Seeing Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones in Haliburton last week – beaming for a photo op for the unveiling (again) of the new CT scanner – irked me.
First of all, the province did not pay for the CT scanner, and will not fork over any money for the CT mammography machine either.
The photo op should have been taken by drone over the high school track, showing all of the people who have donated to the $4.3 million capital campaign. They bought the CT, not Jones, MPP Laurie Scott, or premier Doug Ford. Even the taxpayers of the province did not pony up the money. It’s come on the backs of hard-working Highlanders.
We applaud them. Many still back healthcare services in the County even though they cannot get a family doctor; and despite seeing an ER shuttered; and even though it appears the government prioritizes booze over medicine. Well, at least we can all get our livers CT scanned closer to home now.
The Ontario government does not pay for medical capital costs. It’s why we rely on the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation and the Haliburton and Minden hospital auxiliaries.
In the case of the new CT, we’re told that radiologists (medical doctors that specialize in diagnosing and treating injuries and diseases using medical imaging, such as X-rays, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and ultrasound), bill fees for services directly through OHIP. Hospitals use their base funding from the province to operate CT services.
While Jones would like to take credit for this, too, it’s you and I who cover the bills through taxation, fees and charges.
Additionally, there are no operational funds available for CT.
In future, HHHS may be eligible for wait times funding to operate beyond the current five days/eight hours per day schedule, but I’m not holding my breath.
So, why was Jones here?
She certainly wasn’t when the Minden community was reeling from the sudden announcement last April that its ER would be shuttered in a mere six weeks’ time. She was missing in action. So was Scott. So was HHHS.
The Harvard Business Review ran an article during COVID entitled ‘Real leaders are forged in crises’.
It summarized that history’s iconic leaders acted in the face of challenging crises. They acknowledged people’s fears, then encouraged them with resolve.
In the case of the ER closure, nothing was done to shepherd the masses. It was only when current HHHS CEO and president Veronica Nelson took over that we saw that type of leadership. Shortly into her tenure, it was she (not Jones or Scott) who faced the unhappy masses. That has earned her respect. She deserved to be front and centre at last week’s photo op, as did Melanie Klodt Wong of the Foundation.
Jones needs to know that while County residents are delighted to finally have a CT scanner, and soon CT mammography, they are the last county in Ontario to get one, so it is long overdue. Nor do many see it is an acceptable tradeoff for the closure of the Minden ER.
I would have preferred she stayed at her desk in Toronto last week and spent time on the many challenges her ministry is facing. Properly fund healthcare in this province, and tell her buddy, Doug, we need family doctors, not mixed drinks in cans in grocery stores.
