, it was Huron-Kinloss mayor Mitch Twolan's turn to speak.

"I hope nobody's looking for my resignation," he said.  "But seriously", he noted, "health care is not the mandate of the municipalities, but both Kincardine and Huron-Kinloss deserve credit for stepping up to the plate to help recruit and retain doctors in this area."

"Our job is to listen to the people and if they want us to support health care, they have to bear in mind that the money to do that comes from the municpal tax base," he said. "It's a real struggle, given the current economic climate.  "We all want good health care at an affordable price, but it's difficult to do that."

"No matter who you are or what organization you're on, communication is always a challenge," said Kincardine mayor Larry Kraemer. He noted that Kincardine has done its best to assist with the provision of health by funding a doctor recruitment program, assisting with the purchase of a mammography machine, and proceeding with an addition to the medical clinic. "Now, we're looking at a Family Health Team, and moving forward with expansion at the hospital," he said.

During a follow-up session, all stakeholders agreed that further discussion is needed. They will report back to their municpialities, agencies and groups and look forward to similar forums.