Christine Whelan FEO, July 20, 2023, VOL. 4 ISSUE 24

Fort Erie Urgent Care: A fight for 24/7

Fort Erie’s Urgent Care Centre now needs urgent care as its status has dropped to part-time. The hours presented to the public are 10:00 am – 10:00 pm. However, the doors will be closed each night two hours earlier, taking the last patient no later than 8:00 pm.

Community leaders and representatives are urging residents to fight back. A third vigil, organized by the Niagara Health Coalition, held on Wednesday, July 5, brought out more people than the previous two vigils. It also brought out speakers.

As cars passed by and honked at the crowd gathered on the sidewalk in front of the hospital, Heather Kelley of Fort Erie Healthcare SOS raised her bullhorn and began introducing each speaker. They all spoke with emotion. They all had stories.

Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre’s Executive Director, Jennifer Dockstader, shared first. “I’ve been in Fort Erie since I was 11 years old. I watched a hospital that was operating in the black get turned over by the province to a new system and we lost our hospital. Fast forward, we were promised an urgent care centre 24 hours to appease us, and what’s happening now? Now we’re reducing hours.

“We know what the weather is here in Fort Erie,” Dockstader spoke of Fort Erie’s typical storms. “We cannot get on that highway to get healthcare elsewhere. When blizzards come and they hit here and nowhere else in the region, we can’t get out, and now,” pointing to the hospital, referring to after 8:00 pm, “we can’t come here.”

Jennifer addressed, “And what about the people who don’t drive? What about the single mothers who have to pack up all their kids to take care of the one who is sick? What about the seniors who are home and don’t drive anymore?”

Dockstader says it’s time to have difficult conversations. “It’s time to hold elected officials at the provincial level accountable who are not fighting for us. And that is my call.” The crowd responded with applause.

Jennifer urged, “In the meantime, check in on your neighbours. Check on those children. Check on those mothers. Because they’re going to need rides. The seniors are going to need help. And we’ll have to rely on ourselves because nobody else is going to help us right now. And that is a shame.”

Heather took the bullhorn back and spoke about the days when there was the threat of losing the entire hospital when the Yellow Shirt Brigade came out in full force. “Joy Russell was one of those people,” introducing the Fort Erie resident.

Joy provided a little history. She remembered years back, when the town funded the hospital and a new system came in. “Our town’s people decided that they were not going to join this system and that they were going to fight. They ended up being taken to court by the government. The government took control and bought the Douglas Memorial for one dollar.” She called on all of Fort Erie to join together, as a group, to address this.

Mayor Wayne Redekop spoke to the crowd. “The story of that building,” as he looked over the people’s heads, to the hospital, “is something that we can all be proud of.”

But when referring to what is currently happening, “It’s disappointing. It’s discouraging.

“This council and previous councils throughout the years, have been very steadfast in supporting this institution, trying to provide solutions that we need, and most important that we all deserve.” He indicated that councillors Darren Flagg, George McDermott, and Regional Tom Insinna were present at the vigil.

To a crowd that had been alternately responding between applause and yelling the word ‘Shame!’, the mayor expressed somberly, “Over the years, we saw cut after cut after cut. We were embarrassed to watch equipment coming out of this hospital that was paid for by volunteer organizations, our service clubs, and individual family members. We saw those taken out of here and placed in other hospitals.”

He continued, “And I would guess that there’s never been a provincial cabinet minister or minister of health come to this facility to see what’s here, test what’s going on in Fort Erie, why we believe it’s so important to our community, which is a growing community, one that expects to welcome another fifteen to twenty thousand new residents over the next couple decades. It can’t be justified.”

When someone in the crowd inquired about Fort Erie’s population, Mayor Redekop stated the current count is 33,000 with an expectation of a rise to about 50,000 over the next 20 years.

He urged the people of the vigil to continue to fight. “I want you to continue to speak up. I want you to attend rallies and sign petitions.”

