County resident Richard Bradley said he will never give up the fight to reinstate the Minden emergency department.

He was one of around a dozen community activists gathered at the Minden hospital May 31, on the eve of the first anniversary of the closure. Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) shuttered the emerg June 1, 2023 – six weeks after notifying the public.

Representing the ‘Save Haliburton County Emergency Healthcare’ group, Bradley said he wanted to take a stand and let HHHS know “the community hasn’t forgotten.” He used spray paint to inscribe a blue ‘H’ on the HHHS sign welcoming people to the Minden site – in place of the ‘H’ that was removed last year.

“It’s symbolism – we’re trying to get a hospital back here in Minden. I want to put that ‘H’ back on that sign permanently,” Bradley said, noting he used a water-based paint that was easily washable.

He said the urgent care clinic at the hospital, opened last summer and operated by the Kawartha North Family Health Team, and other additions such as the Haliburton County Paramedic Services’ paramedicine program and nursing clinic operated by Haliburton County Community Support Services aren’t enough to support a community that triples in size come summer.

Referencing a letter recently published in The Highlander by David Atkins, who claimed he was left in an empty waiting room with his sick granddaughter for more than four hours before seeing a doctor last month – suggesting the only working physician was off-site resting – Bradley said locals need more access to health services, not less.

“What’s happened, and is continuing to happen, is unacceptable. People need health care, they need to know where it is, and they need to know it’s accessible in emergencies,” Bradley said.

When asked about Atkins’ experience, HHHS spokesperson Lauren Ernst said she couldn’t comment, citing patient confidentiality. She did say there is always at least one doctor on-site.

“Doctor shifts run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. An overlap shift varies from noon to 8 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., pending volumes,” Ernst said. “With major events, an additional doctor may be called in and that’s usually if a doctor needs to accompany a patient to another hospital.”

Ernst did not confirm whether doctors leave the hospital site for breaks while on-shift.

She added facilities staff removed the graffiti Friday afternoon and notified police. Sgt. Paul McDonald with Haliburton Highlands OPP said Bradley was charged June 1 with adult mischief and obstructs, interrupts, or interferes with the lawful use, enjoyment, or operation of property. Bradley is due in court in Minden July 3 to answer to the charges.

Patrick Porzuczek, of the ‘Reopen Minden ER’ group, was also in attendance Friday and condemned Bradley’s actions.

“That sort of thing doesn’t accomplish anything. We need to find productive ways to keep fighting for the reinstatement of our Minden ER,” Porzuczek said

Cathy Mauro, a volunteer with the ‘Reopen Minden ER’ group, is aiming to have 250,000 people sign a new petition launched in Minden last week calling on all Ontarians to join forces and fight widespread cuts to rural healthcare.

Speaking at the site of the former Minden emergency department May 31, on the eve of the first anniversary of its closure, Mauro said she’s taking a stand against what she believes is a concerted effort to decimate the province’s public health care system.

“This has become an epidemic with hospitals losing services and ER closures across Ontario… this is happening in all rural Ontario. We’re trying to unite everyone to tell the government enough is enough,” Mauro said.

The petition calls on the province to properly fund rural hospitals to improve quality of life and prevent avoidable deaths, Mauro said.

“We’re asking for full transparency and accountability from the ministry and local rural hospital boards in spending, including accessible information on healthcare expenditures, and to actually involve the public when there’s going to be a significant decision made about a hospital,” Mauro noted.

Minden ‘guinea pig’ for hospital closures

The ‘Reopen Minden ER’ group plans to deliver the petition to the Ontario Legislature in September. It will be the second petition the group has formalized, following one last summer calling for the Minden ER to be reopened – signed by 40,000 people.

While there has been no further permanent closures since the Minden ER was shuttered June 1, 2023, Mauro said there have been temporary closures at 22 other rural hospitals, while facilities in Chesley, Clinton, Fort Erie, and Port Colborne have seen hours reduced.

Residents of Durham, ON are mobilizing after South Bruce Grey Health Centre – parent organization of the Durham hospital – recently announced the facility’s 10 inpatient beds were being moved to more central locations in Walkerton and Kincardine later this month. The town’s mayor, Kevin Eccles, declared a state of emergency May 28.

Mauro said she feels for residents of the community, located 90 kilometres north of Guelph.

“It’s appalling what’s happening there. It seems to me like Minden was the guinea pig for closing hospitals or reducing services in Ontario,” she said.

