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The
THIS WEEK
Citizen
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Friday, October 4, 2024
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Volume 40 No. 40
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Flag rules formally adopted for ACW By Scott Stephenson The Citizen
A time to learn A number of local firefighters, including many from North Huron, engaged in a three-day live training exercise in the north end of Blyth, bringing in other professionals such as the local OPP, paramedics, Victim Services and more. The mock situations all included a
school bus, with some working on a bus on its side while another had caught fire, all of live training running through the dispatch system as if it were really happening. In the end, the tragedies were all for show and the area’s emergency professionals took in some crucial training. (John Stephenson photo)
Following a heated discussion at its Tuesday meeting, AshfieldColborne-Wawanosh (ACW) Council held a recorded vote that resulted in the adoption of a new flag-raising policy that restricts the municipality’s ability to show any support for community groups using its flagpoles. Mayor Glen McNeil opened the pre-vote discussion by asking for additional comments on the policy before voting. Councillor Jennifer Miltenberg raised her hand to make a comment on the subject, but was immediately interrupted by DeputyMayor Bill Vanstone, who called a point of order. “This is already debated,” he stated, waving his hands. “There should be no more conversation. There should be nothing more on it except voting on the bylaw.” Miltenberg, who has, historically, argued against Vanstone’s push for a restrictive flag policy, countered with a point of order of her own, pointing out that she had the floor. Vanstone then attacked the meeting’s agenda for including an option to discuss the bylaw at all, saying, “This is wrong, this Continued on page 2
Few updates available at Clinton hospital meeting By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen As the Clinton Public Hospital nears the five-year anniversary of the beginning of its nightly emergency room closures, little was offered in the way of new developments at a public meeting held on Monday night. Retired Dr. Maarten Bokhout organized the meeting as a followup to April’s public meeting, which drew hundreds of people to the Libro Hall in the Central Huron Community Complex. Concerned residents returned to the hall in slightly lower numbers on Monday night and heard from Bokhout, as well as Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) President and CEO Andrew Williams and Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn. As far as developments, however, there were few to report. Bokhout updated those in attendance on what the Community Working Group (CWG) has done since the meeting in late April and Williams was on hand to answer questions from the
HPHA’s perspective. And yet, few things have changed. The emergency room remains closed throughout the night and staffing shortages remain a dire concern for the hospital and the alliance on the whole. Having said that, Williams said that there are reasons to be optimistic. To begin the meeting, Bokhout recapped what has happened with the group since the last meeting. He said the CWG has met with the HPHA board of directors, putting forward a number of concerns and suggestions on how to improve the situation in Clinton. He also noted that the group has been in touch with Huron County Council with some questions from the Emergency Medical Services (paramedics and ambulances) side and they have engaged HuronBruce MP Ben Lobb and MPP Lisa Thompson. Bokhout went back to the announcement of the closure, which was in November of 2019 and was put into place the following month. This, he said, was a temporary
measure at the time that was being taken due to staffing shortages. He then reiterated that the COVID-19 pandemic, which would be declared in a matter of months after that announcement, further complicated the world of health care and ratcheted up the severity of the staffing situation not just in Clinton, but in many rural and northern communities in Ontario. Now, with the emergency room only open 10 hours a day, Bokhout says the residents of Clinton have received about 41 per cent of the coverage they were used to before December of 2019. Former Huron-Bruce MPP and member of the CWG Carol Mitchell spoke briefly about the group’s discussion with Huron County and its ambulance service. She said that, if patients are having to be transported to other hospitals and served when the emergency room is closed, that would have an effect on the county’s ability to provide care. However, she said that the county had recently received funding in excess of $7 million to handle the
pressures on ambulance services in smaller communities. Ginn then spoke, though he said he hadn’t prepared any remarks, telling those in attendance that he and Central Huron Deputy-Mayor Marg Anderson had formed a delegation at the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) meeting with Minister of Health Sylvia Jones, bringing along Councillors Jennifer Cox and Adam Robinson, the latter of whom is a Huron County paramedic. Ginn said he found the discussion encouraging and that Robinson followed up with both Jones and Huron County in regard to the pressure on ambulatory care in Huron County as a result of the emergency room closure. From a more general perspective, Ginn said it is in council’s best interests to have a healthy and thriving hospital with an accessible emergency room. He said it’s a box that both existing and prospective residents tick when looking for somewhere to live, so it’s a priority for the municipality, but that local
councils don’t typically get involved too much in health care. Williams then took to the microphone and audience members peppered him with questions, many of which were asked back in April, with a disproportionate amount of attention being focused on the HPHA’s mandate for employees to have been vaccinated against COVID-19. Williams reiterated that the mandate did not severely affect staffing levels. He said that about 20 people across the entire organization, serving hospitals in Clinton, Seaforth, St. Marys and Stratford, chose to leave the organization rather than get vaccinated. He singled out one emergency room nurse who was employed in Clinton, saying that if that person still worked for the hospital, its situation would be no different than it is now. While some in the crowd advocated for dropping the mandate, others spoke in favour of it, leading Williams to say that the hospitals within the southwest Continued on page 2