Sir: Thank you SDH volunteers, staff, nurses and doctors!
While the two Chatham-based hospital boards and the executive leadership at the CKHA should be profoundly ashamed and held accountable for the contents of the investigator’s report, this letter is really to thank everyone who did or currently has a direct role in our hospital.
Over the past years, the leadership at the CKHA has not treated you well and your important role in our communities was always diminished and dismissed. Your achievements went unheralded. So for your benefit here is what the investigator’s report said about all of you:
- SDH’s emergency volume is about 17,000 visits per year which is greater than 29 other rural hospitals in Ontario – you all do a great job with this high volume!
- The Investigator found no evidence to support any concerns regarding quality and safety of care at SDH.
- In all cases reviewed, the care at SDH met the standard of care required in a hospital in Ontario.
- The two Chatham based hospital boards and the CKHA leadership failed to recognize the vital role that the SDH’s Emergency Department and the physicians provide to Wallaceburg and Walpole Island First Nation.
- The Investigator even said that increased testing and equipment should be available at SDH to enhance the care.
None of the above is a surprise to anyone who supports SDH but it is nice to see outside, independent experts validate what we all said time and time again. To the volunteers, staff, nurses and doctors at SDH and in our local community clinics, I say thank you. We are happy you are here and we thank you for your dedication to our communities.
If you see a health care worker in our communities, please thank them for being here!
Jeff Wesley
Councillor – Wallaceburg
Past Chair – SDH
Thank you so much Wesley. In thanking the SDH staff you are also thanking the Chatham Kent Health alliance staff as many do work at both places and provide the same great care/services at each site. It should also be noted we do provide excellent and timely care at the Chatham site for any services not provided at the Sydenham site for all including Walpole First Nations.. We as an Alliance are committed to providing exceptional quality care to all who come through our doors (regardless of site, race, nationality). Although your plan is to divide and conquer, you may wish to rethink what that will do to the communities within Chatham Kent and how long it will take to rebuild the trust and respect we have/had for each other.