Expanded ambulatory care in the works at Sydenham Campus

Lori Marshall and Jerome Quenneville (Tami Eagen)

Expanded ambulatory care services are in the works at the Sydenham Campus in Wallaceburg.

Lori Marshall, president and CEO at the CKHA, said more details are expected in the near future.

“So stay tuned on that one,” Marshall said during an informal meeting with the local media on Thursday

“That is a ‘coming soon’ component there.”

The CKHA website states that currently ambulatory care is by appointment for certain clinics at the Sydenham Campus.

Services are related to surgery such as minor excisions and medical day care.

Included in medical day care are patients with multiple unit blood transfusions who reside in the Wallaceburg community.

Jerome Quenneville, vice-president and chief financial officer, said the CKHA is also looking into the possible introduction of satellite dialysis unit in Wallaceburg.

“Certainly that will take provincial support to make that possible,” Quenneville said.

“I know there is a community need and it certainly would be a welcomed service for the area. It is one that we will need to wait and see whether that will be a go forward for us.”

The CKHA leadership team is doing some master planning for both campuses.

“We are looking at which services are going to be needed in the future, both in Chatham and in Wallaceburg,” Quenneville said.

“Certainly we’re looking at getting that submitted into the LHIN and the Ministry in order for them to consider making some investments in our future infrastructure for our facilities as well.”

Quenneville added: “Looking at Wallaceburg, again I think Rob (Devitt) used the analogy last time of putting the engine in the car before you start doing the body work. We are still working for that power plant and as we work through the Ministry channels, what they would certainly like to know is ‘okay, so what does the future look like?’ So they at least want a drawing of what our ideal situation would be down the road.”

Overall, Quenneville said the plan they have mapped out for Wallaceburg is to make incremental improvements over time.

“First you put the power plant in, after that, we would see putting additions on, smaller additions,” he said.

“Hospital industry small is like $10 million, so $10 million increments would mean you can put a piece on and then maybe take a piece of the older building down, and then add more new. Eventually over a period of like 20 years, you end up with basically a new facility in Wallaceburg.”

Quenneville said this is the kind of plan they want to put forward to the LHIN and the Ministry of Health.

“I think it will work for everyone involved because by making incremental investments like that, the cost burden on the community gets staged over time,” he said.

“Looking for $3M to $4M is a lot easier than looking for $30M or $40M dollars.”

More items from the Thursday meeting:

– Once again, the CKHA leadership confirmed all of their plans moving forward include an emergency department, both in Chatham and Wallaceburg. Quenneville said this is a “done deal” both from the Ministry and every signal that CKHA leadership are getting from the community. Quenneville said the CKHA practitioners are saying it makes sense for CKHA in the long term as well. He added that a key ingredient is the support from CKHA doctors for this emergency care delivery.

– The CKHA is projecting that at the end of March, they we will have their second year in a row of a balanced budget at the end of the year, Marshall said. This includes required provisions for CKHA to be able to offer early retirement incentives to individuals in the organization to get to a recovery point.

– Also related to recovery, Marshall said 28 of the 41 positions targeted to be eliminated, have been done mostly through not filling vacant positions and early retirement offers. Marshall said the 28 positions is “really good news” for the CKHA and for their staff.

– Marshall said the rural health advisory committee has kick off. The committee is representative of the various communities across all of Chatham-Kent and their focus is about access to care. It includes representatives of the community in terms of actual citizen members, members of the family health teams from across the region, some CKHA staff and First Nations members. Marshall said the goal of the group is to look at how all of the residents access their care, whether it is at CKHA or someone who has to be transferred to another higher level of care service in Windsor or London.

– Marshall also discussed a great improvement for CKHA’s emergency department pay-for-performance hospitals in Ontario. Watch for more on this story on the Sydenham Current.


– Photo credit: Tami Eagen

– With files from Tami Eagen

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