Nearly 92,000 Ontarians, including almost 7,000 in Chatham-Kent, have asked the provincial government to restore funding to community hospitals.
An Ontario Health Coalition province-wide referendum presented May 30 at Queen’s Park saw 96 per cent support of the following statement:
“Ontario’s government must stop the cuts to our community hospitals and restore services, funding and staff to meet our communities’ needs for care.”
In Chatham, 3,778 people agreed with the statement while 14 did not. In Wallaceburg and Walpole Island, 3,033 agreed and six did not.
A second statement was added in Wallaceburg.
“Ontario’s government must stop the closure of Sydenham District Hospital’s Emergency Department and restore funding, services and staff to meet our communities’ needs for care.”
Results of that vote were 3,032 in agreement and none opposed.
Shirley Roebuck, chair of the of the Wallaceburg-Walpole Island chapter of the OHC, said Wallaceburg had the highest per capita vote to stop hospital cuts.”
“We don’t expect the ministry to write a cheque tomorrow but our provincial government needs to know that we’ve had enough,” she said.
Roebuck said even though the referendum ended Sunday more than 2,000 people have added their names to those opposing cuts.
“The volunteers across our community, the help of Monte McNaughton and Andrea Horvath and the general public have made this an issue premier Wynne cannot afford to ignore,” she said.
