‘Chatham-centric’ health care vision is garbage

doctor

By Glen Turner – Special to the Sydenham Current

CKH ‘Alliance’… hahaha.

To call the garbage to do with our own SDH an “Alliance” is just that – garbage.

I say this, of course, hoping that I won’t be addressed as ‘ignorant’ and ‘uninformed’ (remember the reply to Doug Babbitt?) by the co-chair of the PGH and SJH Boards.

They said, and say, that they have a ‘vision’ for Health Care in CK.

It appears that they did, and they do – as long as it remains Chatham-centric, and no-one disagrees with the so-called ‘vision’.

As Conrad Noel and Sheldon Parsons have summarized, that vision was obviously to gut SDH, transfer all services to Chatham, and eliminate any disagreement with said ‘vision’.

So… what did they do?

They eliminated Maternity services, ICU, slashed Radiology, slashed Physio, and so on… and transferred lots of equipment to Chatham.

So… with SDH entitled (in a binding agreement) to 16.7% share, how does Chatham reply? They try to DISMISS the Alliance as an entity. Luckily, the Ministry said no.

And… we shall see if a ‘mediator’ from the Ministry will be able to sort out the garbage coming from Chatham, as they try to eliminate our ER. THAT has to have been part of the ‘vision’.

By the way, the Federal Government realized in the 70’s, for heaven’s sake, that centralization was a mistake, which is why we have Superannuation in Shediac, NB, Canada Revenue in Winnipeg, and so on.

I guess the CKH ‘Alliance’ hasn’t figured that part out yet.

Were there people in Chatham who disagreed with CKH ‘Alliance’ vision of the future? Must have been – they decided to eliminate ‘governance’ (i.e. the right to vote) from their own memberships!

OK, time to look at other parts of the ‘vision’.

I recently had minor surgery, with an incision that had to be cleaned out and re-packed every day for three weeks.

Guess what?

I had to travel to Chatham to have it done. The service was not available in Wallaceburg.

And, when I questioned the silliness of this, I was told ‘great idea for the CCAC, but funding cuts and lack of funding’.

Glad I can still drive, right?

What about seniors who can’t?

We now have doctors fearful of replying to surveys about SDH, fearing for their jobs, and the ones who did reply support the maintenance of ER services at SDH.

NOW we find out that MORE dollars will be spent by engaging IPSOS to survey local people for their opinions about local Health care. I can’t wait to see if I’ll be contacted. I won’t be holding my breath.

Someone in the CKH ‘Alliance’ has decided that selling themselves with my money will make them look better.

Sorry, folks but that glossy flyer sent out via Canada Post was, in my opinion, just more garbage.

Not only were they inordinately proud of ranking #29 (haha) for ER Services (when the headline said ‘Top 10 Performer’…

However, the back page says ‘IT TAKES A TEAM’.

Well, it appears that it’s a team ONLY if you agree with the Chatham-based ‘vision’.

Disagree, and you’re labelled ‘ignorant’, ‘uninformed’ and ‘rogue’.

What a way to run an ‘Alliance’.

Wow.

1 COMMENT

  1. Perhaps I can put it in some sort of perspective for the suits, pencil-pushers, and politicians…. I was a professional firefighter, both on the floor and management, for more than twenty years, and another several years as a volunteer… Firefighters are not paramedics… period. Just because they belong to a group of professions collectively called “emergency services”, as are paramedics and police, does not mean the roles are interchangable, nor should they be.. Perhaps you would like to have the nearest Doctor of English Literature perform an apendectomy on you instead of the board-certified thoractic surgeon… After all, they’re both doctors, aren’t they? And don’t give me that myth about firefighters sitting around with nothing to do until an alarm comes in… That is simply the pinacle of ignorance. Check their job description if you don’t believe me, or better yet, live with a parametic team and a fire crew for a day or two each. Then, perhaps you’ll be able to make an intelligent decision.

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