After 25 months of deliberations, the Capital Plan Development Task Force has unanimously arrived at a recommendation: Build a new hospital in Huntsville on existing lands and build a new hospital in South Muskoka on new lands.
The task force, established to look at various hospital models, is expected to make a formal presentation about its recommendation to the Board of Directors of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare when they meet on October 10, 2019.
The task force arrived at its decision at its final meeting held on September 12, 2019. A release issued on behalf of the task force on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, states that a Local Share Working Group was established to determine the financial contribution that could be required from the local communities.
“Having met several times over the spring and summer, representatives of the Local Share Working Group presented their findings to the task force at the meeting. The task force understands from this work that the local share is relatively the same and not materially different for each option, and that the hospital foundations, District of Muskoka and area municipalities recognize the financial commitment required and philosophically support the need,” states the release.
News of the decision and the MAHC Board meeting scheduled for October 10, 2019, was circulated at Huntsville Council’s September 23 meeting. But the recommendation did not sit well with Huntsville Councillor Tim Withey—a long-time health care advocate in the community.
I’d like to raise the alarm on what this task force has done and taken 25 months and $500,000 to basically come up with a plan that is designed to fail. There is no way ever that our community will be able to afford two new hospital builds in Muskoka.Huntsville Councillor Tim Withey
He argued that the task force’s decision will eventually force Muskoka to revisit a one-hospital model for the area.
Withey told his fellow councillors that a 17 per cent local share of the total builds is “universally accepted as light, it’s generally around 24 per cent and with continuing costs, that number of $149 million will balloon,” he said of the estimated local share. “This is stage 1B that’s happened over six years of a six-stage process, so there’s still four more stages to go.”
Withey told his fellow councillors that in his opinion, the only feasible option that should have been further explored “is to renovate existing sites on a schedule as needed. As we know particularly here in Huntsville, we have lots of property. We know the existing building when it was built, was pre-engineered for another storey,” said Withey.
Again he said the task force’s recommendation is designed to fail. “I think that we should all be very alarmed at what’s come out of this task force… there’s nowhere in the history of Muskoka where this kind of money ask… [has] been asked for anything at any time in forever. It would virtually bankrupt the entire District.” Withey urged people to be concerned and engaged.
Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano thanked Withey for his comments and told those present that the meeting where the task force will present its recommendation to the board of MAHC is public.
The meeting will be held at 4 p.m. in the board room of the South Muskoka Memorial Hospital on October 10, 2019. To find out more about the capital planning process to date, click on this link.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
The locale has probably already out grown the new facility (Fairvern) . We need to look further ahead than what we currently do. Stats Canada can help with the number of aging people.
Thanks Tim Withey for shedding the light on this charade being played out in Muskoka. This is what happens when you ignore the needs of and aging community for over 20 years. How long has Fairvern been in the planning stage? Ignoring the baby boomer tsunami will not go very well for all of us now. Maybe if all 55 councillors and six mayors work together they can rectify the situation (no pun intended). What is more pressing than the future health needs of our community? Will the cost keep escalating if all we do is talk about it?
Excellent comment and well thought out.
My only question concerning your reasoning is the accuracy of your permanent and seasonal resident population numbers.
May I ask your source? Thank you.
Agreed, Tammy. The MUCH cheaper option is to renovate the existing buildings and add to them, if possible. Huntsville, at least, is well positioned to expand the current facility–already owns expansion land on site, and the building was designed to add another story when built. My understanding is that the situation for Bracebridge is more problematic. It is unfortunate that we, in Huntsville, must sink or swim based on the two hospitals having been glommed together under Muskoka-Algonquin Healthcare. It is also unfortunate that we have yet another layer of bureaucracy between us and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care–the District of Muskoka who apparently already can’t keep their financial house in order as they are $60,000,000 in debt. If we didn’t have that extra layer of bureaucracy, Huntsville would likely already be well-positioned to pursue our own hospital renovation and expansion. The “two new hospital” plan is fiscally irresponsible in the extreme, and we all know who will be required to take on the enormous debt–the taxpayers.
Mr. Millman, I agree with your entire statement and have one follow up question. Where would the conflict of interest been?
At this precipice, all of Town Council needs to take a strong position regarding the future of Huntsville’s healthcare.
