As many will know by now, Muskoka made the front page of the Toronto Star this past week. The headline read, “Battle brews in Muskoka over new hospitals.” The article, in my view, is heavily biased toward Bracebridge, most likely generated by hospital activists in that community. I am not being critical of these folks. They are doing what they believe to be in the best interests of their community.
However, the article itself, written by Star Reporter Rob Ferguson, clearly leaves the impression that the plan for two hospital sites in Muskoka benefits Huntsville and penalizes Bracebridge. It is slanted to make people believe that their community got a raw deal.
Although a number of South Muskoka people were quoted in this article, including physicians and the Mayor of Bracebridge, reciprocal comments from political and medical folks in Huntsville were nowhere to be seen.
The nub of the issue for people in South Muskoka is that under this plan, the Bracebridge hospital has been reduced to 36 beds, and the Huntsville site has been increased to 139 beds. The Toronto Star story referred to this as the “battle of the beds.”
But in today’s world of hospital care, “mine is bigger than yours” in relation to beds is not the critical factor in determining the importance of a hospital site. Rather, it is based on the critical services a hospital provides and the number of beds required for these specific services. The goal is to get people out of the hospital as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Under the current revised MAHC proposal, both sites will double their emergency departments and provide obstetric care. The Bracebridge site will also perform all day surgeries and most outpatient exams, such as non-urgent imaging. Under this plan, Bracebridge would be the busier site on a day-to-day basis but have less responsibility for longer-term care. Far more people will be travelling from North Muskoka and East Parry Sound to Bracebridge for hospital procedures than the other way around.
Under the current plan, the Huntsville site of Muskoka Algonquin Health Care will emphasize longer-term care, including major surgery, stroke recovery, and specialized rehabilitation. It will also provide reactivation care to ensure patients who leave the hospital are equipped to transition home.
Recognizing that two hospitals within twenty-five miles of each other cannot offer all the same services, given the reality of current economic dynamics, MAHC’s proposal, with the exception of emergency care, has focused on state-of-the-art ambulatory hospital care in Bracebridge and those services that require more extensive in-hospital care in Huntsville, with equal state-of-the-art procedures.
However, the issue of hospital beds has become the focus of discontent in South Muskoka. They believe that the Bracebridge hospital site will get the short end of the deal under MAHC’s current plan because of the reduction in beds. Whether that is accurate or not, it has rallied the community.
Letters have flowed back and forth, petitions have been organized, media lobbied, demonstrations have been encouraged, and woeful, if not threatening, messages have been sent both to MAHC and Queen’s Park.
Community notables like former NDP Muskoka MPP Dan Waters and Bracebridge Town Crier Bruce Kruger are stirring the water and trying to convince South Muskoka that they have been duped. Do I agree with them? No. Do I blame them? Again no. They are standing up for what they believe is right for their community.
That, then, leads me to the major question I have for those reading this article. What exactly is Huntsville doing to protect the interests of North Muskoka when it comes to hospital care here? In my view, the silence has been deafening. All I have really heard is various versions of ‘don’t worry, be happy’. Everything is going to be alright.
I have a great deal of respect for Mayor Nancy Alcock. I have been in her shoes, and I know she cannot be all things to all people. But I also have learned the hard way that it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, and as far as I can see, Bracebridge is buying grease by the gallon, and we have none.
In my view, the mayor and her council need to take more leadership on this issue. A few months ago, the mayor assured us that coordinated talks were going on with MAHC and District politicians and that everything was under control. That may be. But this is now. South Muskoka is in full throttle in their quest to derail the current recommendations of MAHC. The changes that have been made by MAHC have not satisfied them. That has had to have had an effect on both MAHC and, more importantly, on the provincial government.
There is, and there will continue to be, tremendous pressure on both bodies to provide more services to the Bracebridge site. With the financial structure that is available, this can only be accomplished by reducing services in Huntsville.
I have often said that the first rule of politics is to know how to count. With the possibility now that an election in Ontario could be called as early as next year, you can bet your boots that there are people inside the Ford government who are counting votes when considering how to resolve the hospital issue in Muskoka. This is especially so when the Green Party did so well here in the last provincial election, and their candidate is now the Deputy Leader of that political party.
Again, the question must be asked: What is being done in Huntsville to ensure that North Muskoka’s voice is heard when decisions are finalized? Perhaps we don’t need the rallies, placards, and petitions that we see elsewhere, and certainly, they will do little good after the fact. But we do need leadership from our elected politicians, and we need to know what is being done to protect Huntsville’s interests in relation to our hospital.
