Email your Concern!
Since the HHS Board will ask the executive of their Management team to make the final decision regarding the issues about OB and OR at WLMH and moving services off site, we want to send emails to this Executive team to voice our concerns. These emails can be copied to the HHS board chair, Sam Oosterhoff, Minister of Health Christine Elliot and Premier Ford.
The Executive Team consists of
Mr Rob Macisaac ( note the spelling of the last name) rob.macisaac@hhsc.ca
Dr Wes Stephens. stephenw@hhsc.ca
Dr Michael Stacey
Please send to these emails or to the general one of President@hhsc.ca
Format for your email;
- Short and to the point.
- In subject line, put something generic, not WLMHor it may not be opened by them. Examples might be “ Concerned citizen has a question”. Or “ a question for the HHS executive team” or “how do I find the answers to some questions..” Something like that
- In the body of your email perhaps start with Dear Mr Macisaac, Dr Stephens and Dr Stacey…
- Then state you have questions and concerns about their proposed removal of OB and OR from WLMH
- Share a specific concern or two, ( or three!)
- Use the points from our press releases and other handouts
- If you can, state that you know this is not about safety ( its as safe as any hospital) nor is it really about accreditation, ( HHS and WLMH did well in the last accreditation) nor is it about utilization (HHS appears to be driving this down on purpose) Ask them “what is this really about?”
- Put your own personal views in
- Ask at least one questionthat you want an answer to
- Ask them to email you back with their answer
- Be respectful but let them know you are not happy/concerned/upset/disappointed etc
- Please cc your email to
- the HHS Board Chair , Julia Kamula at bogris@hhsc.ca
- Sam Oosterhoff oosterhoff@pc.ola.org
- Christine Elliott elliott@pc.ola.org
- Doug Ford.ford@pc.ola.org
Key Messages
The medical professionals at WLMH believe that accreditation can be achieved while maintaining the services of obstetrics and surgery.
Any decision regarding the relocation of services should be done in consultation with WLMH medical staff.
I urge you to involve the senior medical team at WLMH to find solutions to maintain existing services there, which are vital to our community.
The current programs and services that WLMH are exemplary in quality and patient safety.
There are other possible solutions that would allow WLMH to keep current programs, maintain patient safety and provide a bridge during a rebuild phase.
Other hospitals have maintained critical services, while undergoing rebuilds.
The medical leadership team from WLMH is committed to work on these bridging solutions.
Transferring services, even temporarily, places added strain on existing hospitals.
Once services are removed, it will be difficult to get them back at WLMH.
A permanent loss of surgery and obstetrics could lead to the subsequent loss of anesthesia, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the Emergency Room (ER), and other services. This will mean the critical loss of acute care hospital services.
A loss of services will mean the loss of our clinicians and with them, a highly-regarded teaching program and strong medical learner teams.
A loss of services will affect the attraction and retention of doctors and other medical practitioners in West Niagara.
The long-term solution is for the rebuild of WLMH.
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) has been supportive of the plan for redevelopment of WLMH, as identified in the Healthy Futures plan. Now, is the time to proceed with the plan.
The West Niagara community is passionate and has mobilized to Save and Rebuild WLMH.
