Miller petitions province to keep 2 hospitals

QUEEN’S PARK – Keep our hospitals intact.

That’s the message Norm Miller has for Helena Jaczek and her Liberal government.

The Parry Sound-Muskoka Tory MPP launched a petition this weekend calling upon the Minister of health and Long-Term Care to commit to maintaining core services at both Huntsville Memorial Hospital and South Muskoka Memorial Hospital.

“Residents are feeling that Muskoka Algonquin Health Care is not listening to them so I wanted to launch this petition at this time to give the people of Huntsville, Bracebridge and everywhere else in the catchment area a way to voice their concerns,” said Miller in a release Monday.

He has introduced petitions in support of maintaining the two hospital sites in 2015 and attended rallies in support of both hospitals.

On Friday the Muskoka Algonquin Health Care Capital Plan Development Task Force released information on the three models it is considering.

Those three models are Two Acute Sites, One Inpatient Site and One Outpatient Site and a Single Site model. The Task Force is expected to recommend one of these models the MAHC Board later this spring.

“I appreciate that the Task Force has released more information about their process and the options they are considering,” said Miller. “However, the only option I can support is the Two Acute Sites model.”

The petition also calls upon the Minister to ensure small and medium sized hospitals receive adequate funding to maintain core services.

“I encourage residents who also support the Two Acute Sites model to sign this petition and mail it to my Queen’s Park office or return it to my Bracebridge office or to Huntsville Town Hall as soon as possible.”

The petition can be found at https://www.normmillermpp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/MAHC-Petition-2018.pdf

Watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HD3m-9tFQ