Like a Tokyo subway at rush hour, Trinity United Church was packed to the brim with people who wanted to hear the latest happenings about WLMH and where we as a community need to move forward in regards to it.
While we do not have exact numbers on attendance, we have heard that it was estimated around 800… with the church sanctuary, secondary auditorium and basement filled with residents. This clearly shows that our community cares about and needs WLMH.
We have managed to compile some notes from the meeting for you. The meeting was hosted by WLMH staff including Dr. Denise Marshall, Dr. Gary Benson (Medical Director – Resigned) and Dr. Matthew (Sorry we missed the last name, Interim Director).
It was made clear the “rules of engagement” for the meeting, stay positive and put forward a “unified, focused ask” to find solutions in regards to WLMH. After which Dr. Benson outlined the history of WLMH and previous measures to lobby the Province on re-development.
The rest of our notes are in point form for brevity:
- The last iteration of the government’s strategic plan came in 2018 with a 20-year master plan called “Our Healthy Future”, which included the redevelopment of WLMH. Hamilton Health Sciences which oversee WLMH deserves credit as they were a helpful alliance in this.
- We need a commitment from Queens Park to rebuild WLMH and Sam Oosterhoff, our local MPP has been working very diligently to influence a decision from the Province.
- How do we reverse the recent decision to close off services at WLMH and get a commitment to rebuild?
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Temporarily relocating the OR/OBGYN/anaesthesia will not work – medical staff feel strongly that will not be the case – these are an essential cluster of services.
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We have seen nothing that could be “temporary” about this – after 27 months (or longer), staff have found other employment.
- If you lose an OBGYN/OR services, then Anesthesia services are no longer needed, then without those you lose emergency room capabilities (domino effect).
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The current set of med/surgical/OBGYN services is an exemplary set of services that are performed – patient care and safety are uppermost.
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Next step is to send a letter to HHS Board of Directors with the history of WLMH, concerns with the proposal, and what we’re asking for.
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Ask to hold off on approving the proposal, need more information and full disclosure, work on a solution that does not require relocation or closure of services with the support of HHS.
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Find a way to continue to deliver services until the government commits to a full rebuild.
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With time, and continued support, we could bridge some things, generate alternative solutions.
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There are also technical and infrastructure challenges ($7M in repairs needed) – we can work around to keep services going.
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It will take 5-8 years for a rebuild, the $8.6M has not been asked for yet, we still need to maintain services during this time.
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The way this was rolled out and communicated was “not very polished”, a lot of affected people were unaware or in the dark.
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Audience Q: Is there an infection control problem? Answer: There is not an infection problem. Need to address new accreditation requirements.
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Patient safety is the most important. Accreditation is voluntary (all hospitals aspire to a high scoring), but there are different levels of accreditation, from very bad to very good.
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Capital money raised by the community will stay in trust for the hospital rebuild.
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Infrastructure repairs ($7M) were requested 4 years ago, never flowed to us – need a total of $15-20M to bring our hospital to standard while we rebuild.
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We need the consultant’s report and to work through it line by line to see how they arrived at the $8.6 million.
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Current proposal is to remove services effective January, 2019.
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HHS Board has not approved yet, will be presented on December 6, 2018. Members of the public can register to attend the board meeting.
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We are focused on our “Plan A” ask – time, information, finding solutions to preserve services – we don’t have a “Plan B” now.
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Call out for those interested in forming working groups, community engagement, a core leadership group of Doctors have stepped forward as “connecting points” to the community.
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Niagara/Ontario Health Coalition (Sue Hotte) and A Better Grimsby are already mobilized.
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Next steps are getting working groups together immediately to develop strategy and prepare for the December 6 meeting and lobbying the provincial government.
Meeting Video
You can view the full meeting that was posted to Facebook. A Facebook account is not required to view the video: WLMH Community Meeting – October 24, 2018
Resources:
“Our Healthy Future” Report – Click Here
Information Sheets
We have scanned in the information sheets regarding the latest developments, please share and printout with your neighbours as they contain essential information needed in moving forward.
As the community group organizes, we will post updates on their progress and link to them once their points of contact are up and running.
Petition
There is now a petition circulating that will be taken by MPP Oosterhoff to Queen’s Park and is attached below.
There is a few requirements for the petition to be valid and have weight.
- Must contain original signatures on the supplied page, not an Internet petition.
- Only use the spaces provided, no names outside the lines or on the back. If more spaces are needed, please print another original sheet (do not print one and photocopy it).
- Petition sheets must be sent to Sam Oosterhoof’s office by NOON on Tuesday, October 30th. If you can not drop them off, please notify us by Monday evening and we can make arrangements to pick them up. Sam’s office is located at:MPP Sam Oosterhoff
4961 King Street E, Unit M1
Beamsville, ON
L0R 1B0