I am writing in response to recent public commentary (from politicians, healthcare providers, journalists and citizens) in order to provide some further context, and perhaps a slightly different perspective, around the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare redevelopment project. Quite frankly, the negativity and, in many cases, lack of proper context, are both troubling.
With respect to healthcare in the province, I go back to the basics to level-set. First, every citizen in Ontario deserves access to quality, publicly-funded healthcare. Second, running counter to this first premise, is that there are finite resources available for healthcare in the province – money, people, etc… Add to this a third factor – that is that healthcare, unlike politics, does not move in cycles (i.e. rinse, repeat). Solving problems doesn’t consist of stepping back 20 (or 50) years to re-try things that used to work. Healthcare moves forward, advances, and changes constantly as knowledge and technology expands. Finally, just to add to the complexity, there are no “borders” between communities or jurisdictions when it comes to healthcare…everything melds together.
As chair of the Almaguin Highlands Health Council recent news events regarding the MAHC redevelopment are leading to a sense of dismay and disappointment following a period of optimism for our group representing 10 municipalities in Almaguin. Each day seems to bring with it a fresh set of negativity which has, frankly, become increasingly difficult to counter. The swim upstream continues, and it is tiresome for all involved.
As the various news, quotes and revelations are released, mention is made of the contributions to Local Share from various communities. Missing from virtually all of these articles and quotes is any mention of the $9.5-million commitment from the cooperating municipalities in the Almaguin Highlands. This is a huge undertaking for a group of small municipalities with relatively small tax bases. Our quiet commitment continues, even though this has essentially turned into a battle of the beds between neighbouring communities to our south.
Virtually no one in the Almaguin Highlands is within a comfortable 30-minute drive of any hospital emergency room. Yet we support the longer-term view and, indeed, have been leaders in “seeing beyond the end of the driveway” despite the fact that neither hospital build really brings any direct benefit to our own communities (certainly not from either an economic or convenience standpoint). We are supporting the larger view and supporting a change to healthcare status quo, as that status quo is unsustainable. We support the basic premise of the redevelopment model, as it speaks to more than just ‘bricks and mortar’ – this is supposed to support communities from Severn Bridge to Sundridge, not just satisfy everyone in Bracebridge and Huntsville. We are working with the healthcare providers in our own region to build upon the hospital redevelopment and re-imagine how we can deliver healthcare services in our communities. Health for All. Each day seems to bring with it another hurdle, but we soldier on.
The goal of hospitals is to get patients well and, hopefully, back to their community and home as quickly as possible, even if sometimes that home needs to be a different one than before. The goal of our healthcare providers in the community is to either keep people from needing to go into the hospital in the first place, or support them when they return. Other stakeholders, including municipalities, should be working to remove roadblocks and support these providers where they can. And as much as we’d like to simply deflect responsibility as being someone else’s issue or jurisdiction (i.e. the province or the federal government), it takes the entire community to make healthcare effective for everyone, given the monster complexities in delivery. In the end, the centre of the healthcare universe is not the hospital or the municipality or the province or even the healthcare providers. It is the patient.
There is so much incredible, positive work going on in the healthcare arenas and in our communities that relies on the coordination and collaboration of countless stakeholders. This work falls apart with partisan battles, community borders and, dare I say, politics. We’re moving forward in the Almaguin Highlands and we support the hospital redevelopment as part of this move forward in healthcare. The model is imperfect and will continue to require adjustment (see point above about the continuing evolution of healthcare), but the opportunity in front of us is the key thing. In the Almaguin Highlands, we’re not looking back at past examples of lost services or at imbalances in the provision of healthcare in our own region. We’re not counting beds. We see this as a huge opportunity to re-imagine what healthcare looks like for the entire region. From Severn Bridge to Sundridge and everywhere in between.
Rod Ward
Mayor, Township of Armour
Chair, Almaguin Highlands Health Council
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