Media Release – March 4, 2013
Health Coalition Announces
April 13 Community Vote on New Hospital
Kingston: On Saturday, April 13 a community-wide vote will be held in Kingston and surrounding communities on whether the New Providence Care hospital should be a public or a for-profit hospital.
At a media conference held in front of John Gerretsen’s MPP office, the Kingston Health Coalition launched a campaign to “Keep Our Hospitals Public” which will culminate in citizen-organized community-wide vote open to all area residents. Polling stations will be staffed by volunteers and open all day Saturday, April 13 at local businesses and community agencies throughout Kingston and Frontenac. The plebiscite will measure support for keeping the new hospital fully public.
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.
“This investment in health care infrastructure will have a significant impact on our patients’ care and the sustainability of our health care system and the government has chosen the most expensive and least accountable way of building the new hospital,” said Ross Sutherland, chair of the Kingston and Area Health Coalition. “We believe it is preferable to avoid these mistakes and the harm they will do to our ability to provide health care. We would like the government to finance, maintain and operate the hospital as a public hospital: this will save the community one hundred million dollars which can be reinvested in patient care.”
“The for-profit, or P3, approach that the province wants to use has been tried in other communities in Ontario and around the world,” said Natalie Mehra, Provincial Director the Ontario Health Coalition. “These for-profit hospitals almost always cost more, provide less care and are less accountable than public hospitals. It is time the province started to put the needs of patients before the profits of the banks and international health care industry.”
“The campaign to “Keep Our hospitals Public “will encourage a wide ranging community discussion on the kind of hospital we want and allow the community to have a say.” The campaign will involve lawn signs, mass leafleting, community engagement. More information can be found at KeepOurHospitalsPublic.org.
Contact: Ross Sutherland, 613-532-7846 (cell), or Natalie Mehra, 416-230-6402 (cell).
