> Salute to WLM Auxiliary’s 75th anniversary /Pgs 9-16 > Casablanca tower open house draws favour Pg 7 > West Niagara mayors comment on WLMH Pg 8 > Grimsby wants status quo Pg 18 Thursday, May 23, 2018 Vol. 9 Issue 3
www.wn3.ca 100% Niagara owned & operated.
Proudly serving Grimsby, Lincoln, West Lincoln & Winona
Circ: 26,529
Shouts bring halt to Oosterhoff coffee chat By Mike Williscraft NewsNow Attendees to Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff’s “Community Coffee” session on Saturday went in with questions and departed with others. Oosterhoff said the 9 a.m. the meeting was to be an opportunity for him to stay in touch with constituents, but it did not work out that way after the meeting was shut down about 9:10 a.m. Oosterhoff outraged many earlier this month stating at a pro-life rally, “We have survived 50 years of abortion in Canada and we pledge to fight to make abortion unthinkable in our lifetime.” Saturday, he said his event was “hijacked” by single-issue protesters, mostly organized from outside the Niagara West Riding.
Many of the protesters were clad in garb suited to the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Not everyone agrees with Oosterhoff’s assessment of the morning’s events, including Judy Bullis of Grimsby, who attended the session with two preteen grandsons as she hoped to give them a
civics lesson in how government works. “It was not just a hijacking by one loud group (Handmaids). They most certainly were outside there and loud and angry. But his (Oosterhoff’s) folks inside were as loud and controlling as the counter-arguers. Both groups heckled
out anyone who spoke and Oosteroff spoke in such low tones that no one could hear,” said Bullis. “Make no mistake, his supporters were as loud and vociferous as those who do not support him. While Oosterhoff stressed he had no problem with people
protesting and having opposing views to his own, he did say he had hoped protesters would remain outdoors and not take over the meeting. “That is not what happened. In the Legion basement, the protesters were loud and demanding unreasonable explanations,”
said Oosterhoff. Bullis said one of the attendees wanting an answer was a woman who spoke “passionately and articulately” about a serious situation her daughter had with childbearing. “The crowd became somewhat quieter as she spoke. She spoke See MEETING, Page 3
By Mike Wiliscraft NewsNow While weekend closures of West Lincoln Memorial Hospital’s operating rooms (OR) have taken root, OR nurses were told last week a six-week closure could be coming as early as this Fall. The announcement set off another round of concern for staff
and WLMH supporters that the operating room - and by connection - the obstetrics department may be on life support. Interviews with both Hamilton Health Sciences president Rob MacIsaac and/or vicepresident, communications Aaron Levo were requested to clarify the situation, but would
only provide answers to written questions. As has happened many times since “patient safety” was held up as justifiication for what was initially announced as a need for a 27-month closure in October 2018, misinformation rolls out. When questioned about an HHS manager making comments like
services are “likely to move”, Levo did not deny the comment but stuck with the management team’s standard line of comment. “Our goal is to protect and maintain services at West Lincoln Memorial Hospital until it is rebuilt. In the meantime, we cannot ignore the safety issues that have been
identified and pose infection control risks. We are still looking at the options available to us to fix this problem, including renovations, and will share the outcome of the work very soon. We are striving to keep any service disruptions limited to the shortest amount of time possible,” wrote Levo.
There are two major aspects to the pending work which may be done this summer and fall: initially work will deal with sterile supply storage while air handling/humidity control will be a much more onerous task for fall. “We are investigating the need for a short-term renovation See WLMH, Page 5
A large group of protesters gathered at Grimsby’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 127 Saturday morning both in the park-
ing lot and in MPP Sam Oosterhoff’s “Community Coffee” meeting. When tension escalated, the meeting was cut short.
HHS to OR nurses: more closures coming