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Seniors unhappy about transfers to Parry Sound

A coalition of Sudbury seniors and retirees gathered at the Steelworkers Hall Tuesday to protest the province's decision to send area long-term care patients to the Lakeland Nursing Home in Parry Sound.

A coalition of Sudbury seniors and retirees gathered at the Steelworkers Hall Tuesday to protest the province's decision to send area long-term care patients to the Lakeland Nursing Home in Parry Sound.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care made the change because there is a severe shortage of long-term care beds in the city.

Sudbury Regional Hospital is overflowing with patients waiting to be transferred to long-term care facilities, and cannot properly serve those needing acute care.

Local seniors' activist Clarence Soule, who organized the event, is circulating a petition among seniors groups asking the government to stop sending long-term care patients out of the city.

Nickel Belt MPP Shelley Martel has offered to deliver the petition to the Liberals.

Sending area seniors to Parry Sound is not just bad for patients and families, it's bad for Sudbury's economy, said Tom Ranelli, vice-president of Mine Mill 598/CAW Retirees.

"We're not only exporting people, we're exporting jobs. We have College Boreal, Cambrian College and Laurentian University turning out top-notch people," he said.

"We have the young people to staff them. We haven't got enough rooms and beds. So build more. That's where our chapter stands."

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