The Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-11-11, Page 6Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Page 5
Epilepsy Huron -Perth hoping to weather poor financial outlook
sun media
While Epilepsy Huron -Perth did not
receive requested funding from the
South West LHIN and had to lay off one
of its two employees, the organization
is still operating.
"We made the decision to stay open at
all costs," says executive director Lynne
Armstrong.
Armstrong says that
when she was preparing
statistics for Epilepsy Hu-
ron -Perth's annual general
meeting, she felt a strong
need to continue to serve
the over 400 families
helped by the organization
each year.
While Epilepsy Huron -
Perth provides day-to-day
support to 60 families dur-
ing an average week, Armstrong says
they have regular contact with 144 fam-
ilies in Huron County and 258 families
in Perth County.
Epilepsy Huron -Perth spent the last
year lobbying the South West LHIN
(Local Health Integration Network)
for provincial funding but were turned
down' at the end of October.
A letter from Michael Barrett, CEO of
the South West LHIN, told Armstrong
that the LHIN is responsible to make
sure existing health service providers
are in a financially
sustainable posi-
tion and that no
other epilepsy as-
sociations are be-
ing provided with
funding from the
LHINs.
As well, thelet-
ter said the LHIN
couldn't provide
one-time funding
"in the absence of
a sound financial
sustainability plan
by the provider."
"I think they're
in a tight position,"
says Armstrong
of the LHIN's re-
sponse. "And,
they're not going
to be the ones to
set the precedent
of funding epilepsy
organizations."
Armstrong says
she's not defeated
by the refusal by
the South West
LHIN and plans
to start working
with epilepsy as-
sociations across
Ontario towards
the possibility of
eventually seeing them all receive pro-
vincial funding.
"It will be interesting to see how we
do provincially. We'd have to connect
with other neurological organizations
like the Alzheimer Society, Parkinson's,
ALS and brain injury and we might all
have a better chance to get funding,"
she says.
"We will prove our sustainability
when we pursue the LHINs again,"
she says. "I think we will
eventually attain funding
"I think we will
eventually attain funding
provincially. The first
time you as/ you always
get told 'no'."
— Lynne Armstrong
provincially. The first time
you ask, you always get
told no. It's more conceiv-
able in three to five years
- we need to keep banging
them with statistics and
proving there is a need."
As the only remaining
staff member of Epilepsy
Huron -Perth right now,
Armstrong is putting her focus on help-
ing families with epilespy and educa-
tion but adds that she still has to find
time to write funding proposals.
She says she's working at ways to use
the family health teams better, setting
up visits with families when they visit
their family physicians to cut down on
some of the travel necessary to support
families throughout the two counties.
The Epilepsy Huron -Perth office in
Seaforth is not open as often as it was
with two staff members but Armstrong
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says she gives people her cellphone
number so she can be reached when the
office is closed.
And, a recent grant of $59,325 from
the Ministry of Health Promotion to
fund a two-year project in Listowel and
Wingham will allow the organization to
hire one person, says Armstrong.
The project will provide people with
epilepsy with a holistic approach to
healthcare including physical activity,
healthy eating, mental health and injury
prevention.
Armstrong says Epilespy Huron -
Perth is the first epilepsy assocation in
Ontario to receive a Ministry of Health
Promotion grant and she's hopeful it's
a sign of more funding to come in the
future.
"This grant will give us a base for
further funding. It's a great pilot that
will really help us," she says.
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