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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2007-02-28, Page 10Fr Page 10 , February 28, 2007 • The Huron Expositor News Smitherman lauds Alliance's reduced wait times Brian S It y�ru_I a antEMMEMENEMID Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman visited Stratford last week to laud the strides made by the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance in cutting wait times for key surgeries and procedures, among the best in the province. But the most important time the Ontario minister of health and long- term care spent at Stratford General Hospital may have been a secret visit 3 1/2 years ago. Then a rookie minister in Stratford to attend a gala for The Quilt breast cancer project shortly after taking office, he was spirited away for an impromptu tour of Stratford General by Dr. Miriam Mann. The chief of emergency medicine, still dressed in her evening gown, took the MPP through the emer- gency room, intensive care unit, psychiatric ward and unused space. It made an impression on the politician. "I'm not that swift on the uptake but you wouldn't have to spend too much time in the emergency room here to know that it's not state-of- the-art," Smitherman said during an interview. Arguably, that late-night visit, coupled with persistent lobbying by Perth -Middlesex MPP John Wilkinson, has resulted in more funding for health-care pro- jects -- $42 mil- lion -- and more attention than could otherwise have been expect- ed from the province. The money includes more than $30 million for the redevelop- ment of SGH. During the s u m m e r, Smitherman also personally inter- vened to keep the emergency department at St. Marys Memorial Hospital from closing on week- ends. Wilkinson c a 11 e d Smitherman "the best" health min- ister Stratford General has ever had. With a provincial election coming up Oct. 10, Smitherman's visit was a good opportunity to remind voters what the Liberal government has done for health care in the riding. The visit highlighted improve - Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES con skier these rates' Term 10 — Year 7— Year 5 — Year 4 — Year 3 — Year 2 — Year Subordinated Debentures Interest Paid Annually 8.00 % 7.25 6.50 6.25 5.75 % 5.50 % Demand Loan Certificates (Interest Paid Monthly) All rates are subject to chyme. Interest Paid Monthly 7.50 % 6.75 6.00 % 5.75 % 5.25 % 5.00 4.00 % For further Information about your investment opportunities with HDC, access our website at www.hdc.on.ca HENSALL DISTRICT CO-OPERATIVE, INC. Ontario's largest agricultural co-operativc, IIDC has successfully offered investments to its members for 70 years. HDC debentures are issued at no commission charge to investors, provide fixed income to your portfolios and are not RRSP eligible. ENSALL (STRICT 0 -OPERATIVE Proud 10 befarnter-owned This advertisement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of offers to buy any securities. The offering is made only by the prospectus. Investors should read the prospectus carefully. }iDC debentures arc not covered by Canada Deposit insurance. 1 Davidson Dr. P.O. Box 219 ilensall, Ontario NOM 1X0 (519) 262-3002 www.hdc.on.ca ments...iirwait priority areas. Since the province began measur- ing wait times in 2005 for cancer surgery, knee replacements, cataracts and CT scans, SGH and the Alliance have decreased waits markedly. At the beginning, they were among the worst in the province. times in the four key The most recent data shows wait times for CT scans have come down 62 per cent, knee replacements by 236 days or 30 per cent, cancer surgeries by 39 per cent and cataracts by 81 per cent. "We have seen a nice downward trend in our overall waits," said Andrew Williams, the Alliance's CEO. Since the start of the wait -time strategy, the province has spent $2 million for 1,234 additional proce- dures at Alliance hospitals. Smitherman said the development of the wait -time measuring system will eventually allow wait times for all surgeries to come down and allow the province to look for other efficiencies in the health-care sys- tem. However, the focus on reducing wait times for the priority proce- dures has drawn criticism from some groups like the Canadian Medical Association, which argues it delays other operations. "In a certain sense I'm agreeing on the short term, but on long term there is no argument whatsoever that there is a need to do more. I just don't like to pretend with peo- ple that we have the capabilities here in Ontario to fix everything at the same time," Smitherman said. He pointed to the creation of health-care teams, which group doc- tors and other medical professionals under one roof to provide primary care and lessen the demand on hos- pitals. 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