Lots to talk about at health care meeting in NOTL Monday

Industrial and residential growth across the region, as well as access to care in smaller communities, should be areas of concern when Niagara Health explains its hospital plans at a public engagement session in Niagara-on-the-Lake early next week, says Sue Hotte, chair of the Niagara Health Coalition.

Monday, June 3, at 6:30 p.m, the NOTL community centre will be a stop in the hospital system’s tour of the region where a three-site structure will be laid out. It is set to be implemented when the new south Niagara Hospital is completed in 2028, when urgent care centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne will close, their hospital programs and services moved to the South Niagara and Welland Hospitals

Sessions have been hosted in several communities, and Hotte said some of them, including one held recently in Merritton, were “poorly attended,” with about a dozen people – many of whom were from Fort Erie and Port Colborne and shared displeasure about their hometown sites are slated for closure.

“We’re going to fight tooth and nail to make sure we have our urgent care centres and hospitals,” said Hotte.

One piece of the three-hospital puzzle Hotte says she finds the most troubling is what Niagara Health wants to do with its Welland site. It “has to remain a full-service hospital,” and needs more beds than what is being pitched, she said.

Niagara Health said in an emailed statement to The Local that the Welland hospital will be a “critical” part of the transformation. Hotte said she believes it’s a “huge problem” that only day surgeries are planned for that site once the new plan takes effect. All surgeries required on weekends and in the late hours are expected to be performed in Niagara Falls or St. Catharines.

Based on the needs of the aging population in the region, a specialized ambulatory care centre where services and procedures such as diagnostic imaging, eye surgeries, kidney care and outpatient clinics can be delivered, said the hospital system’s statement. “It is a cornerstone of our three-site plan.”

The Welland Hospital will have a minimum of 30 complex care beds “but possibly more,” and the site will include eye care, with specialized services such as cataract surgeries. It will also feature outpatient programs, including dialysis, the Ontario breast screening program, and mental health and addictions services, according to the statement, and that plans for Welland have yet to be finalized.

When the new site in south Niagara Falls opens in 2028, it is expected to have 469 beds, adding 156 new beds to the current hospital system. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Niagara Health is funded for 870 permanent beds across all five sites, with some additional “flex” beds,” bringing the current total bed count to 921.

Twenty-seven per cent of Niagara-on-the-Lake's population is over the age of 65, a statistic Hotte says will be on the minds of those who attend Monday’s public information meeting in NOTL, which was rescheduled after one in April was postponed. Among NOTL residents requiring hospital care, “you’re going to have a fair number that don’t drive anymore,” she said. “Getting to the new hospital – that's quite a drive. It’s not a hospital that’s going to be easy to get to,” especially with the site’s proximity to Fort Erie, an area that seems to often have harsher winters than other parts of Niagara.

Hotte also raised concerns about what the impacts may be when work on the Garden City twinning project is underway and NOTL people from NOTL have to head toward St. Catharines.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's hospital closed in 2015, and residents need to have care in their own communities, said Hotte, adding that she’s pleased a longtime effort to recruit a nurse practitioner for the town was recently successful. “You probably need more,” she added, estimating about 5,000 NOTL residents are without a family doctor locally. “I think those are things people will talk about,” said Hotte, referring to topics she expects to hear at the upcoming public session.

Hotte told a story about an elderly man from NOTL whose wife was in the Niagara Falls hospital but was later transferred to the Douglas Memorial site in Fort Erie.

While visiting her in the Falls, he was able to sometimes depend on friends and family to drive him, and even took a taxi on occasion. But Fort Erie became too far for his visits to be so regular. “Once she was moved, he was beside himself,” she said, reiterating the local senior population’s issues with travelling long distances.

Coun. Sandra O’Connor said she has not attended any public engagement sessions yet, but plans to be at the one at the community centre Monday. She was involved with the fight to keep the town’s local hospital open about 10 years ago, and told The Local that at that time the community was promised it would not close until the new Niagara Falls hospital was built.

That didn’t happen.

“It’s hard for us to have a lot of faith in what we’re told,” she said.

While she’s very grateful the town was awarded a nurse practitioner, driving distances for local seniors have been and will continue to be an issue, she said, and fears the number of beds the health system will provide won’t be enough to adequately address the region’s elderly population.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is “growing exponentially” and there are plans for thousands of new homes in the Glendale area, which she said should provoke a conversation about the town one day getting its own urgent care centre. “We’ve got to start talking about it now.”

When NOTL’s hospital closed, the municipality bought it from Niagara Health for $3.5 million.

In the latest plan, sites slated for closure – the current Niagara Falls hospital, as well as urgent care centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne – will be gifted to their respective municipalities.

“I think that’s grossly unfair, and we should be reimbursed what we had to pay for that,” said O’Connor.

Hotte provided more concerns about the Welland hospital and how growth in that city as well as Port Colborne need to be considered.

Earlier this month, a $1.6-billion electric vehicle battery separator plant was announced for Port Colborne, she pointed out. “There’s been a lot of industrial growth in Port Colborne and Welland over the past two years. What they (Niagara Health) have in store for that part of Niagara will not meet the needs of the population.”

When the South Niagara Hospital opens, the Fort Erie and Port Colborne sites will no longer be operated by Niagara Health, leaving the future of them up to those local governments. "We are actively working with them to help ensure they can maintain community-run healthcare services such as comprehensive primary care at those sites," said the Niagara Health statement. “The UCCs in Fort Erie and Port Colborne are better suited to be operated by family physician groups,” and the new hospital system “will significantly increase capacity for the entire region and all patients will have access to the full suite of hospital services and care, regardless of what site they present to.”

There will be “no wrong door,” the statement said, with Niagara Health expecting residents can access whatever service they need at the most appropriate location.

The statement also said Niagara Health plans exceed population growth estimates, and planning for the new hospital is based on Statistics Canada population census data, which was continuously updated until a planning document was submitted to the Ministry of Health in 2020. Planning also took into account a study conducted by Niagara Region demonstrating the region’s growth into the future up to 2041. “Understanding that Niagara has a growing population, data was also pulled from up-to-date building permits across the region.”

Based on projected growth and age demographics, the new hospital will include a wellness program, offering things such as geriatric assessment clinics, and a seniors’ wellness follow-up clinic.

Niagara Health’s statement says the evidence from across the world shows that patients who have access to primary care – a family doctor – have better health outcomes.

“Given the high level of chronic conditions, such as diabetes and COPD, in the population in Niagara, there must be a strong focus on prevention and primary care to ensure the proper management of these conditions, before they require hospital intervention,” said the statement.

It also said Niagara Health understands the iimportance of transportation for all residents of Niagara “as it impacts access to care,” and that patients experiencing a medical emergency should always call 911.

Although Niagara Emergency Medical Services are under the umbrella of the regional government, Niagara Health works closely with its partners at Niagara EMS “to ensure access to ambulances for those experiencing medical emergencies.”

Recently paramedics with Niagara EMS have been outspoken about time delays responding to ambulance calls will only worsen with the closure of Port Colborne and Fort Erie urgent care, where paramedics can currently patients with less serious health issues for care.

Kris Dube, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Niagara-on-the-Lake Local