Has there been a meeting between the Town and MAHC? If so, what assurances have been received? Are we part of the review process that MAHC is now going through? Has our mayor requested a meeting with the Minister of Health? I can assure her that there are others who are bending her ear with options that include reverting to a single-site hospital if Muskoka can’t get its act together. Has the Town considered engaging a government relations professional to make our case at Queen’s Park? Will there be a response to the one-sided article in the Toronto Star?
Some of this may be taking place, but if it is, we are not aware of it, and we should be. I believe the Town now has a communications officer. Why can’t they communicate?
Perhaps we can gain some points with MAHC and the Province by being quiet and compliant. Still, it is too big a risk to take unless the work has been done to guarantee that Huntsville’s hospital interests have been protected and that we will not be worse off than MAHC contemplated when they tabled their proposals.
We need to know that.
Don’t worry, be happy just doesn’t cut it anymore.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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MAHC is planning on turning Huntsville Hospital into what will essentially be a long term care facility.
If you need a mammogram you will go to Bracebridge.
If you need a CTScan you will go to Bracebridge
If you need an X-ray you will go to Bracebridge.
Ditto for Nuclear medicine (probably the new MRI) and Bone Density
If you need an ECG you will go to Bracebridge
If you need an Ultrasound you will go to Bracebridge
Ditto for Colonoscopy, Gastroscopy or Day Surgery
Please everyone. It’s time to stand up again to Save Our Services.
FYI – I have long been a fan of the Dr David Allan solution. One hospital half way between Bracebridge and Huntsville. It can be done.
Dave Wilkin is exactly correct. Having spent decades as a senior executive in the healthcare industry nationally, it does not make sense to spend over $1B+ for a population base as small as Muskoka – Parry Sound. Well planned expansion of existing space to accommodate today’s healthcare delivery and renovating the existing hospitals footprint is the only alternative that would allow for improved services to the communities and be cost responsible. This has always been the right place for MAHC to land or the continuing crisis disfunction in planning for the future of hospital services will stay in jeopardy and politically seen as not appropriate to prioritise.
My son heard last week there was only going to be one new hospital.
Many places are planning to build new hospitals not just renovating.
The governments that are in now likely will not be in power when and if the first shovel ever starts excavating.
The whole thing feels like a major stall. I believe none of it anymore and I challenge the committees, government etc to prove me wrong.
Remember the old cartoon that ended with the words..”That’s all folks” showing bugs bunny eating a carrot . Hmm!
I was at Queens Park sharing the Ontario Health Coalition bus with the Group from Bracebridge that met with Rob Ferguson describing their point of view and that is how I read the Star item- presenting some Bracebridge reactions to the MAHC redevelopment plans. I also attended one of last week’s public engagement sessions at Huntsville Hospital which also was attended by a lovely woman from Bracebridge who shared her personal grief and real concerns about winter driving up highway 11 and maybe urgently in the dark to be with a loved one at Huntsville Hospital. The two hospital sites are kind of acute care fortresses for when we need them and we all have very personal, emotional experiences in these buildings. -I have had family in both. So it is intensely emotional what happens to these sites. They are important hubs in our Muskoka community. The vision being presented now is meant to leverage human resource efficiencies and integrate services in the Muskoka community that provides better continuity and support for our health and wellness. Success will depend on adequate funding of what we now call home care and other community services throughout the area north and south and rurally.Crucially we need more/bigger primary care health teams. And adequate funding for the hospital based care that people in Muskoka need. Bracebridge’s reaction seems to be that there should be allowance for more beds for acute care in the southern site. We will need to ask for more money from the Ford government, instead of siphoning off public funds for unwanted private for profit clinics. Our MPP should be advocating for increased funding for Bracebridge beds, instead of a government stirring up communities to fight each other. Whatever the powers that be decide, we will all need to work together for a Muskoka community that cares and supports all of us.
Having spent time as a MAHC volunteer and advocate for the Huntsville Hospital, it’s disheartening to see that after almost a decade and a half of capital planning, nothing has been built and the plan is still unclear.
There is no solution that gives everyone what they want. Two new full-service hospitals will cost well over a billion $ by the time of completion, and would be a decade away. That translates to a local share of over $250 million, and a provincial share over $750 million. Given the current economic and fiscal realities, neither amount is realistic.
Most hospitals in the province are renovated rather than replaced with new builds. Cost is the main reason. Further, a single new hospital would only reignite the old battle over location, which will never end in consesus.
I maintain that the best solution is to determine what is affordable for both the province and locally, then scale renovations and expansion that fits within that amount, in a balanced rational fashion.This is what should have happened years ago.
