QUINTE WEST – QUINTE WEST – Our TMH is just a few weeks from celebrating it’s one year anniversary.
“No one thought we would stick around. We’re still here and we’ve accomplished a lot, but we have a long ways to go,” said chair Mike Cowan.
The hospital advocacy group will be hosting a celebration Tuesday, Feb. 2 at the Trenton Port Marina from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Residents are invited to attend.
“We’ve done a huge amount of work,” said Cowan.
Cowan said the group has put Trenton Memorial and “it’s survival on the front pages.”
The group has met high profile politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during last fall’s federal election campaign in order to pitch the idea of the veteran’s care wing.
Our TMH also proposed creating a health care centre/hub to co-locate services at Trenton Memorial. They are waiting for word from the Southeast Local Health Integration Network on membership on the implementation task force, recommended by the Brighton-Quinte West Health Care Services Advisory Committee.
At a meeting Wednesday, Cowan said the group has moved from “preservation mode” to developing different ideas of finding even more enhancements for the community institution.
“We are still standing by our idea the community should be taking over a portion of the hospital and have it run by a community health board,” said Cowan.
The organization was formed in February 2014 in response to budget and service cuts, and the threatened closure of the hospital’s emergency room, by Quinte Health Care
Our TMH is still fighting service cuts. The QHC announced last fall it was chopping the bulk of surgery at TMH and moving it to Belleville General.
“Our main goal is to preserve our hospital and take control of the hospital. We don’t want to become complacent,” said vice chair John Smylie.
Cowan said Our TMH has not given up the fight to retain surgical services at TMH.
“We can’t determine where there are costing savings in moving 2,400 surgeries to Belleville General. It’s going to cost millions,” said Cowan.
Smylie said Our TMH “may have” become complacent with all the developments surrounding the proposed co-location of services and the veterans’s care centre.
“We’ll be refocusing our efforts,” he said.
Originally posted on The Intelligencer
