Trudeau talks health care during his stop in Sudbury, Ont.

Health Care

March 6, 2024admin

Trudeau talks health care during his stop in Sudbury, Ont.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Sudbury, Ont. on Friday where he reiterated the federal government’s $200-billion investment into health care over the next 10 years.

“We know that as we look to improve healthcare systems and healthcare outcomes for Canadians we need to make sure it’s being measured in a rigorous, transparent, comparable way so people can know what their tax dollars are delivering in terms of improvements to our healthcare system,” Trudeau said during a press conference at the Health Sciences North hospital.

“It also is about modernizing the system, getting rid of fax machines, making sure that people have access to health care data and that their specialists or their pharmacists have access to the right information to make sure people get the best quality of care.”

The prime minister referenced an announcement from 2022 that NOSM University, the northern Ontario medical school with campuses in Sudbury and Thunder Bay, is adding 30 undergraduate spots and 41 postgraduate spots to help serve rural and remote communities.

A man standing at a microphone with four people in the background. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a press conference at the Labelle Innovation & Learning Centre at Health Sciences North in Sudbury, Ont., Friday, March 1, 2024. He is joined by David McNeil president and CEO of Sudbury’s Health Sciences North, left to right, Liberal MPs Viviane Lapointe and Marc Serre and Ray Hunt, COO of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. (The Canadian Press)

Sudbury MP Vivianne Lapointe said health care is an issue that comes up a lot with her constituents.

“Their concerns for accessing health care, their concerns for accessing wait list physicians and the vital care that they need,” she said.

“And I can tell you that our federal government has listened, has heard you.”

Trudeau said the government’s new pharmacare plan is a “huge step

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Health Care

November 28, 2023admin

Mallorytown, Ont. residents struggling since walk-in clinic closure

Frustration is building in Mallorytown.

When the town’s only walk-in clinic closed in February, there was talk about getting new health professionals to fill the gap.

But, the village is still waiting.

Angie Cowan has been fighting for health care in Front of Younge Township since late last year, when she learned provincial budget cuts would lead to Mallorytown, the township’s hub, losing its only free walk-in clinic.

She says that since the clinic closed in February, things have only continued to get harder for people living in the rural area.

“We now have to go to a private clinic, where we don’t even have a nurse, or we have to go to emergency,” she said.

Cowan isn’t in this battle alone. Numerous people who used to use the clinic’s services, along with Front of Yonge Township council are pushing the province.

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Front of Yonge Township mayor Roger Haley says they were elated in February when MPP Steve Clark said that Mallorytown would be first on the list for funding for a new clinic staffed by a nurse practitioner, but almost 10 months later, the fully ready clinic remains empty, and the people of Mallorytown unserved.

“If the announcement was made today that we had the funding, we still have to hire somebody, so this could be months down the road before we find someone,” said Haley.

Now, between waiting and the lack of action from the province, Haley, Cowan and the hundreds of people who Haley says used the clinic, frustration is mounting.

“We’re just being told ‘Oh, we’re reviewing the applications, we’re reviewing the applications,’ and … nothing,” he

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Health Care

September 24, 2023admin

‘Mastermind’ arrested after alleged Ont. operation involving 300 people

Peel Regional Police work the scene around a home in Brampton, Ont., on November 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston — The suspect allegedly worked with members of a large online retailer to illegally obtain funds from the healthcare benefits provider. (Credit: Cole Burston/The Canadian Press)

Peel Regional Police have arrested and charged a 30-year-old Vaughan, Ont., resident, who they claim was the “mastermind” behind a “health care benefits scam,” which took place over a 22-month period.

The scam allegedly involved approximately 300 people working as part of a large online retailer, with 30 people being the “most complicit,” said Tyler Bell, a Peel police spokesperson, to Yahoo Canada. After an investigation by the Fraud Bureau, Anand Pareshkumar Amin was arrested and charged in connection to the operation.