Here’s why we need to reject the latest offer from MAHC and their proposal for 2 NEW hospitals for Huntsville and Bracebridge:
The current population of Muskoka is 60,900 permanent residents and 83,000 seasonal residents with an estimated population by 2026 of 77,500 permanent and 92,100 seasonal residents. (The catchment area – Parts of East Parry Sound and Almaguin account for approximately 8,600 full time residents and over 30,000 seasonal residents) The District of Muskoka currently has a debt of $60 million and the total debt tabled by MAHC development locally would be $150,000,000 PLUS the cost of borrowed capital over 25 years = $210,000,000. We must also consider that all hospital construction redevelopment spend well beyond built in contingency allowances due to the number of in construction change orders so, the above number will actually rise.
Now let’s compare the other options and costs which were on the table but have since been removed by MAHC: HH = Huntsville Hospital BB = Bracebridge Hospital
H1 – HH (renovation/expand) $284,149,000 $72,056,600
H2- HH (replace/existing site) $295,889,600 $75,414,900
-B1 BB Renovation $ 285,973,400 Expansion $71,333,700
-B2 BB (replace/existing site) $296,100,000 $74,140,100
-Any combination of gross capital costs for Bracebridge and Huntsville is within the range of $600,000,000
–Any combination of share cost (BB + HH) is within the range of $150,000,000! That’s a huge difference people!
We need to do the math on this people. The Muskoka municipal and district taxes today compare to those of Halton region already. If we allow this proposal to go through this WILL BE paid by you as a Municipal levy as well as a District levy. As a taxpayer of Muskoka your taxes will increase to the extreme.
So what can we do about this? Let your voice be heard – join the “Listen to the People” group on Facebook, start a petition, write your MLA and, let your Council know you are not in agreement with this proposal.
In the end there is only one real solution: 2 full service acute care hospitals with the option for both to expand/renovate exisitng infrastructure at a cost of $150 million vs $600M. Speak up and be heard!
Thanks to contributor Ross Maund.
It’s refreshing to know that at least one person on council can think for themselves and is not afraid to speak out. Why has no one else said anything?
Mr. Withey’s warning should be heeded by all: No false prophet, he! We couldn’t have obtained monies like this under the Wynne government. So Premier Ford’s crash-and-burn assault on the budget will most assuredly save us from ourselves. One would think, however, that by flying so close to the sun, we could lose everything.
.
Mr. Withey’s solution was the one I favoured all along: It has the considerable advantage of being staged; i.e. a 5-year- or 10-year-plan can be posited which will allow both towns to budget in advance for upcoming expenditures. Bracebridge’s concept of a new hospital on new property was always pie in the sky. That option was never costed out to include the price point of the property acquisition; the entire bundle of services required (including high-speed internet); the access/egress roads; and even the parking lot (with ticket spitters).
.
I realize that acting Mayor Terziano had a conflict of interest, and couldn’t comment; but I am disappointed that no other Councillor expressed an opinion. We’re talking about the future of our community: Speak up!
Tim Withey has been saying this all along, but nobody seemed to listen! It seems that they are now listening only, as there were no comments from other councillors on this. Let`s make sure that Tim`s advice is taken seriously before it becomes even worse. We need our hospital here in Huntsville and to be upgraded as was planned for when it was built.
Building two new hospitals will require an astounding amount of money for the small towns of Muskoka to produce. In the case of Huntsville, our share of the funding would be approximately $7,500 per each resident–men, women and children! I like Tim Withey’s idea of adding to the existing hospital and modernizing the old building gradually. That is the way most municipalities have always addressed their growing communities’ needs for expanded healthcare facilities.
One of the reasons why we need more hospital beds is because there are long-term care patients taking up hospital beds. Because of the extreme shortage of nursing home beds, these people have nowhere else to go while they wait for a nursing home bed. They are unable to care for their needs at home, but they do not–for the most part–require advanced hospital care. The situation is further aggravated by the severe shortage of personal service workers. With our aging population, more and more of our residents will be falling into this category. We should study what other countries–such as Japan—have done to combat the problem. There was a report in the Japanese media recently, which stated that, for the first time, the sale of adult diapers has exceeded the sale of baby diapers. They are apparently further down the road of aging population. How are they coping with the situation?
I do not understand why no other person sitting around those tables had a comment regarding this. These numbers would bankrupt the citizens of Muskoka, Almaguin, Algonquin and Parry Sound. The Task Force’s proposal is unrealistic and unobtainable.
Town Council of Huntsville, you were elected for this very reason. Step up! Do better.