I never thought that in the 21st century a health care vision would exist that says driving farther to and increasing the time before an individual in need of emergency health care can begin to receive it, is the right way to provide the best health care to the people utilizing our Ontario health care system.
Here in Chatham-Kent it appears that the CKHA sees this very concept of ‘farther equals better’ as the future of health care, at least for the residents living in Wallaceburg, Walpole Island, South St. Clair and area.
To those who would be affected by the ER closure in Wallaceburg it is more of a ‘delay and pray’ concept.
CKHA vice-president and chief financial officer Sarah Padfield said there is still an opportunity to bridge some of the differences that have cropped up.
She said the opposition to the proposal is based on fear.
“We get that. People are going to be afraid as soon as you say, emergency services might look different,” Padfield said.
None of the opposition to the Capital Plan is based on ‘fear.’
It is based on a complete lack of trust of the CKHA senior administration after a long, continuous, proven history of deconstructing the services at Sydenham Campus.
And as far as “bridging some of the difference that have cropped up” how serious can you be when you already submitted the proposal against our Sydenham Boards wishes to the LHIN, presented it to Walpole Island Council and publicly proclaimed it as the best solution for the future of healthcare for ALL in Chatham-Kent?
To me, it simply looks like the potential loss of a few lives from the Wallaceburg, Walpole Island, South St. Clair and area that may occur due to the increased distance to an Emergency Department is a risk the Capital Plan and those who support it are willing to take, with our lives should it be implemented.
That is not fear, it is reality.
The closure of the Sydenham Campus ER would represent a significant reduction in emergency health care access to over 20,000 citizens no matter how you try to package it.
Period.
Doug Babbitt
Wallaceburg
about 10 yrs ago we ran into a situation with my daughter. She wasnt feeling well and thought it was due to her teeth so we went to an emergancy appointmebt to the dentist. We were taken in right away and she wasnt in the seat more then maybe 10 min as the docter came in to see her. She was acting strange stating she was freezing and she wasnt feeling well. At first we thought it was due to the pain.after a few min the dentist stated he wasnt doing anything and she needed to get to the ER . We went to her house to grab her health card and next thing as i was driving she stated she was getting worse so instead of the chatham ER we went to the one in wallceburg. Not thinking of the speeding limits we rushed to the Er and she was admitted right away and put in a room. She was in alot of pain and was screming for something to help but unfortunately the docter needs to see the patient first. While we were waiting she was on the bed screaming in pain, Next thing out of the blue she is yelling cursing and all of a sudden throwing herself against the wall. I rushed yelled at the nurse there was something wrong and they rushed in with the docter, She was having a very harsh seizure. Not common for her. To state a story short, she was rushed to london ICU by helicopter and was eventually dyagnosed with renal failure. She would never have made it to the chatham as within the 15 min time frame al of this occured we would have been driving to chatham. I am pretty sure as well there are people who suffer heart attacks etc or other health issues that that time frame to get the person to chatham can be life or death. Why should wallaceburg residents loose everything to chatham. We won the award for the lacerosse and it went to chathm etc. We may be a small community but there are alot of families here who cant drive and or have no way of getting to chatham.
Basically what I get out the ER doctor’s comments about “bigger is better”; is that I should go to Sarnia, Windsor or London and skip Chatham for the best health care.