Honourable Minister of Health I have had several discussions regarding the overnight closure of the Urgent Care in Fort Erie with our Mayor, our MPP Wayne Gates and with Niagara Health CEO and board members and now I would like your help and assistance in securing healthcare in my community. I understand full well that Ontario is experiencing a shortage of medical staff particularly in small or rural locations. However, the people in these communities have worked very hard to support their local healthcare teams and their community hospital. Fort Erie lost their hospital designation in 2009 and we were left with a fully functioning urgent care centre operating 24/7. People in our community have not all been able to secure a primary care Doctor, a minimum of 8,000 people are without a family doctor and have relied on our urgent care as their first source of contact when an accident or other healthcare event occurred in their family. Our healthcare facility namely Douglas Memorial was bequeathed to our town through a practicing Doctor that saw a need for a hospital in our town and managed to meet the needs of the people here right up to last year when Niagara Health became determined to follow an old strategic plan that was put together in 2008. Since that time the plan when released caused great concern for the people in town and a public forum was held with more than 5,000 residents; at which time the plan was altered to keep an urgent care open in Fort Erie. We are here now in 2024 and once again we are faced with the threat of closure of not just our Urgent Care but our entire facility known as Douglas Memorial. Once again the people in town have expressed concern that our healthcare takes a second row seat to Niagara Falls and St. Catharines Hospitals. I’m not sure if you are aware but many things have changed in our town since 2008. Our population has grown as have our retired community members, we have more aged with chronic conditions, we have more families with children and more mental health issues. Our median household income after taxes is $68,000 and many people do not have transportation available to take themselves or their family members into Niagara Falls or St. Catharines when they have a healthcare issue that cannot be answered by telemedicine. We may be able to take an ambulance to the hospital but that leaves our family behind and the patients without family support during their stay. This is untenable for many and creates even more stress related illness of which they are also not able to address. The answer to so many issues seems apparent; simply keep and maintain Douglas Memorial under the community hospital system and allow us to keep and maintain our urgent care 24/7. This will alleviate the current and foreseeable backlogs in the City Emergency Rooms and will allow our people to remain close to home and family. We are the answer now and into the future for everyone in the area that have healthcare needs. I am asking that you and the leadership review the impact that this forced closure has had and will continue to have if we do not have immediate access to meet our healthcare needs. I am greatly concerned not only for myself with several chronic conditions but for the future health of my family and their family and for my community in it’s entirety.
Respectfully,
Heather Kelley
3142 Young Ave
Ridgeway, Ontario L0S1N0
905-993-2078
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