KENORA, Ont. – Saying she’s been told health care in Kenora is in a dismal crisis, MPP Sarah Campbell is calling on the province to build a new hospital for the Northwestern Ontario community.
Campbell (NDP, Kenora) also wants the province to improve the health-care situation in the region by allowing some patients west of Thunder Bay to visit physicians in Manitoba.
In a release issued late Wednesday night, Campbell said she’s spent the past couple of weeks hearing from physicians and nurses, who collectively have told her Ontario’s health-care policies are failing northerners.
It starts at Lake of the Woods Hospital, she said during a statement at Queen's Park, where tiles are falling from the ceiling and portions of the facility were built in the First World War era.
“I have heard about the antiquated Lake of the Woods hospital that has parts still in use today that were built shortly after the First World War and whose surgical room has tiles falling from the walls,” Campbell said.
“I have heard horrific, true stories about Kenora patients who, in an effort to free up limited hospital beds, are discharged from hospital to look after themselves until they die, but who have such advanced dementia that they lack the capacity to do so.
Other examples Campbell cited including a $1,600 hotel bill paid by a Kenora man who had to seek treatment in Thunder Bay, five-and-a-half hours away, rather than being allowed to go to Winnipeg, just two-and-a-half hours away.
Campbell said she’s worried these stories are not isolated cases, but far too representative of the health care Kenora residents must face on a daily basis.
“All Ontarians, regardless of postal code, deserve health care that is close to home. We are calling on this government to fix the health-care deficit that exists by allowing patients west of Thunder Bay to be seen in Manitoba and by constructing a new state-of-the-art and fully functional hospital in Kenora,” Campbell said.