One year later

Patrick Porzuczek, of ‘Reopen Minden ER’, said he’s still hurting from the local closure. With a sick daughter dealing with a heart condition, Porzuczek said he has spent much of the past year living in fear, wondering what would happen if she required immediate care.

Recently, the family received a defibrillator – donated by Philips Canada – providing a “much-needed security blanket” in case of emergency. Still, Porzuczek said he’ll continue fighting.

“What I’m hearing is people really miss the Minden ER. They don’t feel they’re being cared for or have the same level of service they had at the Minden ER,” Porzuczek said. “A piece of our community was taken from us. We’re the lightweights versus the heavyweights in this fight, but nobody is giving up.”

About 20 people attended a tree planting ceremony at the Minden hospital site June 1. Porzuczek said the group secured permission from Haliburton Highlands Health Services to plant a magnolia on the grounds, close to the memorial for former ER physician Dr. David Fiddler.

“We chose it because, in the spring, this beautiful flower starts to blossom and show us the dark days are behind us. We’re hoping it will have the same effect on this hospital,” Porzuczek said.

In a statement submitted to The Highlander, HHHS CEO Veronica Nelson said she feels enhancements made to the Minden hospital since the ED closure, and elsewhere, have helped to fill the void.

“I am proud of the new partnerships we have forged with Kawartha Lakes Haliburton OHT and our community nursing clinic partners SE Health and Paramed, and those we have rekindled with Haliburton Highlands Family Medican Centre, and Kawartha North Family Health Team through the urgent care clinic,” Nelson said.

“Healthcare in Ontario looks and feels very different than it did in the recent past. Not Deadline: Nov 2023 Designer: JK having access to care is not an option for our community. Planning health care in an innovative and collaborative way is critical for optimizing health and wellbeing of Haliburton County,” she added.

Minden Paper chimes in

Jeff Nicholls, one of the leaders behind the Minden Paper group that has spent the past 14 months analyzing HHHS’ reasoning for last summer’s shuttering, said the team has expanded their scope to look at what’s happening at all of Ontario’s 140 public hospital corporations.

The results, he said, have been startling. They found 102 hospitals ended the 2023 fiscal year with a deficit – an increase from 33 at the end of the 2022 fiscal year. The average deficit rose by 992 per cent, from $545,000 to $5.9 million, with the total deficit climbing 3,300 per cent – from $17.9 million to $610 million.

Minden Paper has called on the auditor general to launch a full-scale investigation into the Minden ER closure.

“Far too many questions remain unanswered. Had the public learned more from those who made the decision, perhaps we could have stopped not only Minden ER’s closure but others across the province,” Nicholls said.

“Compelled by Minden ER’s closure, we audited the financial statements of every hospital in Ontario and used the data to inform a publicly available, searchable database. We want people to see that Minden was the first, but will certainly not be the last,” he added.

The database is available at mindenpaper. com/hospital-funding.

“It’s not too late to stand against the privatization of our public healthcare system. We truly believe it’s not too late to bring back Minden’s hospital – it should have never been closed in the first place,” Nicholls said.

After seven years of volunteering on the board of Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS), the last 18 months as chair, David O’Brien has retired – telling The Highlander, “I’m at a point now where I don’t think I could give any more and be meaningful.”

His decision was announced May 31, on the eve of the first anniversary of the closure of the Minden emergency department.

“Pure coincidence,” O’Brien said, adding he made his intentions known at a May 30 HHHS board meeting. “That’s the last opportunity I had before the AGM [on June 27]… my decision had nothing to do with anything, other than the fact I felt in my own mind it was time to move on. I wanted to see HHHS through the transition… I wanted to make sure the board was in a position to recruit new members. That I’m not sitting there, getting re-elected to the board, and then quitting a few months later.”

He added, “I’m leaving to make room for new people.” O’Brien joined the organization in 2017, shortly after relocating to the Highlands from the GTA. He held several prominent positions during his career, including Mississauga city manager and CEO of Toronto Hydro. He said the experience gained from highprofile day jobs helped him to deal with the pressure, and public outcry, when the Minden ED closed last summer.

O’Brien maintains the HHHS board made the only decision it could, based on logic and reason rather than emotion, when shuttering the department. Though he has, for the first time, admitted there were things the board could have done differently to ensure a smoother transition.

