Healthcare SOS protest series to keep urgent care in ‘public’s eye’

Fort Erie Healthcare SOS held a roadside protest at Garrison and Concession roads on Wednesday, kicking off monthly summer demonstrations that will run through the fall municipal election to keep public attention on the planned closure of the Douglas Memorial urgent care centre.

Heather Kelley, a founding member of Fort Erie Healthcare SOS, told Fort Erie Radio that without 24/7 urgent care at the Bertie Street site, Fort Erie patients would face a roughly 25-kilometre drive to Niagara Falls or St. Catharines for emergency treatment.

She anticipates the fight for urgent healthcare will be an important ballot issue this municipal election.

“Our goal is to keep 24/7 urgent care,” said Kelley. “In the end, the long goal of course is to save the hospital.”

Healthcare SOS members held signs on the corner that read “Keep Urgent Care Open 24/7,” “Honk Honk for Health Care” and “No Part Time Health Care.”

Kelley said that several Greater Fort Erie Secondary School students honked in support of the protest from their cars during the lunch hour.

“That’s the reason that we hold these roadside protests, just to bring it back out into the public’s eye,” said Kelley. “A lot of times, unless you’re sick or need something, you’re not really thinking about, ‘I don’t really have a healthcare facility in town that I can go to.'”

An all-candidates debate debate is planned for August to give Fort Erie municipal candidates a chance to address their healthcare platform ahead of the October election. Kelley said the group wants another round of public meetings after the election to advise the new town council on local needs.

“We would really like to see another round of public discussions taking place to get direction from the people to the town council on what is actually needed,” said Kelley. “They’re supportive right now, but after the election, we want to make sure that there’s a continuation of their support.”

A date for the August debate has not yet been set.

Niagara Health will close the Douglas Memorial urgent care centre when the South Niagara Hospital opens in Niagara Falls in 2028. Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones has declined to guarantee replacement urgent care for Fort Erie.

During the summer, Healthcare SOS will be rotating protest locations and regularly collecting petitions at the Ridgeway and Stevensville markets.

Healthcare SOS recently met with the town’s healthcare consultants and submitted a paper based on three years of public concerns.

“It’s great that the current government is building all of these brand new hospitals, but at what cost for the people?” said Kelley.

“They’re building them in these larger centres, but then they’re closing the small rural hospitals that people had come to rely on.”

The town has hired Stucor Construction to assess the Douglas Memorial building and Santis Health to build a business case for a new healthcare hub at the Bertie Street site, with continued urgent care and up to 70 alternate level of care beds.

Kelley said small town hospital closures leave patients across the region uncertain about where to seek care.

“It just creates a lot of angst amongst the people looking for care, and a lot of confusion,” said Kelley. “They don’t know where to go anymore.”

Healthcare SOS is asking large Fort Erie employers to sponsor the campaign financially. Kelley said a local urgent care centre saves businesses money by keeping injured workers from traveling to Niagara Falls or St. Catharines for treatment.

“We think that a local healthcare facility somewhere close to home would be advantageous to these large businesses,” said Kelley.

SOS is recruiting volunteers for the roadside protests and market petition drives. Kelley said the group will take volunteers for any length of time, from one hour to several hours, and asked supporters to do more than honk their horns.

“If we host a banner day, not only do I want you to honk your horn, I want you to stop and maybe hold a poster for an hour or so,” said Kelley.

On March 28, Healthcare SOS members boarded the GO train from Niagara Falls to join thousands at Queen’s Park for an Ontario Health Coalition march against the Ford government’s expansion of private clinics, and defunding public healthcare.

A press release from the Ontario Health Coalition states the province has committed nearly $300 million to open 61 new private clinics, most of them for-profit, redirecting more than 1.2 million patients away from public hospitals.

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