District residents voiced their concerns about the future of health care in the region at a public meeting on the North West Local Health Integration Network here Monday night.
About 45 people turned out at the Memorial Sports Centre, many of whom were municipal representatives and health care professionals, as well as concerned citizens.
Alberton Coun. Louis Collier asked the LHIN reps to explain what exactly integration would mean.
“Integration is not something we’re going to determine unilaterally,” responded Gwen DuBois-Wing, CEO of the local LHIN. “We will define it collectively, together, based on needs in certain areas.”
One example of integration is the use of information technology in e-health. Hospitals across the northwest are able to access specialists and other health professionals not readily available here online and through videoconferencing.
Another possible example is the common electronic health record, where a patient’s health records would be available electronically to the appropriate health professional from anywhere in the province.
“This is certainly something that could be doable in the northwest,” DuBois-Wing said.
Valerie Pizey, mayor of Lake of the Woods Township and chair of the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, expressed skepticism about the usefulness of the LHIN.
“Are we just adding another level [of bureaucracy]?” she asked.
When the responsibility for administering land ambulance was downloaded to the district municipalities some years ago, the province also changed the standards under which they operate—causing costs to go up “astronomically,” Mayor Pizey said.
“The standards they downloaded to us were far different and far more stringent than what they operated under,” she noted.
Mayor Pizey expressed concern the province may impose similarly stringent standards on the LHINs.
“I’m worried there will be less money coming down to the patients,” she remarked.
John Whitfield, chair of the local LHIN board, said the 16 district health councils across the province have been eliminated, and that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care itself “is undergoing considerable restructuring,” including closing its regional offices, in an effort to reduce costs.
“The ministry’s role is going to move to one of strategic planning and stewardship, and not moving dollars to individual hospitals,” he explained.
“It will, indeed, cost less than the sum of all those others once it gets going,” he said of the LHINs.
One resident asked what the LHIN’s vision for First Nations communities would be.
“We’re not creating the vision,” replied DuBois-Wing. “It’s very important that we work with First Nation communities and find out what they think that vision should be.”
“We want to hear the voice of the First Nations’ people as to what works best for them,” Whitfield agreed.
DuBois-Wing and other LHIN staff and board members already have met with more than 800 individuals, groups, and organizations to discuss the LHIN and the direction it will take.
There also is a meeting with regional First Nation reps going on today.
The LHIN is meant to plan, integrate, and fund local health services without providing those services directly itself.
Regional health authorities in other provinces have replaced local boards, such as those governing hospitals and long-term care facilities, but that will not be the case in Ontario.
“Those boards, they’re really a community voice,” DuBois-Wing said.
“We need strong collaboration with local boards,” echoed Whitfield.
People in the north often complain that decisions made in Toronto regarding their health care do not always reflect local needs, DuBois-Wing noted. The LHIN will have the authority to make decisions in the best interests of the region.
“Within the LHIN we’ll have some flexibility to move money around where it is needed,” she remarked.
One of the goals of the LHIN is to identify gaps in service, as well as duplication of services.
“People at the front-line [of health care] can quickly tell you where there is a duplication of services,” DuBois-Wing noted.
One local resident said health care professionals likely would not want to identify duplications out of fear of losing their jobs.
Laura Kokocinski, senior director of planning, integration, and community for the local LHIN, noted the gaps and duplications often balance out.
“It’s a shifting of services, rather than a reduction or elimination of services,” she explained.
DuBois-Wing also noted there are no hard boundaries for patients and so people seeking care outside of the region, in Manitoba or Minnesota, for example, will be able to continue receiving that care.
The LHIN board currently is made up of eight members from across the region, which includes all of Thunder Bay and Rainy River districts, as well as most of the Kenora District.
A ninth board member had been appointed but has since passed away.
Board members are appointed through an Order in Council from the ministry based on recommendations from the board, which, in turn, are based on recommendations from the community.
Whitfield noted one-third of the board would be renewed each year.
DuBois-Wing noted all the board members are residents of Northwestern Ontario, with a vested interest in ensuring the region has good, sustainable health care.
“I reside in this area. I have children and grandchildren here. It is in my best interest to make sure the system is as strong as we can make it,” said Fort Frances resident Janice Beazley, who is vice-chair of the local LHIN board.
The LHIN’s areas of responsibility are hospitals, long-term care homes, Community Care Access Centres (CCACs), community health centres, community mental health and addiction agencies, and community support service organizations (for example, personal assistance services and homemaking).
Areas not funded by LHINs, but still requiring effective partnerships, include public health, physicians, ambulance services, labs, and provincial networks and programs.
Funding will begin flowing through the LHINs on April 1, 2007.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
