Last February, the doctors at the Lively
Medical Centre submitted a made-in-Walden community-oriented
Family Health Team Proposal to the Ministry of Health. It was
rejected. What was the proposal? Why was it rejected?
Sudbury Regional Hospital's chief of staff,
Dr. Chris McKibbon, also submitted a hospital-oriented Family
Health Team Proposal to the Ministry of Health. It was
accepted. What was the proposal? Why was it accepted?
What is happening now? How soon can the
thousands of residents of Walden (formerly the largest
geographical town in North America) access the health services
of the new Family Health Team (FHT)? What do we do in the
meantime? We need answers from the provincial government
now.
We need information about the plan for the
new Family Health Team before Dr. Carscadden retires from the
Lively Medical Centre. We need action now.
Is there an interim plan, with interim
funding as part of the timeline in establishing the new FHT in
Walden? If so, what is it? If not, why isn't there?
Does this plan guarantee health services that
have been provided by the Lively Medical Centre for 41 years
will continue in Lively after Dec. 30 when Carscadden retires?
If not, what do we do?
I encourage other concerned residents of
Walden to write letters to: George Smitherman, Minister of
Health and Long-term Care, 80 Grosvenor St., Hepburn Block,
10th Floor, Toronto, M7A 2C4; and Ray Hunt, senior manager,
North and Family Health Team Implementation, Ministry of Health
and Long-Term Care, 159 Cedar St., Suite 402, Sudbury, P3E
6A5.
Gwen Doyle
Lively