OPSEU Diablogue

Fences scaled by a maximum security patient August 23 at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.

A new building is often seen as a solution for the updated delivery of health care.

It’s true they usually reduce energy costs. If designed correctly and collaboratively, they can also contribute to higher operational efficiency.

Ontario invested heavily in new hospital buildings under former Premier Dalton McGuinty. At one point we counted about 100 major hospital infrastructure projects in the works – about a third developed as public-private partnerships.

Many of these buildings are now open or will be shortly. After moving in, administrators and staff are discovering the shortcomings that often aren’t evident in the planning stage.

One of them is Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene. Waypoint moved both medium and maximum security units into its new $474 million building in May.

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Nancy Casselman, TEGH’s Director of Human Resources and Organizational Quality, Safety and Wellness.

There are no easy answers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t answers.

We’ve been meeting in downtown Toronto to try and tackle the issues behind the injuries front line professional and support staff are sustaining by simply going to work to help others recover from or cope with a mental illness.

We know that individuals with a mental illness are no more likely to physically and verbally strike out than anyone else.

The evidence is clear — this is not even a debate.

Queen’s University professor Dr. Heather Stuart pointed out that only three per cent of violent crimes are committed by individuals with a serious mental illness. There’s another seven per cent committed by those with addictions.

Yet in popular culture that perception is much greater. Stuart points out that in the world of popular fiction that rate is closer to 20 per cent. When one in five violent crimes are committed on TV by fictional mentally ill people, what does that tell us? How does that shape our view?

Academics, clinicians, and other experts – including our own members – have been spending the past day trying to solve the riddle poised by the very real injuries these front line workers are sustaining. On paper this is not supposed to happen – at least not to this extent.

Nor is it exclusive to this one corner of health care.

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There’s got to be a morning after.

Tim Hudak has announced he is stepping down and the Kathleen Wynne Liberals now have a majority parliament.

So what happens now?

There are several outstanding issues in health care.

The first is the fate of the Local Health Integration Networks. The standing committee charged with conducting the legislated review travelled the province holding hearings over the winter. Despite Tim Hudak’s promise to replace them with “health hubs,” there was little interest in the issue on the campaign trail. The likely result will be some minor tinkering and they will soldier on. After eight years the LHINs appear to have found their legs although clearly there are still some community members who feel left out of the process. Last year’s five per cent cut to their budgets likely didn’t help the LHINs connect with those communities.

We’ve noticed that despite a province-wide Ontario Health Coalition campaign opposing the siphoning off of hospital services to private clinics, the province is moving forward with competitions to auction cataract surgeries, endoscopies and other diagnostic services. The Windsor Regional Hospital is already in one of these competitions with the private MyHealth Vision Care. MyHealth manages 16 Independent Health Facilities in Ontario and say they are developing 18 more. The hospital is the midst of capital planning for a new outpatient facility. Being caught in these kind of arbitrary competitions makes it difficult to plan. CEO David Musyj told the Windsor Star that the cataract decision will have an effect on the entire health system. “We don’t want to do something prematurely that negatively impacts what we’re trying to create into the future for the community.” The Wynne government could find themselves in a considerable battle over this issue. The Ontario Health Coalition have collected nearly 100,000 postcards from Ontarians who don’t want to see private clinics take over this work. They plan to present the postcards to Queen’s Park soon.

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