The Citizen, 2001-12-12, Page 15OKE-stop,toN4SRoppivtg
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THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2001. PAGE 15.
Boards answer questions about new hospital
The boards of the Alexandra
Marine and General Hospital and
the Clinton Public Hospital have
provided the following answers in
response to questions they have
received since their announcement.
Recently the boards announced
they will apply to the Ministry of
Health to build a new state-of-the-
art 90-bed hospital on land near the
Benmiller corner off Hwy. 8.
Why can't we just continue with
a hospital in Clinton and
Goderich?
• Future physician and nursing
shortages will make it difficult to
maintain two on-call services for
the emergency rooms, operating
rooms and obstetrical depart-
ments and staff two hospitals as
we know them.
• One service has such small
numbers of patients at each site
that we are at risk of losing the
service at both sites, leaving
patients to drive out of Huron
County for their care. Together,
the service could be maintained.
• New surgeons are telling us that
they are trained to practice with
the help of a CAT scanner. This
diagnostic equipment is too
expensive to locate in each small
hospital.
• If we are unable to get this type
of technology for Huron County,
we may be unable to attract new
surgeons to our area.
• In furore, hospital funding is
likely to get tighter. We cannot
afford to duplicate services and
keep the same level of care, qual-
ity and technology.
• Neither site has the ability to
expand to provide new services to
be developed in the future.
• The Goderich site is in need of
major renovations to its infra-
• structure; a renovation of five
major departments has been cost-
ed at $20 million. Even with this
amount of expenditure, the hospi-
tal will still be an old building
with severe structural and space
limitations.
Who did they talk to about this
idea?
• The boards started to discuss
this idea at joint meetings begin-
ning in January, 2001.
• In March, they began a consul-
tation process; the public was
invited to make comments
through email, telephone and in
writing.
• The consultation process went
on for four months.
• Over 1,000 people heard presen-
tations on the proposal at commu-
nity groups throughout the area.
• Two town hall meetings were
held in June, one in Clinton, the
second in Goderich.
• Meetings were held with repre-
sentatives from the Town of
Goderich, Municipality of
Central Huron, other surrounding
municipalities, the District Heatal
Council and the Huron Perth
Hospitals Partnership representa-
tives from Seaforth and Exeter
hospitals.
• Communication was ongoing
with the Ministry of Health and
Minister Johns' office.
Why locate a hospital on the
3enmiller Road?
• This hospital will serve a popu-
lation of 24,000 people. Close to
60 per cent of the patients served
live outside Clinton and
Goderich.
• This location provides for
access by a network of well main-
tained roads to residents north of
Goderich, residents south of
Goderich along Hwy. 21, east to
Blyth and Clinton and south to
near Hensall/Zurich.
Why not locate this hospital in
Vanastra and include Seaforth
and Exeter?
• The area served by these two
hospitals reached from Amberley
in the north to north of the
Hensall/Zurich area in the south.
The existing site takes this broad
geography into consideration.
Vanastra is not central to this geo-
graphic region.
• While Seaforth and Exeter hos-
pitals have been made aware of
this initiative, the boards of these
hospitals have not volunteered to.
participate.
• This is a voluntary process of
two hospitals looking to the
future and making plans to main-
tain and enhance hospital services
for the future.
Who makes the decision?
• The boards of the hospitals are
charged under the Public
Hospitals Act with the responsi-
bility to provide hospital services
to the residents served. They have
a responsibility to plan for the
future to ensure that they can con-
tinue to fulfill their duties under
the Act.
• Board members are educated
about the health care needs of
their residents, the current chal-
lenges of providing services, the
future doctor, nurse and health
care provider shortage and other
trends that will affect their hospi-
tals.
• Once a decision is made at the
local board, the Ministry of
Health must approve the proposal
before it can be implemented.
Did the Boards do this alone?
• No, they brought in a series of
experts.
• The boards had help from
health care planning consultants,
engineers and architects, a land
use planner and realtor.
• During the summer of 2001, an
independent expert in health care
planning was consulted. He inter-
viewed medical and hospital staff
and board members and submit-
ted a report, supporting the direc-
tion taken by the boards. This
report is available to the public
from each hospital.
What are the benefits of a com-
bined hospital?
• The hospital would serve
Goderich and Clinton residents as
well as residents from other com-
munities throughout Huron
County.
• The ability to attract and retain
more medical specialists to Huron
County.
• The ability to attract and retain
nurses, rehabilitation staff, tech-
nologists and other health care
workers.
• The economies of scale of oper-
ating a larger hospital.
• The potential for cost savings by
merging the two organizations.
• The potential for the introduc-
tion of new diagnostic services
such as a CAT scanner and treat-
ment services such as inpatient
rehabilitation beds.
• The ability to create a modern.
up-to-date facility that meets cur-
rent Ministry of Health planning
standards.
Continued on page 18