I encourage residents to get engaged and push MAHC and the politicians to align and get it right this time. New capacity is long overdue and certainty on the plan lessens the growing recruitment headwinds.
I feel that two hospitals are a waste of money. One large hospital that will attract specialists, surgeons and provide other needs that will benefit both communities so we don’t have to go to Orillia or North Bay. I personally see benefits in both locations. for example, Huntsville is centered between the existing major hospitals in the area, about an hours drive to North Bay or Parry Sound or Orillia. So if you are in dire need of medical aid and are near one of the main roadways you are no more than a half an hour from a major hospital. Bracebridge on the other hand is in the land money. The tourists in the area are the wealthiest in Canada and could help raise funds that should create one of the best equipped hospitals in the country. Tuff call, but we have to stop the bickering and get it built, the politicians are going to have to bite the bullet and make a decision
Will these hospitals be dangled again as election carrots? Think any one will be digging for another five years? After the performance of MAHC in presenting a plan, changing the plan, modifying the changed plan and holding meetings to plan for a plan, I think 5 years is a hallucination.
A few years ago Don McCormick rose at a meeting in the Active Living Center I believe, and said the “Town of Huntsville I grew up in was a ‘can do’ place”. I asked him when we were leaving if he still believed that it remained that place. He just smiled and shrugged. I don’t see much ‘can do’ anymore.
We play euchre in Gravenhurst and Bracebridge and see posters about this hospital situation, listen to some of the rhetoric and are kind of curious as to why there isn’t much of the same here in Huntsville. Any concern of our local council is certainly reserved if not silent. “We are sure to get some sort of hospital. Tra la, Tra La.” Kinda’ Ho Hum.
But maybe after we read/hear the brilliant, scintillating, in depth response to the Star newspaper story, that our mayor and council are surely about to release, we will take heart and believe that they are into this hospital thing. Mayor and supporting staff, your audience is waiting.
The town has a couple of councilors out beating the bushes for doctors to come and set up shop in this place. Guys I am really rooting for you. They are even trolling some perks, monetary and otherwise to sweeten the pot so to speak. As an old boss used to say, “Something tangible.”
If we want a new hospital and new doctors, maybe a show of zeal from Town Hall might help them in their search. Otherwise, those new doctors, nurses and others may just give Huntsville a pass. No real show of enthusiasm.
Having attended an MAHC information meeting last week I came away with a new understanding of the situation. A Huntsville voice needs to be raised about the revisions made to the original plans and the very real threat that the Ministry of Health withdraws the funding for the 2 hospital solution. I believe that a publicly based organization be raised to balance the South Muskoka “noise”.
Among the people I have talked to since then, there is overwhelming support for a local initiative to explain the real facts. The future model will have the Bracebridge Hospital as the busier location but the Stroke Rehabilitation designation of Huntsville will have a larger “bed” requirement.
This “bed” argument is a red herring in the discussion. The future model indicates Bracebridge will have almost double the admissions as Huntsville, largely because of the Day Surgery centralization. And, now that Obstetrics and Emergency services will be equivalent, let’s get the ball rolling.
Remembering that the South Muskoka opposition is citizen led it might be best if the Huntsville voice be similarly formed. The moderator at the MAHC meeting has offered to supply any required information to assist in a balanced, positive presentation.
My greatest fear is that delay will encourage the Ministry to move on to other municipalities that can better focus their needs.
Time is being waisted , it is time “To get this done”
Thank You
Ron Baker
Mr. Waters, I’d like to put Debi’s question to you. Would Bracebridge be satisfied if MAHC flipped the chart completely and gave Bracebridge the original Huntsville model, including ALL the original beds allotted, and gave Huntsville the Bracebridge model, including all the original services?
Because like Debi, I’d go for that.
I’m just wondering what services you see being reduced in Huntsville if South Muskoka is granted 54 inpatient beds and 6 ICU beds?
Huntsville will still have a monument even though they serve a smaller area.
Dan
Im so tired of the battle between Bracebridge and Huntsville. Its like watching 2 kids fight over a swing at the playground. No one will ever be happy so i think maybe the powers should just build one huge acute hospital with everything under one roof with state of the art technology and services. Sorry, but this arguing back and forth is not going to benefit anyone. Its time people grew up and acted accordingly
Another biased politically based opinion supporting MAHC when after many years no supporting data has been released in the process which has been significantly changed more than once since January of this year.
Frankly, if Bracebridge wants to trade Huntsville in in this deal, I’m in. I’d rather have day surgery and tests here. Let Bracebridge have the rehab and long stay patients.
You already know my stance on the one hospital issue. 😉