Keep Our Hospitals Public
accessible, democratic, affordable and quality health care
Dear Friend of Public Health Care,
A new hospital has been proposed for Kingston to bring together the rehabilitation, complex continuing care, specialized geriatrics, palliative care and mental health services currently provided at St. Mary’s of the Lake and Mental Health Services (MHS). Three consortia of international private companies have been asked to bid on designing, building, financing and maintaining the new hospital.
After reviewing the Ontario Auditor Generals’ full audit of Brampton’s privatized hospital, the Kingston Health Coalition has determined that using the for-profit approach could cost Kingston $100 million more than building a public hospital would. This extra cost will have a significant effect on community physicians, beds, hospital staff, community health services and future access to health care. It will result in higher costs, placing greater demands on already scarce health dollars, and could lead to the long-term privatization of staff, support services, and facility management for our new hospital.
Kingston will only get one new hospital in the next 30 years. It is imperative that we build it right and keep it in public hands. To prevent the possibility of privatization of the Providence Care hospital, we are organizing a community-wide campaign to Keep Our Hospitals 100% non-profit and publicly funded.
We would like to engage our friends, co-workers, neighbours, and the community as a whole in a full and frank discussion of the benefits of a public hospital over a for-profit, private enterprise. To do this, we are working in partnership with seniors’ organizations, the Ontario Health Coalition, local labour organizations, health professionals and interested citizens. To succeed we require the help of many organizations. Communities organizing in favour of public hospitals have reduced the impact of for-profit health care in Ontario.
We would appreciate an opportunity to talk with your organization about the new Kingston hospital.
Please call us at 613-374-5211
We look forward to meeting with you to discuss this important community issue.
Sincerely,
Ross Sutherland
Chair, Kingston Health Coalition
