Public urged to tell their hospital stories at Oct. 25 Windsor meeting

Posted: October 10, 2017

(October 8, 2017)

By: Jason Kryk, Windsor Star

The Ontario Health Coalition is holding a public meeting on Oct. 25 to hear stories from Windsor people about their hospital experiences and their ideas for improving and preserving hospital services.

t says Ontario has suffered the worst hospital cuts in the country.

“These changes to our hospitals have been foisted upon Ontarians without any democratic input,” the coalition says in a news release. “They do not reflect the values and priorities of our communities.”

The coalition says the stories it hears daily run from life-affirming to heartbreaking. Some people report receiving excellent care, says the news release, which acknowledges that hospitals have been innovating to reduce wait times. But there are also reports of frail elderly patients pushed out of hospital too quickly and paramedics frustrated by the hours-long waits to offload patients to overloaded emergency departments.

“Nurses and care staff are working with crushing workloads,” says the coalition, which is gathering information with an eye to making health care a big issue in next year’s provincial election.

The Windsor meeting is scheduled for Oct. 25, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Windsor Public Library’s central branch on Ouellette Avenue.