Monthly Archives: January 2010

Under pressure in a downtown Toronto by-election, Dalton McGuinty has given the first indication of hospital funding for 2010/11.  Hospital funding has been a key issue in the riding vacated by former health minister George Smitherman.  “I can say one thing with absolute certainty,” Premier Dalton McGuinty told the media Wednesday, “there will be more money for hospitals this year, but it won’t grow at the same rate it has in recent years.”McGuinty said he has to take the economy into account.

Tom Closson, president of the Ontario Hospital Association, said “even at two per cent funding, hospitals would have to fine one per cent operational efficiency, plus they’d have to address the deficits that they already have.”

Pressure has been mounting since 18-year-old Reilly Anzovino died December 27 just as an ambulance carrying her arrived at the Welland hospital. The emergency room at Fort Erie, five kilometers closer, had been closed last year as part of the controversial Niagara Health System restructuring plan. Her family, the OFL, and the Ontario Health Coalition have all been calling for a coroner’s inquest.

Meanwhile, the ombudsman is investigating whether the regional LHIN properly consulted the public on changes to the NHS, including closure of ERs in Fort Erie and Port Colborne.

OPSEU has been running a campaign encouraging individuals to write an e-letter to their MPP about this issue. To date, more than 3,000 postcards and e-letters have been sent to Ontario MPPs. Have your say. Go to http://www.avoidingzero.ca

The Ontario Health Coalition is joining the call for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Reilly Anzovino after a Boxing Day car accident. Ms. Anzovino was taken by ambulance to Welland because the closest emergency department in Fort Erie was recently closed due to budget cuts. She passed away prior to arriving at the hospital. This is the second death since the emergency department closures at Fort Erie and Port Colborne, raising questions about whether these changes have contributed to avoidable fatality.

“This raises the issue of the human costs of hospital budget cuts across Ontario,” said Natalie Mehra, Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “Hospital officials, consultants and the government have consistently downplayed the risks associated with closing small communities’ emergency departments. They have even tried to sell the cuts as improvements and quality care.”

Ambulances are now directed to the Welland hospital 43 km away. Since ambulances cannot carry blood – often needed in car accident traumas – there is widespread concern in the community that the removal of the emergency department in Fort Erie may be a contributing factor in Ms. Anzovino’s death.

Prior to the closure of the Emergency Departments in Niagara, the Ontario Health Coalition conducted in-depth interviews with 50 paramedics across Ontario. The paramedics were unanimous in their concern about local ER closures. All stated that ambulances cannot replace a hospital emergency department.