MPP SMITH BAILS OUT MAHC PLAN WITH $50-MILLION MORE FOR 10 ADDITIONAL HOSPITAL BEDS IN SOUTH MUSKOKA

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com OPINION

HUNTSVILLE — What price 10 hospital beds?

Sixty-million: $50 million for the province — $10 million for Muskokans.

All tax dollars — unless private cash (and votes) factor in one day.

That’s the story going ahead for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare as it submits its “final” 1,800-page proposal next month for two new hospitals (sites) in Muskoka.

Stage 1.3 will see MAHC proceed with 167 total beds for both Huntsville and south Muskoka — 121 beds at HDMH and 46 at SMMH — in this ever evolving game of numbers.

That’s 75 more beds at HDMH than at SMMH.

A final vote I was invited to attend here yesterday (Oct. 10), just after 6 p.m., appears to have ended a somewhat sordid saga that some say is still far from over.

But for MAHC’s board of directors it’s the beginning of the end they hope will kick start construction leading to openings in 2032.

Certainly if the Ministry of Health likes what is sees in the coming months. For the devil is definitely in the details on this one.

The province appears to have already sounded its tacit approval.

At least according to MPP Graydon Smith, who wrangled another incredible “$45- to 50 million” out of Ontario.

It’s a much talked about and debated local project that Premier Doug Ford once leaked as costing $1 billion — and that one official MAHC estimate last fall estimated it at a whopping $1.5 billion.

What’s a further 3 per cent they ask?

Stunning as that new amount is to rural Ontarians, Muskokans — and most anyone with a loonie or toonie in their pocket — it’s the healthy price of hospital care in eight years.

But why?

Well, according to MAHC board chair Dave Uffelmann, it’s because the hospitals’ redevelopment committee didn’t want to recommend taking away 10 acute care beds from Huntsville and transferring them to south Muskoka.

So in rides Smith on his blue horse with another $50 million or so to bail out MAHC after public and physician outcry demanding more than the original 14-bed plan for SMMH.

MAHC president/CEO Cheryl Harrison said she wouldn’t call the outpouring of support for south Muskoka an “uproar.”

More of a long-embattled family feud, she more than less implied.

But nonetheless that’s where we are a week before Thanksgiving 2024.

So be thankful, MAHC management, its board and supporters (mostly in the north) seemed to be saying all along.

Are there more beds still to be squeezed out? Can you get blood out of granite?

Unlikely at this juncture. However, given how this story has unfolded with as many plots, twists and turns as an unmentionable U.S. election, anything could happen.

Could the status quo remain? Will either hospital be built?

With the Green’s Matt Richter back in the riding race this week and barely breathing down his neck, Smith would say he was just doing his job.

Indeed district and municipal tiers have portrayed it that way.

Though not all doctors who signed off and business associations agree. The Gravenhurst and Muskoka Lakes chambers of commerce hold steadfast to a call for 60 beds at SMMH.

In addressing the board with the recommendation approved in the two-hour meeting, Uffelmann narrowed the decision down to a couple of key reasons.

The justification is that most of the 22,000 visits (2019-20 figures) at each ER don’t require hospital bed admittances.

At SMMH only 67 per cent (1,900) were admitted — and of those 75 per cent (1,400) stay less than six days. Thus requiring 12.9 acute care beds.

Of course there are additional alternate level of care beds (LTC), ICU and maternity beds, which today total 56 beds in Bracebridge.

Comparatively, he said, at HDMH similar stats show a requirement for more beds, which will eventually see its total number reach 121 when built out.

Part of that, Uffelmann added, was because of its stroke recovery centre and upcoming MRI that go hand-in-hand and require more patient beds — numbers that Care Close to Home physicians critically challenge.

MAHC also projects 24,000 emergency room visits anew — up 10 per cent when accounting for community growth population and aging projections a decade out.

Huntsville will see it ER beds rise to 27 from 16; with south Muskoka, too, increasing to 27 beds from 11 presently.

All of which requires more medical staffing, infrastructure and support services.

“That’s an enormous increase,” Uffelmann defended.

Bracebridge, which he said will have most of Muskoka’s day surgery and daily patient visits, would see seven procedure rooms compared to two in Huntsville.

MAHC contends this is still the best plan going forward after considering the Care Close to Home plan that its consults claimed would be more expensive.

Uffelmann told the board, in response to their questions, that MAHC couldn’t afford that and other things like rehab gyms at both hospital sites.

Cutting costs to pay for those 10 more beds was unviable in its grand scheme estimation.

A surgical scalpel or daresay a hatchet job to slice away at the meat of their plan would jeopardize its carefully honed claim that it meets every Muskokan’s needs—  as it analysed them.

Harrison said afterwards the 1:3 submission would likely be reviewed over the winter with some kind of response expected the spring of 2025.

If looked at favourably, the MAHC would be to see local architectural work complete by 2027, when the project would be turned over to Infrastructure Ontario to commence with tendering and building.

In a press release before the vote, MAHC said: “This adjustment ensures that MAHC is addressing the future healthcare needs of the region while maintaining high standards of patient care.”

Uffelmann was quoted as saying: “This decision reflects the board’s strong belief in the plan’s vision for Muskoka’s healthcare system. It is a testament to the tireless efforts of so many at MAHC, including the capital redevelopment planning team and our board, as well as the dedication of past MAHC boards, board chairs, management teams, and many stakeholders over the past decade. Their collective work has laid the foundation for this crucial moment, and we are now well-positioned to move forward in addressing the region’s healthcare needs.”

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