“The majority of the individuals were newcomers [to Canada] with limited understanding of how benefits work,” said Bell. “The mastermind behind this essentially convinced people that they were entitled to benefits and to provide him with their access information where he made fraudulent claims on their behalf.”

The investigation began after officials were contacted by a health care benefits provider, who had completed their own fraud investigation and determined that there was criminality involved.

Once the payout was dispersed by the health care benefits provider, the illegally obtained funds would then allegedly be shared between the individual plan member and Amin, who also worked for the online retailer.

The criminal investigation concluded that this fraudulent operation ultimately resulted in an initial loss of over $600,000 for the health care benefits provider, over the course of almost two years. Bell said that some of the money has been restituted, and the total loss in the end is approximately $100,000.

Given that the company received repayment from most involved, combined with the circumstances with many of them being newcomers to Canada, the only individual charged is Amin, said Bell.

Amin has been charged with

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Department Health

June 8, 2023admin

Residents vow to keep fighting as Minden, Ont., emergency department closes

Patrick Porzuczek watched in disbelief Thursday morning as the “emergency” and “H” signs were removed outside the hospital site in Minden, Ont., signifying the closure of its emergency department.

“It was extremely emotional for me because over the last six weeks this is what we’ve been fighting for — to keep that blue H and that ’emergency’ sign up,” said Porzuczek, one of the main organizers of public campaigns to save the ER. “Seeing those signs down, my heart breaks.”

READ MORE: Ontario renews summer ER staffing funding for 1 more year

June 1 marked the closure of the emergency department in Minden and with it a consolidation of services at the hospital in Haliburton, 30 kilometres north. In late April, Haliburton Highlands Health Services gave six weeks’ notice of the closure – citing ongoing severe staffing challenges as the main reason – to prevent further ER closures at one or both sites.

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She reported that in 2022 there were 20 reportable near-miss emergency department closures at the Haliburton site due to physician shortages — but none in Minden.

“The pressure on our staff is absolutely tremendous — it’s not something that was sustainable,” HHHS president and CEO Carolyn Plummer said at a Haliburton County council meeting on April 27.

Plummer on Thursday declined an interview with Global News Peterborough noting the “whole team is focused on making the transition to one ED site a success.” The board has stated no job losses will occur with the consolidation.

“The organization may have updates to share on the other side of the transition, and if so, such updates (will) be provided to media,” she stated.

Top: A sign outside the Minden hospital site on May 31, 2023. Bottom: A sign as of June 1, 2023.

The

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Health Care

January 24, 2023admin

COVID: Ont. mandates keep some from helping hospital crunch

About 160 veteran nurses, personal support workers and health-care technicians, along with their families, gathered in a church hall in Port Perry, Ont., in person or by video conference, on a snowy afternoon this past Saturday.

These distressed individuals have a message for patients waiting for health care in the province: we want to work on the front lines but are being shut out.

“I am ready, willing and able to work,” Lori Turnbull told CTV National News. But nobody will hire her.

The 58-year-old once worked in surgery and rehabilitation but was fired a year ago from a hospital in London, Ont., after a 30-year career.

In fact, all of the health workers in this unusual audience were terminated after declining to get two COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021, as required by all 140 of Ontario’s public hospitals and some nursing and retirement homes.

“I worked in emergency … for 20 years,” Casie Desveaux, a nurse from Hamilton, Ont., told CTV National News “I dedicated myself to that job.”

She now says she works in an office for her brother. She knows her hospital remains seriously understaffed.

“I worry … for the staff that are there … It is very scary,” she said.

The group at the church gathering wants Ontarians to know there are experienced front-line workers who want to return to duty but are blocked by vaccine policies imposed by hospitals in the province, despite Ontario itself not requiring health workers to be vaccinated.

“I think people were aware that we were fired or let go,” Anna Luxton, who worked as an emergency nurse, told CTV National News. “But I think since the province said they lifted the mandates last March that [people] figured that we would have

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Tag: Ont