Woods’ apology soothes tension over Emo hospital

A Devlin woman who was up in arms over plans to close the Emo hospital for at least six months for renovations is more conciliatory this week after speaking with the CEO of Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc.
“I have talked with Wayne Woods, and the situation has improved,” said Laurie Witherspoon. “We’ll all work together–residents, hospital staff, and Riverside–to find the best possible way to deal with this.”
Witherspoon also was pleased Woods apologized for mishandling the announcement on the hospital closure at Riverside’s board meeting here last Thursday.
“I never heard the apology personally but I do think it was very nice,” she said.
“I do think [the apology] was necessary,” agreed Emo resident Gerd O’Sullivan. “He distressed an extremely large number of people, and I think he could have handled it a lot better.
“But I think it will improve relations now that he has [apologized],” she remarked.
Riverside’s board of directors also agreed to answer some 20 questions that had been submitted from Emo residents stemming from an impromptu public forum there last Wednesday night that attracted more than 130 people.
The questions included:
•Who made the decision to close Emo hospital to complete the renovations rather completing the project in stages?
•If the staff at the Emo hospital is capable of handling the phase-in project, do you think the hospital should be closed down for the necessary renovations?
•What will happen to staff if the facility is closed for renovations?
•Why was the announcement made to close the hospital for renovations prior to the Riverside board meeting?
•Why were families of patients in the Emo hospital contacted and told to make alternate accommodations for their loved ones?
•How will closing the hospital completely for renovations affect the patients, staff, Meals on Wheels, Golden Age Manor residents, and the community?
•Will the board take some extra time to consider the alternatives prior to making a final decision on whether to phase-in the work or close the facility?
•Why are the Riverside meetings held in-camera?
•When the renovation plans were submitted to the ministry for funding consideration, did the ministry approve plans for a phase-in project or for complete closure?
•Who picks up the cost overrun if the renovations take longer to complete?
•Is it going to be put in black and white that the facility will be opened up again when renovations are completed, and will there be a full complement of staff as there is at present?
•Will the nurses have their jobs back with the same seniority when the renovations are completed?
•Will the Emo medical doctors have admitting privileges at La Verendrye, Rainy River, Dryden, or Kenora hospitals if the Emo hospital is shut down for renovations?
•What is the timeframe for phase-in completion?
•Why could the renovations be carried out at La Verendrye and still remain open yet the Emo hospital must be closed?
•Will chronic care patients now be allowed to return to Emo after renovations if there is complete closure?
•The renovations have not gone to tender yet. How does administration know how the job has to be done, and the costs?
•If our facility is closed down, what happens to our funding. And if it is stopped, are we guaranteed it will be returned?;
•If we close completely, will the cafeteria ever reopen and will Meals On Wheels return to the hospital? Who will do Meals on Wheels in the meantime?
•Is Riverside going to help relocate our doctors?
•What about other renters?
Riverside has promised to have answers to these questions within two weeks.
O’Sullivan admitted the hard truth may leave people some cold. “People need these answers. They may not be the ones we like but it’s what we need,” she stressed.
In the meantime, one vow Woods made at last Thursday’s board meeting, and Witherspoon concurred with, was to form a communication committee to keep the public informed on the renovations at Emo hospital.
“We’ll have internal and external people in it. First, we’ll run it through the board and then out to the public. It’s going to be a structured thing,” he noted.
“I feel better that there’s going to be better communication now,” said Witherspoon. “That was the problem to begin with.
“I think, ultimately, communication will improve and that’s what’s most important in a case like this,” she stressed.
And Woods said things have changed for him in the days since the board meeting.
“People are definitely more positive,” he said, adding that the communications committee should further facilitate matters.
Witherspoon had been concerned the same long-term care patients would be allowed back at Emo hospital once the renovations are completed.
But the Times has learned the Community Care Access Centre is guaranteeing those patients will have first choice to the new beds once they’re open.