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Saving our hospital
?In our cover story this week (written by our new intern from Centennial College, Veronica Blake), you’ll note that the brand new Township Council committed to two initiatives at the behest of Uxbridge Cottage Hospital Foundation President Pat Higgins.
The first was impressive enough. In the middle of debating the 2011 budget, in the middle of making hard decisions like leaving a skatepark unbuilt or a rural library unopened, Council committed a substantial sum ($30,000) not just for this year, but for every year of this council’s four-year term, to a physician retention package put together by the Foundation. By offering financial incentives to local physicians (primarily to staff the emergency room), the hope is to slow down the rapidly revolving door which sees doctors lured to the greener pastures represented by larger hospitals like those in Lindsay or Newmarket (or even Markham-Stouffville, our ‘parent’ institution).
Without an ER, everyone realized, there might as well be no hospital; it will just become another long term care facility. And although the province will not dare to close any hospital in an election year, Uxbridge Cottage Hospital (UCH) is already on a ‘watch list’; our future is in dire jeopardy.
So although the $30,000 is nice, by far the more important commitment is for the Township to take a leading role in a standing committee which would keep the community informed about issues affecting the future of UCH, and advocate for its continuation as the “heartbeat” of our community.
As Mr. Higgins pointed out, UCH has a fundraising arm - the Foundation - which is independent of Markham-Stouffville, but it does not have an independent board of directors. UCH has three members on the Markham-Stouffville board, including the mayor, but it’s a small voice on a body which is understandably focussed on the issues facing the larger hospital.
So in recent years, the Foundation has been veering away from its traditional role as strictly a fundraiser, and venturing more into a much less comfortable zone, that of policy and public relations. So it was time for an actual political body to get on board.
It was good to see Council on Monday spend very little time dithering about the issue before leaping in with both feet. Concerns were legitimately expressed about letting the province off the hook where the money is concerned, but the mayor reminded us that other Ontario municipalities are in a whole lot deeper when it comes to financial incentives for physicians. One might also ask where the Region of Durham stands in terms of supporting smaller hospitals here and in Port Perry; health care is supposed to be part of the mandate of regional government.
But it’s becoming increasingly obvious that if the Cottage Hospital is to be preserved in the long term, rather than going from crisis to crisis, the effort has to begin, and perhaps even end, right here in our own community. So bravo to Council for not even asking for time to consider or ‘study’ the Foundation’s request. They instantly and unanimously said yes.
So now it’s time to translate that resolve into action, and the timing may be perfect, with a provincial election just months away. If all goes well, perhaps we can even turn the clock back a bit, and regain the maternity ward where our Coffee subject - see page 3 - was the first to arrive.
But for now, we need to focus on the future, and ensure there even is one. Monday’s action by Council is a large and loud step in that direction.
