Ontario Health Coalition's Natalie Mehra speaks at the Royal Canadian Legion 23.
“You know that Clara Hughes campaign? She is asking people to come forward and ask for help with their mental health. The problem is there is nobody at the hospital to listen anymore.”
This was the experience for Lana Brown. She stood before a crowd Monday night at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 23, and said “I left the hospital feeling like nobody cared.”
Brown came to warn people about what is going on in mental health care at the North Bay Regional Health Centre. She also came to the meeting to sign on to the Ontario Health Coalition, an organization defending the Canada Health Act against funding cuts.
Sue McIntyre and Michael Taylor, of The Concerned Citizens Committee of North Bay, invited the Ontario Health Coalition to the city because of the extraordinary amount of people being let go at the hospital. The event poster was a call out to Save Our Services, pointing to the closure of the 24-hour mental health rehabilitation unit; the loss of 120,000 nursing hours in the past year; and cuts to emergency department, cleaning, patient transportation, clinical support staff, the laboratory and the pharmacy.
About forty people in attendance came to the meeting concerned about the future of healthcare. Another 25 people are worried and work in health care. They all nodded and some called out “Everyday!” when asked if there were ever patients in the halls.
Speakers were from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, the Ontario Nurses Association, the Ontario Health Coalition, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Shawn Shank, president of CUPE Local 139, told the audience that there have been 94 full-time staff and 34 part-time staff let go in the last 2 years. “The North Bay Regional Health Centre can’t be cut anymore.”
Shank said that people don’t get the kind of help they need. “The government says that the services cut in the hospitals have been moved to the community. In fact the investments in the community sector don’t even come close.”
Rhonda Miller of the Ontario Nurses Association called on the public to stand-up and say ‘enough is enough.’ “We have to ask ourselves, will there be a hospital bed when I need it?”
Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coaltition said the number of cuts to a Canadian hospital (NBRHC) is unprecedented. There was a strong show of hands when Mehra asked if anyone was interested in participating in a future day of action.
