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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-09-16, Page 12Page 12 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Seaforth LHIN meet highlights budget struggles Sinn Hundertmark sun media High community expectations and the struggle to pass a balanced budget are challenging local hospitals, the South West LHIN (Local Health Integration Network) heard at a board engagement session in Seaforth last Wednesday. Bill Thibert, CEO of Alexandra Ma- rine and General Hospital in Goder- ich, told LHIN board members that as he tries to plan his budget for 2010/11 and 2011/12 while waiting for fund- ing information from the province, he's keenly aware that any necessary cuts to services will be protested by the local community. "We never ask the community if we had to drop a service, what would it be. Communities aren't prepared for that question and how do we prepare them?" he said. Thibert said that funding announce- ments he expected in lune have still not come through and he's been told to plan for anywhere from a zero to two per cent increase in hospital funding. And, with increasing costs in labour, supplies and benefits, Thibert said he's always got to consider if cuts to services will be nec- essary. "It's frustrating - inflation and our costs are exceeding our funding. We are working with other hospitals but there's a strong community reaction to cuts and is it a job for the LHIN or the hospital board to deal with that?" he asked. Thibert added that after asking the community to contribute to a CT scan- ner, it would be difficult to cut services. "I could see the community itself say- ing, 'What is going on?"' he said. "When the community will open their purses, it's so hard to go back and say we're reducing services," agreed Alan Fisher, chair of the Hanover District Hospital. LHIN chair Norm Gamble told Thib- ert that the LHIN is not withholding any information it has about funding but is happy to see collaboration happening between hospitals, giving the 11 hospi- tals in Grey -Bruce and the four hospitals in the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance as examples. "The future has got to be sharing ser- vices," agreed LHIN board member Anne Lake. LHIN board member Linda Stevenson said that since there aren't new dollars coming into healthcare, the LHIN will be depending on local communities for their solutions. "You're such innovators out here. I like to see solutions come out of the corn- munity - you do it better than we ever could," she said. Gamble sug- gested that invit- ing communication with the commu- nity and local mu- nicipal councils is a good way to re- spond to the chal- lenge of limited healthcare funding. Notice of Public Meeting Concerning a Proposed Official Plan Amendment for aFive-Year Review of the Huron County Official Plan TAKE NOTICE that the Council of the Corporation of the County of Huron will hold a public meeting on: Your County, Your Community Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at the Holmesville Community Centre (180 Community Centre Road) to consider a proposed official plan amendment under Section 17 of the Planning Act. ANY PERSON may attend the public meeting and/or make written or verbal representation either in support of or in opposition to the proposed official plan amendment. IF you wish to be notified of the adoption of the proposed official plan amendment, or of the refusal to adopt the official plan amendment, you must make a written request to Barbara Wilson, Clerk, County of Huron, 1 Court House Square, Goderich, ON N7A 1M2. IF a person or public body does not make oral submissions at a public meeting or make written submissions to the County of Huron before the proposed official plan amendment is adopted, the person or public body is not entitled to appeal the decision of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to the Ontario Municipal Board. IF a person or public body does not make an oral submission at a public meeting or make written submissions to the County of Huron before the official plan amendment is adopted, the person or public body may not be added as a party to the hearing of an appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board unless, in the opinion of the Board, there are reasonable grounds to add the person or public body. • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION and a copy of the proposed amendment is available for inspection during regular office hours at the County of Huron Planning and Development Department, 57 Napier St., Goderich, (519) 524-8394 Ext. 3 and on the Huron County website at www.huroncounty.ca. PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The Huron County Planning and Development Department is required to undertake a 5 -year review of the County's Official Plan, a land use planning document that is a statement of where and how development should take place. The Plan includes vision goals and policy directions for development of the County for Agriculture, Community Services, the Economy, Extractive Resources, Natural Environment, and Settlement Patterns. DATED AT THE COUNTY OF HURON THIS 11th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 2009 Barbara Wilson, Clerk County of Huron 1 Court House Square Goderich, ON N7A 1 M2 (519) 524-8394 "Preparing the community for change takes a lot of work and there's been this rumour that hospitals operate behind closed doors, that they're not accessible and open," he said. LHIN board member Janet McEwen said the LHIN's community engagement sessions are one way it is trying to in- volve the public in the changes happen- ing in healthcare. She added that hos- pitals in small, rural communities have better access to their local newspapers than urban hospitals do. "We have to prepare our communities better for the news we're going to bring them. You have better ears to your press than we do. Local papers are eager for news and hospitals have a great opportu- nity to talk to the paper," she said. Thibert said recent messages from the Ministry of Health about receiving more care closer to home are being taken lit- erally by local communities. "They want services where they live," he said. LHIN board member Kerry Blagrave responded that message was about com- munity support services and keeping ag- ing people in their homes longer. Gamble added that the commu- nity always seems to think of reduced services as a crisis, rather than the suc- cess of prevention and keeping more people out of the hospital. Epilepsy organization may close its doors Susan Hundertmark sun media Epilepsy Huron -Perth - Bruce will be making the decision on Sept. 31 about whether it will have to close its doors. Executive director Lynne Armstrong, along with sev- eral Epilepsy Huron -Perth - Bruce board members, at- tended the first-ever South West LHIN "board engage- ment session" in Seaforth last Wednesday to repeat a request for base funding for the local organization. "If we don't receive public funding, we won't be in op- eration next year," said Arm- strong, adding that Epilepsy Huron -Perth -Bruce is cur- rently $40,000 short of the $85,000 it needs to fundraise every year to exist. The South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is holding board meetings outside of London to talk about shared con- cerns in the healthcare sys- tem throughout Southwestern Ontario. Lorraine Devereaux, chair of the Epilepsy Huron -Perth - Bruce board, told LHIN board members that despite a high need for the organization's services, finances are threat- ening the group's survival. "We consistently have to fundraise to keep going and we are now at a point where we can't survive without funding. It's a terrible envi- ronment to exist in, being dependent on the general population to keep the doors open," she said. Norm Gamble, chair of the South West LHIN, responded that the LHIN doesn't have the ability to add organiza- tions which have not tradi- tionally been funded by the provincial government. "We might be able to give one-time funding but that type of spoon feeding is not good for an organization and will eventually come back and bite you," he said. However, Gamble acknow- leged that the South West LHIN needs to get to the point where it reviews the 150 organizations that are provin- cially funded and determine if that funding is justified. Brian Melady, a board member for Epilepsy Huron - Perth -Bruce, told the LHIN See CLOSURE, Page 18