Redekop clarified that registrations will stop at 8:00 pm. “We want to at least be able to make it clear to all. We don’t want people to show up at 8:05 to be told that they can’t get in.”

He assured, “This is a battle. This is not the war. We might lose this particular battle. This thing is never over.”

Watch for updates and information on the Town of Fort Erie website and Facebook Page.

MPP Wayne Gates stepped up and spoke out in frustration, “What the hell are we doing?”

Long before he was an MPP, Gates was fighting for the Fort Erie Hospital. He says he’s not going to stop fighting and thinks collectively, the people of Fort Erie can win. “It may take us another three years,” referring to the next election.

The MPP told stories of residents of all ages receiving immediate care in Fort Erie, sharing positive endings where, if having to drive to the next facility, would have been fatal.

“That’s why we’ve got to fight for 24/7.”

He spoke about reasons and examples of why privatizing the hospital would have devastating results on the community. He shared that during the pandemic, 5,700 seniors died, and 78% of them were in privatized, long-term care facilities.

During the pandemic, instead of supporting the healthcare workers, Gates stated that the province spent millions to fight and win Bill-124 which capped the wages of nurses, capped the wages of healthcare workers, just when they were burning out from taking care of everyone during the lockdowns. “And the nurses started leaving. The province wanted to create a crisis so they could come in and say, we need to privatize it.”

He spoke about the bill that came next, Bill-60, to privatize the hospitals.

The MPP also urged, “Keep fighting. We can do it.” Adding, “Healthcare is the most important thing.”

Jeff Nicholls introduced himself. “I live in Minden but I was born in Fort Erie. I lived here for 20 years.” And then he spoke to those facing him on that sidewalk, encouraging these people he considered friends, family, and neighbours, just a little further away now, to keep going.

He explained that he has lost an ER a second time. Minden’s emergency room was closed on June 2. “They gave us six weeks’ notice, no stakeholder consultation. They did not talk to anyone but the doctors who told them unequivocally, do not do this.” But they did.

Jeff is a member of the Minden Position Paper, trying to get services returned to Minden.

He came from Minden early that morning to attend the vigil and present, on behalf of Minden, three messages. “One, we support you, more than you know. Two, you’re winning. You may not think you are and it may not seem like it, but you are. We heard you. We heard you in Minden. You may not think you are having an effect. The third thing we want to say is that we’re joining you, not just the people in Minden.”

Nicholls asserted that there is one more message for Fort Erie. “There are real people making real decisions resulting in real consequences. So, when you have real people making real decisions about healthcare, we have to hold those real people real accountable. There are ways of doing things and they’re just not following them.

“Canada’s healthcare system was founded on two basic principles: patient-centric care and preventative care. So, if they’re not involving us in the decision-making process, how are they patient-centric? And if they’re removing our access to care, how are they all about preventative care?

“We’re allowed to ask questions of our institutions. We’re allowed to ask questions of our people. This transcends politics. When they’re not talking to us, they’re not doing their jobs.”

Sue Hotte of the Niagara Health Coalition passionately spoke to the crowd, re-enforcing the points by the other speakers, driving it all home.

The vigil was the third of the three planned by Heather Kelley and the Niagara Health Coalition, set on the day Fort Erie Urgent Care went part-time. The previous dates were June 21 and June 28.

Kelley reminded the people of the vigil to sign petitions and write letters. “We still need to stay on top of it.”

She encourages everyone to make a plan. “After 8:00 pm, if you need a ride to the hospital, you need to make that plan. Have your healthcare plan ready. You have to know how you’re going to get yourself to one of the facilities that will be open. And some of that is going to be costly for a lot of people who don’t drive. And that is the shame in this as well.”

There was an echo, “Shame.”

A larger Toronto rally to present petitions when the government returns to office is planned for September 25 at Queen’s Park. Buses to the rally will be leaving from Fort Erie. To reserve a seat for $10, connect with Heather Kelley, and stay in touch with current, relevant activity, go to the Fort Erie Healthcare SOS Facebook Page.