No, those are not spelling errors! Another
health fixer-upper will soon send the Sudbury and
Manitoulin/Espanola area into more chaos and confusion
regarding health care, all in the name of "getting more bang
for our buck."
But I bet hardly anyone realized that from
the low-keyed, carefully crafted announcement regarding the
Manitoulin - Sudbury Community Care Access Centre (CCAC)
changing nursing providers.
Now if the headlines read, VON is history,
more people would have been aware of the change.
Most people I talked to were shocked by the
news.
I have been under care myself since August
and I could not have asked for better or more compassionate
service, which has been provided by the VON. I have seen the
faces of the VON and they are people filled with a strong sense
of compassion and nurturing. They have families, bills and
mortgages to pay. What is going to happen to their salaries and
pensions?
The VON is a non-profit organization. I have
learned Bayshore Health Care is a for-profit organization. The
VON has been practising in Sudbury for 81 years, serving as the
primary nursing providers.
What really irritates me is that nursing
services are subject to bidding as ordered by the provincial
government. Therefore the cheapest bid is most likely to be the
accepted bid.
Bayshore HealthCare has received a $13
million contract. At present they have no staff in
Sudbury/Manitoulin and so they will have to hire nursing and
administrative personnel, as well as open an office in
Sudbury.
With the VON looking at extinction in
Sudbury, where do you think the nursing and administrative
personnel will come from? And have you noticed how many health
dollars go into the construction industry for new offices and
hospitals?
Ultimately it is the patients who will
suffer. Interestingly the VON refers to their patients as
clients and nurses are paid by the hour. I am told Bayshore
will pay the nurses by "piece-work," which means per patient.
Therefore, if a patient lives out of town, and it takes an hour
to get to there, how many nurses are going to want to lose the
time and money, not to mention the wear and tear on their
cars?
Patricia Foster
Espanola
Editor's note: The chair of the Manitoulin - Sudbury CCAC,
Richard Zanibbi, responds to criticism of the decision on
Page 8.