“I think we could have communicated better in retrospect – if we had explained our position a little better maybe that would have helped,” O’Brien said. “But it had to be done. A year ago, we were really struggling with the fact we didn’t have enough doctors and nurses to run two ERs. We’re hardly using any agency nurses now, so that’s been one benefit. That’s saving the organization a lot of money.”

Lauren Ernst, communications lead at HHHS, said the organization hired 80 people between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, including 26 registered nurses and registered practical nurses and 13 PSWs.

Dr. Ali Bohra came on board as a full-time emergency department physician May 2. He has committed to practicing in the Highlands for at least four years.

Irene Odell, long-time financial committee chair and board vice chair for the past couple of years, will serve as interim chair until the AGM later this month. O’Brien said there, the hospital’s membership will elect a new board, who will select a chair over the summer. He said he’d be surprised if Odell didn’t get the role long-term.

With Odell’s leadership, and that of Veronica Nelson, HHHS CEO, O’Brien believes the organization is in good hands.

“The future of the hospital is solid. There’s always funding issues, so you do worry about

It wasn’t a bird, nor a plane that Haliburton residents saw flying through the air May 22 – it was an old Second World War-era M4 ‘Easy Eight’ Sherman tank.

Around a dozen volunteers from the Haliburton Legion, Total Site Services, and Windy Ridge Homes assisted in moving the tank, which is to be restored over the summer.

Nick Bryant, a long-time member of the legion, said it’s been about 15 years since the vintage heavy-armoured vehicle last got an upgrade. He’s secured a Canadian War Memorials grant to have it sandblasted and repainted – work that needed to be done away from the busy intersection of Maple Avenue and Mountain Street.

Workers were busy most of the morning with the move. A crane was brought in from Peterborough Crane Rentals, with the vehicle hoisted onto a flatbed truck and transported to a shop in Lochlin, where much of the restoration will take place.

Pat Casey, Dysart et al councillor and owner of Total Site Services, said moving the tank took lots of planning. Initially, it was to be moved in late 2023, before winter, but that was pushed back once everyone realized how big a job it would be.

“It all worked out just the way we thought in the end – it was nice to be able to pull it off,” Casey said.

The tank weighs about 37 tons when fully loaded, less when not so. Bryant said, “it’s an icon of the town and of the legion.”

It arrived in Haliburton from Canadian Forces Base Borden in the early 1970s, long serving as a local memorial to Highlands’ veterans. A plaque installed on its side reads, “through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond,” in reference to its use in multiple war efforts.

The M4 Sherman was constructed by Fisher Tank Company in the 1940s and used predominantly by the U.S. in the Second World War, and by Canadian troops in the Korean War. It was named after Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, a celebrated American Civil War general.

According to online records, the Haliburton tank was constructed in 1945. Bryant said the restoration is a long time coming.

“It’s been three years getting this project off the ground. It’s been an interesting struggle – myself and other volunteers are doing a lot of the grunt work, but we have a company coming from Bancroft to do the sandblasting and paint it,” Bryant said, noting military members from CFB Borden are also involved.

The project is expected to wrap up in the fall, with Bryant hoping to have the tank back in front of the legion for this year’s Remembrance Day proceedings.

Casey said it will be nice to see the tank given a new lease on life. Speaking of his involvement, the local entrepreneur and politician said he likes to give back to important causes in the community.

“We donated a bunch of time and resources to the skatepark last year. I have a soft heart for the legion, for the veterans – my great grandad on both sides of my family were both in the Second World War,” Casey said. “I have a 60-year legion pin that my grandad passed down… this, I think, was a great project to help with.”

The Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (HHSS) Interact club wants the community’s help coming up with potential solutions for homelessness in the County.

The group, in association with Haliburton Rotary, held a homelessness awareness event May 31 at Stuart W. Baker Elementary School. It was the final gathering of the current school year for Interact, whose mandate is to take action and try to influence change in our communities.

Co-club president, Annabelle Borgdorff, said Interact has been wanting to host an event focused on homelessness – the issues we’re seeing, and not seeing, in the County and how to best address them – for several years, but noted with the worsening economic climate it had become more of a focus in recent months.

She said hosting a community event, which invited people to speak about their experiences and float ideas for inspiring change, was a good start. The club started planning for the event last fall.

There was a BBQ to kick off, followed by presentations featuring club members. A discussion followed the presentations.

