‘WE HAVE A BIT OF WIGGLE ROOM, BUT NOT 50 PER CENT,’ SAYS MAHC BOARD CHAIR MILLER
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
HUNTSVILLE — Bob Hutcheson, 97, has heard it all before.
“We’ve done a lot planning and we’ve tried to get somewhere over the years with various forums and committees, all sorts of things around Muskoka. And this is the first time in 46 years that we’ve been offered an opportunity. And unless we agree to the opportunity we will lose it and it will be another 46 years.
“And if we don’t show appreciation and we don’t build what we can — or what they can afford — then we are going to lose it and we are going to be back here in 40 years hoping we had done this.”
The local sand and gravel baron and longtime Tory here didn’t mince his words last night after the latest MAHC hospitals chat.
“Just get it friggin’ done.”
He summed up the feelings of many of the more than 250 on hand at the Active Living Centre — where he was the oldest observer and showed what keeping active in his community can do to maintain a person’s mental constitution.
Board chair Moreen Miller, a 10-year resident and former president of Fowler Construction, said: “I acknowledge this was a very quick process. We had to really see if we could look at something different, you’ll see by the timeline we were on (spring submission).
“If we need to take more time we’ll take more time — but there’s risks.”
She added the status quo risks the hospitals losing services due to a lack of staff and recruitment challenges.
She said the Ministry of Health is “giving us encouragement about coming back with something that is possible to build as well as operate.
“We have a bit of wiggle room, but not 50 per cent.
“Change is hard,” she said in an oft-repeated MAHC mantra from previous meetings.
Chief of staff Dr. Khaled Abdel-Razek assured the crowd about the ERs.
“Nothing will change in your emergency care to what you have today.”
Both sites will increase considerably to 27 beds — from 11 and 16 respectively in Bracebridge and Huntsville.
He added South Muskoka will also increase to 80,000 patient visits.
MAHC’s public sales pitch, which didn’t require much arm-twisting, included that it wants to become a medical “centre of excellence.”
They cited their associations with nursing schools and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, which has over more than a decade yielded significant training partnerships that resulted in several new physician hires.
CEO and president Harrison said just earlier yesterday she helped host an orientation for 15 new hires, many new to the community, who were unaware of what the hospitals and district had to offer.
She acknowledged the Town of Bracebridge for wining and dining NOSM students interested in moving to Muskoka.
She said MAHC is preparing for the future 10 years beyond the 2032 opening and building for 40 years past that.
Which prompted a pertinent question from the floor — what about now? — and why can’t the hospitals rotate doctors and specialists in from the GTA.
A further concern Abdel-Razek addressed was the single-sited of labour delivery in Huntsville. A couple of mothers noted pregnancy times travelling distances to give birth.
The chief of staff said with occasionally only four or five births a month, retaining and training skilled staff is another HR challenge.
When another mom asked about women in the south end of Muskoka going to Orillia’s Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital to have babies, he noted that’s always and option and also that high-risk pregnancies are routinely referred to OSMH.
One of the positive stories Harrison shared was the ‘Hospital to Home’ program begun last year with 70 patients rehabbing with MAHC help at home.
Abdel-Razek spoke about the move of day surgery to South Muskoka.
“We’re doing 7,500 day surgery procedures now, and we expect that based on growth to get up to 9,700 procedures per year by the time we open.
“People are thinking Bracebridge is going to be a small hospital. But based on the planning we have today, (the footprint) is going to be growing by 30 per cent. It’s going from 133,000 ft.² to 175,000 ft.² because of the services that are going to be there. And because of the advanced emergency department that’s important because they’re crowded now.”
Emergency room visits now at just over 21,000 in Huntsville and 22,000 in Bracebridge will go up to 24,000.
As well, diagnostic services will also be enlarged at both sites, said CFO Alasdair Smith.
Miller went on to note “This model Will not require a local share to go up so I think that’s a really important piece to what you’re gonna hear.”
Arguments to the contrary about the model proposed are expected be laid out in the final two in-person meetings.
Harrison said last night she welcomes the opportunity to address them Tuesday in Bracebridge and Wednesday in Port Carling.
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