To the editor:
I work in the mental health field at the LPH and I can tell you this much right now – closing the LPH is probably the biggest mistake the ministry can do.
There are so many people in Thunder Bay that are living at home with a mental illness or something similar that should not be living at home and that goes for a lot of our seniors as well.
Just because you’re saving money doesn’t mean you’re helping the patients with what they really need most: a facility, nurses, care, etc.
You can’t just push people back into their homes thinking that they will probably be better off at home when a lot or majority of them need to be in a hospital or long-term care.
I heard that when the city or the government had shut down the other wards of the LPH that are now closed – without even considering looking at each and every client’s paperwork and case. Every case was signed off as to be discharged from the hospital without even really loooking into who you are letting out in the streets.
It is so dangerous to walk around alone in this city nowadays since the beginning of the closing of the LPH.
The Thunder Bay Police are aware of various individuals who are originally from the LPH and are out living in the community and are not stable enough to be, or are a danger to others.
Yet, there is nowhere for these patients to go, so they are left to fend for themselves out here in the community. Go figure that, you’d rather save money than save a life.
Name withheld,
Thunder Bay
