george smitherman

Way to go Milton

Mike Cluett

35,000 people in Milton had their say.  They want the governments at all levels to make the expansion of Milton’s Hospital a priority…and NOW!  The only question that remains is will David Caplan, Minister of Health and George Smitherman, Minister of Infrastructure listen???  Only time will tell.

Overwhelming support

Nearly 35,000 residents sign petition postcards in group’s ongoing push for hospital expansion

Tim Foran, Canadian Champion Staff
Published on Jul 29, 2009

A volunteer group dedicated to securing provincial approval and funding for an expanded Milton District Hospital says it has collected signatures from close to 35,000 people on postcards addressed to Ontario’s Minister of Health.

“The incredible enthusiasm in this community is amazing,” said Pete Pomeroy, co-chair of the Friends of Milton Hospital, which started its postcard signing blitz about two months ago assisted by $25,000 in funding from the Town of Milton.

The group is now hoping to deliver the postcards personally to the Minister of Health, David Caplan, and it also wants to meet with the Minister of Infrastructure, George Smitherman. The two ministries are expected to make final decisions on which of 58 proposed hospital capital projects will get put onto an updated 10-year infrastructure plan, expected to be released this fall.

“We need a hospital (expansion), we need a place to go that ourselves and our family feel we’re going to get the care that we need, they (the hospital) have the specialties that we need, that we can have faith in our hospital,” said Cari Kovachik-MacNeil, co-chair along with Pomeroy.

The duo met last Wednesday to present their case to Dr. Sacha Bhatia, healthy policy advisor to Ontario Premier Dalton McGunity.

Bhatia listened to the group’s concerns but advised them they should be working with officials from the ministries of health and infrastructure and the Mississauga-Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said Karman Wong, a spokesperson from the Premier’s Office. LHINs are responsible for planning, funding and integrating health care services locally.

“At the end of the day, decisions on which hospitals should get funding shouldn’t be political,” said Wong. “They should be based on where the need is.”

The criteria for assessing that need is what concerns Pomeroy and Kovachik-MacNeil. They said at least one criterion the Province will be using is wait time statistics for hospital emergency rooms (ER).

In this respect, statistics show Milton District Hospital fares better than most hospitals. For the first quarter of this year, the average wait time for a serious condition at the hospital ER was just under five hours, a couple hours better than the provincial average and about half the time spent by patients at hospitals in Burlington and Mississauga.

“Having said that, health care is more than emergency (service),” argued Kovachik-MacNeil. She said patients from Milton should not be forced to go to other hospitals for specialized services.

Pomeroy added many people believe HHS’s new Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, expected to begin construction over the next couple years, will be a regional hospital built to accommodate the needs of Miltonians.

“But it isn’t true, that isn’t the case,” said Pomeroy.

While the Friends of Milton Hospital’s postcard campaign has wrapped up, a similar petition for a Milton hospital expansion is still being circulated.

Led by former director of development with the Milton District Hospital Foundation, Donna McLaughlin, the Milton Hospital Action Committee said in April it wanted to collect 50,000 signatures on a petition to be presented to the provincial legislature by Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh on June 6.

“It (the petition) was about 8,000 (signatures) at the end of June and we decided to hold it for the summer,” said Chudleigh. “They’re still collecting signatures and I’m going to present it in the House in September.”

Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@miltoncanadianchampion.com

Smitherman ignores Halton's needs

Mike Cluett

Voting has started in the Canadian Blog Awards where yours truly has been nominated as “BEST LOCAL BLOG”. First round voting continues later this week and hopefully I can make it to the second round and beyond…so vote early and often 😉

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As reported in the Milton Canadian Champion, Ontarios Energy and Infrastructure Minister George “Future Toronto Mayor” Smitherman says that Haltons growing pains “aren’t unique” and cant promise any additional funding. He proclaims that his government under Premier Dalton McQuinty has provided more funding for infrastructure than any other government. If they have, ID like to see it.

This comes on the heels of a proclamation from the Region of Halton to halt any future developments until this matter is resolved. Growth is mandated by the Province and the Liberal government is telling regions, like Halton, to grow to meet the needs of the people. They are however telling them to do it, with little or no help from them.

The Oakville Hospital expansion has been delayed … yet again … with no clear course of action on Milton’s hospital and the needs of the fastest growing municipality in Canada. More and more people are moving here and the heels of our municipal leaders seem to drag further and further with no end in sight.

According to the article, “The region has repeatedly argued that it can’t accommodate the thousands of new residents called for in the province’s Places to Grow plan without significant funding help for infrastructure.”