Leading up to the event, the club held a weeklong fundraiser at HHSS, with all proceeds supporting the ‘Helping Hampers’ initiative, led by Rotaract – another sister association, for young adults. ‘Helping Hampers’ is a community outreach program that provides basic needs items to individuals in the community. Rotaract prepares a hamper with basic needs for the community. Students sold rubber ducks all week, encouraging others to “give a duck a home,” Borgdorff said.

The fundraiser was a hit, with 60 per cent of the ducks sold on the first day. It raised $200 and Rotaract matched that amount, so the total from the fundraiser was $400.

Later, those in attendance heard how homelessness in Haliburton County isn’t as visible as it is in the city – with most people sleeping in cars or couch surfing, according to Borgdorff.

During the discussion, some people discussed the affordability crisis, issues with the local housing market, and how demand is currently outstripping supply, leading to more problems.

Everyone in attendance agreed one of the primary problems with homelessness in the Highlands is that people can’t see it day-today, so they don’t think it’s a major issue. One person commented how there’s a big divide between, “those who have, and those who don’t have in Haliburton County.”

Graham Borgdorff, a local carpenter, believes the housing crisis in Canada is due to “out of balance” supply and demand. He said the country needs to double the production of homes over the next 10 years, which he sees being a problem given the growing number of people retiring from the trades.

“All trades are at their maximum capacity in terms of workload as it is,” Graham said.

Rebeka Borgdorff, a teacher at HHSS, said there is a mentality shift towards communal living because people can’t afford their own spaces. That, along with the growing influence of tiny home communities, could form part of the solution in Haliburton County, she added.

Brody Bolger, another club co-president, said the second-highest cause of homelessness in Canada is domestic issues, with victims of abuse fleeing their situations with nowhere else to go. Nearly 40 per cent of the homeless population in Canada live in Ontario, Bolger added.

Darla Searle, a self-professed travel junkie, is giving County residents a once in a lifetime opportunity to live the jet set lifestyle and participate in a twoweek community trip to Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.

The Haliburton Highlands Secondary School teacher has organized the trip for summer 2026, with participants to spend 15 days away from July 2 to 16.

It’s the latest in a long line of overseas excursions for Searle, who accompanied HHSS students on a trip to Costa Rica in 2022 and has another lined up for Europe during the 2025 Easter break. She’ll also be travelling to Africa as part of a small group this summer.

“I’ve always said there’s no better education, no better way to broaden your mind than to travel, experience new things, and appreciate different cultures,” Searle said. “I’m an advocate that you’re on the planet for a short time. And while we live in a beautiful bubble, there’s a lot more world out there for us to see.”

The trip is being organized through EF Tours, which Searle has worked with several times before. Eight people need to register for the trip to happen, with Searle saying the “sweet spot” would be 30 people.

Breaking down the itinerary, Searle said the trip begins in New Zealand, with stops in Auckland and Rotorura, where people will be treated to a sheep and dog show at the famous Agrodome. There will be a tour of a natural geothermal park; opportunity to ride the skyline gondola; learn about jade carving in a local craftman’s workshop; and visit a Maori village.

Day six includes a flight to Sydney, where guests will spend two days. Searle said there will be excursions to the world-famous Sydney Opera House, and around Watson Bay.

In Cairns, travellers will be treated to a cruise to the Great Barrier Reef for a full day of snorkeling with a marine biologist, and a scenic train ride to the rainforest village of Kuranda.

“Australia and New Zealand have been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. I really want to see the opera house, and to go snorkeling and learn all about the reefs,” Searle said. “These are the kinds of experiences you just can’t find close to home.”

The trip will end with a couple of days in Honolulu, which will feature a beach day and visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.

The cost to attend is $10,333 for adults and $8,683 for youth under 18, which can be broken down into 24 monthly payments – $430 per month for adults and $361 for youth. Searle said that covers the cost of flights, hotels, excursions, and some meals.

Refunds can be issued up to 10 days prior to leaving, minus a $400 booking fee, Searle added.

A meeting providing more information about the trip will be held in the library at HHSS June 12 at 6 p.m.

“This is a great opportunity for people to do something they would never usually do. I know people who don’t travel because they have nobody to travel with – joining a community trip like this solves that problem,” Searle said. “You could create lifelong connections – by experiencing this unique trip with other people, you’re creating a bond for life.”