Health care workers in the Rainy River district are drawing attention to how under funding of hospitals is impacting health care services locally.
They gathered for a noon hour rally outside LaVerendrye Hospital in Fort Frances Wednesday.
Local president for the Ontario Nurses Association Janine Webb says hallway medicine is happening here.
“We had to open up a storage room to accommodate for patients and that’s all part of hallway medicine. There might not be physical patients in the hallway but we are using other departments that are not suitable for them,” says Webb.
Webb fears inadequate funding and the PC government’s restructuring plans will lead to a further decline in local services.
President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions Michael Hurley says another restructuring is not the answer.
“Our systems are buckling under the weight of the population growth and the aging of the population. That’s a problem that the governments don’t want to address,” says Hurley.
Hurley says health care funding will increase 1.8 per cent but much of that will be eaten up by a settlement with Ontario doctors.
Webb encourages the public to be vocal as well by contacting their MPP.
“When they hear people talk about this, they can say no it’s not right. They have to remember that they are affected by this too. If they are ever in need of emergency services, if there ever in need of a hospital bed, they could be greatly affected by this,” says Webb.
