The Save South Muskoka Hospital Committee (SSMHC) is writing to clarify its position. This position update is warranted given the sudden events that transpired last week with the announcement of 10 additional beds at the future South Muskoka site. While the SSMHC is encouraged by and supportive of the increase in beds, there remain ongoing, urgent and significant issues concerning the hospital redevelopment plans.
Issues concerning MAHC’s accountability, transparency and proper community consultation remain outstanding. Although an increase to 46 acute care beds is a significant improvement, it still does not meet the expectations of the community. We have been waiting for over eight months for material questions to be answered with transparency, such as, the choice of site, transportation issues, ALC service enhancement and the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals as key elements of the hospital redevelopment.
Until these legitimate concerns are satisfactorily addressed, there remains significant opposition in South Muskoka to the Made in Muskoka model. Last week, the Chambers of Commerce of both Gravenhurst and Muskoka Lakes issued resolutions opposing the Made in Muskoka model and supporting a minimum 60-bed hospital for South Muskoka as set out in the Care Close to Home V2 model.
We are informed that the Made in Muskoka submission will go forward to the Ontario Ministry of Health as part of the Stage 1.3 capital redevelopment submission for further review later this fall. We are disappointed that MAHC intends to proceed without clear community support, however, we believe that at the provincial level, there remain opportunities for public concerns to be registered and for important revisions and enhancements to be included in the hospital redevelopment plans.
It is critical to note that previously in October 2023, MAHC represented to the District of Muskoka Council that additional beds over the existing 67 bed count would be included at the future South Muskoka site. Instead, under the current Made in Muskoka model, the future South Muskoka site will have nearly 1/3 fewer beds than it does today, without accounting for the current daily over capacity situation, and while the population of South Muskoka will increase by thousands more by the time these hospitals are built. These changes were made by MAHC without notice to the District or the community.
We would encourage MAHC to pause with the submission of the plan to the province until such time as the report facilitated by the District Chair, Jeff Lehman, to the District of Muskoka Council has been received. There must be time for thoughtful reflection and consultation with the community. There remains an opportunity at the District level to ensure the local funding contribution of $77M is not advanced until appropriate safeguards concerning the future of South Muskoka hospital are included.
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FYI, following is a letter that I emailed to District Councilors today.
Dear District Board members
At your Board meeting on Monday, I request you not to approve funding for the current MAHC “Made in Muskoka” hospital plan as it does not adequately reflect the health care needs of the people of South Muskoka, nor is it in the best interests of the majority of the population of Muskoka. I remain firmly in favour of the “Care Close to Home V2” model proposed by area doctors and I am strongly opposed to the MAHC Board’s current “Made in Muskoka” proposal for the development of hospitals in the Muskoka District.
My family has been coming to Muskoka since the 1890s, to Lake of Bays, Lake Rosseau, and Lake Joseph, and my husband’s family received one of the original land grants in Milford Bay in the
1870s. My husband was born in Bracebridge and grew up in Milford Bay, and, although I was born in Toronto, I moved to Muskoka full-time in 1989. This is where we raised our family, and we own
property in both Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes. So, you can see that our family’s Muskoka roots are deep.
South Muskoka Memorial Hospital is very important to our family. My husband and our son might not be here if we did not have care close to home. My husband’s life was twice saved from heart
attacks at SMMH. And, a few years ago, our youngest son spent several days in the ICU at SMMH with an attack of myocarditis. So, it is very important to our family to have a fully functioning acute care hospital in Bracebridge in the future.
On October 16, 2023, the MAHC Board represented to the District of Muskoka Council that additional beds over the current existing 67 bed count would be included at the future South Muskoka hospital site. This number of beds is necessary as the current Bracebridge site is frequently over capacity on a daily basis, and the population of South Muskoka is forecasted to increase by thousands more by the time these new hospitals are built.
Yet, only 3 months later, in January 2024, the MAHC Board presented a proposal for only 14 acute care beds to be located at the new South Muskoka hospital site, with the rest of the beds in the District of Muskoka being located at the Huntsville site. This model does not adequately take into account the current and projected population distribution of the Muskoka District. It is simply not plausible that a billion-dollar-plus hospital system could competently be redesigned in a matter of weeks. In addition, it relies upon frequent transporting of patients throughout Muskoka, to Bracebridge for surgery, and to Huntsville for recovery for those patients requiring hospital stays of 7+ days, while including no transportation plan for the same. One can only surmise that this proposal was either put together hastily without any due diligence, research, or consultation with the stakeholders, or that the MAHC Board lied when they presented their original submission in October 2023. In either instance, this does not reflect well on the MAHC Board.
Upon a great deal of protest and adverse reaction from the physicians, healthcare workers and thousands of citizens of South Muskoka, the MAHC Board revised their plan again, with a model dubbed “Made In Muskoka”, for a total of 157 beds for the district of Muskoka, but with now 121 beds in Huntsville, and 36 beds in South Muskoka – again, nowhere near optimal to handle the growing population of South Muskoka.
Facing continuing backlash, the MAHC Board has recently provided another revision, with an increase of the total number of beds required for the District of Muskoka to 167 beds, with Huntsville retaining 121 beds, and an additional 10 beds (46 beds total) now planned in South Muskoka. Under this current model, this increase, while welcome, is still insufficient to serve the needs of the population of South Muskoka, as the future Bracebridge site will have nearly 1/3 fewer beds than it does today. It also increases the local share cost by $50 million.
So, in a period of a year, the MAHC Board has come up with 4 different plans for the Bracebridge hospital, with the number of beds changing from 67+, to 14, to 36, to 46. I believe that the development of new hospitals in the area is critically important and should not be rushed. With more time and effort, a fair and equitable plan which addresses the needs of all the population of Muskoka should be able to be achieved.
In addition, none of the proposals have adequately addressed the issue of transporting patients from Bracebridge to Huntsville if they require a stay of over 6 days in hospital. In what way is this beneficial to the patient and their family or support group? What are the logistics involved? Nowhere have I seen detailed costs for this transportation scheme. Nor have I seen any consideration regarding the cost to the environment for the increased CO2 emissions.
In the meantime, the physicians of South Muskoka have come up with a logical model, “Care Close to Home V2”, which is supported by the public and addresses the critical healthcare principals that will support hospital care in Muskoka in the future. This model reallocates the services and beds on a more equitable basis between Huntsville and Bracebridge, in order to provide 2 fully functioning acute care hospitals in Muskoka. Who better than the local doctors, working on the front lines, to know what is required in this area to service the population of South Muskoka? I trust their judgment and I endorse their proposal. And, as this proposal maintains the 157 bed model, it should be less expensive than the new 167 bed proposal from the MAHC Board.
In conclusion, the District must not approve funding for the current MAHC proposed model, but should encourage the members of the MAHC Board, that, rather than rushing to meet some arbitrary deadline, they should take all the time necessary to carefully examine all the research, listen to all the stakeholders, and make the correct decision for the population of Muskoka and for the doctors and healthcare workers involved.
Sincerely,
Leslie Jennings
115 Glendale Rd.
Bracebridge ON
P1L1A7
#705-645-5384