It can be argued that the growth in this region, being led my Milton, IS unique to the province and requires a long term plan and more focus by the provincial government. You simply cant say to the regions “build” and then sit by and not provide the funding.

With the economy in the tank and deficits coming from both provincial and federal governments, we in Halton can look forward to more delays as they will most certainly use the “we cant afford it” excuse. Infrastructure has been an issue for years and will continue to be an issue until we have a government that will take it seriously.

Also, the Region of Halton took further steps on this issue by a unanimous resolution to potentially slow down development in Oakville and Milton if the province doesnt provide any potential solutions to the problem other than they are “not unique”.

This isnt over yet…

Mayor Smitherman?

Mike Cluett

smitherman

The buzz in the City of Toronto is that Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman is contemplating a run at the City’s top job. In a recent speech at the Toronto Board of Trade, many people who were there and heard the speech feel hes either testing the waters for a mayoral run or has already decided he will.

Also, in a recent interview on CFRB Toronto Councillor Rob Ford spoke with Leslie Roberts saying that once he settles his “personal issues” he will definitely be running against Mayor David Miller. In a survey of CFRB callers before Rob Ford came on, there was strong support for Rob to run.

You can tell things are getting antsy in the City of Toronto when more than 2 years before the next municipal election you are seeing high profile candidates preparing for a run at the top job.

I know the City of Toronto is a bigger place with a lot more on the line as it seems than lets say the Town of Milton. But what would your reaction be if one of the sitting councillors here said, “Oh ya, Im going to run for Mayor of Milton.” Thats 2 years away. I think theres a few issues that need some immediate attention other than ones political career…especially in Toronto.

To be honest I think Mr Smitherman should be working on his governments promises of reducing wait times in our emergency rooms and improving our health care system. And not just in the City of Toronto. The province is grossly understaffed in doctors and nurses and the ones we have now are being stretched to the limit. In the coming years, Ontario will see more doctors and nurses retire than anytime in history, while the number of people entering the field wont be enough to cover the short fall. This means family doctors will be harder to find, emergency rooms will be like madhouses, people wont have places to go to get regular checkups, families that have children with autism will continue to lag on the waiting lists for much needed funding and too many more issues to mention here.

Many people who frequent Milton hospital are running into some issues. Milton’s population is now over 70,000 and in a short time will be getting close to 100,000. One major thing thats been ignored over these years? The roads? Yes. But just as important if not MORE important…The hospital.

And to be clear, people have to realize (before the start blaming the town, which is a sport it seems here) that funding for the hospital comes from the province. There are some drastic needs that our hospital faces in the coming years. It needs to expand…now.

The same kind of problems was faced in Brampton. For years, Peel Memorial (then called William Osler Health Centre) was the only hospital in town. One hospital for almost 400,000 people. It only took about 10-15 years to get another health care facility opened in Brampton and recently Peel Memorial has closed down, creating a huge vacuum of need there.

Milton Hospital, if not addressed soon…can be headed the same way. Recent estimations of Milton’s future population growth see it reaching 170,000 and maybe even more in the next 20 years. We could be facing the same issues Brampton has if we dont do something about it now. This province needs a full time health care minister and not a part time mayoral candidate. With this speech and others like it to come, Smitherman will be dogged by the media to find out when hes going to be running, if hes going to be running, what will his platform be, etc all the while the hospitals go unchecked.

On the other hand, the hospital is making the improvements it can, especially with the CT scanner and the fund raising involved in it. Through the generosity of many Milton residents and businesses, Milton hospital now has the CT scanner up and running.

The importance of this issue just isnt prevalent in adults and corporations. Recently a friend of my son Anthony had a birthday party and included in his invitation was a request. In lieu of presents he would like the guests to his party to make a donation to the CT scanner in Milton hospital. Through a small group of kids, they raised $250 and he personally delivered it to the hospital.

Too bad it seems that the provincial government doesnt show the same concern to our hospital as does this 8 year old and his friends. Smitherman has time after time made claims that they are fixing the problems in our hospitals, all the while people are stuck in the waiting room looking for care.

I know in some cases, there are people who really shouldnt be in our emergency rooms and going to either a walk in clinic or their family doctor would be more productive and less of a strain on our emergency room staff. There are legitimate cases where care is needed NOW, but they are forced to either wait, suffer or try to find another hospital that can take them.

The fact that Smitherman, a full 31 months before the next election, is “shaking the bushes” shows his concerns lie somewhere else and not in Ontario’s health care system. If being Mayor George is important to him, maybe he should call Dalton and ask that he be replaced in the health care file so that someone who isnt worrying about his next political step can take charge and make real changes to hospitals and health care in our province.

Step aside George.