Healthcare SOS presses council for Douglas Memorial plan ahead of AMO

A Fort Erie advocacy group is calling on town council to explain what it will ask the province for at this month’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, saying residents have heard little from town hall recently about the future of Douglas Memorial.

Fort Erie Healthcare SOS made the appeal in a Facebook video posted August 7, ahead of the annual conference in Ottawa, where municipal leaders meet with provincial ministers to press local priorities.

Niagara Health plans to close the Douglas Memorial site on Bertie Street when the new South Niagara Hospital opens in Niagara Falls in 2028.

“I’m a little concerned about where town hall is going or not going, seeing as how we haven’t really heard from them in quite some time,” said Heather Kelley, spokesperson for Fort Erie Healthcare SOS.

Kelley pointed to consultants the town has already hired to study the building and the community’s healthcare needs.

“We’ve had consultants in, we’ve spent money on taking a look at the building, taking a look at what kind of medical help is necessary in Fort Erie,” she said. “It’s about time that we get some information from our town hall, just exactly where they are headed.”

In a written post, the group asks whether council wants a full-service hospital or an expanded health hub at the site, and whether the town has secured Douglas Memorial as an ongoing health building or whether Niagara Health and the province could sell the property.

AMO’s published program runs from August 16 to 19, with Health Minister Sylvia Jones scheduled to speak August 18.

At the 2025 AMO conference, Mayor Wayne Redekop and Councillor Tom Lewis discussed “re-imagining the Douglas Memorial site” with Jones. A Fort Erie delegation raised urgent care again with provincial ministers at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference in January raising similar healthcare concerns.

The town’s most detailed public proposal came at a Healthcare SOS forum in April, when Redekop said the town had hired Stucor Construction to assess the building and Santis Health to develop a business case for a healthcare hub.

That concept includes continued urgent care, upgraded diagnostics, up to 70 alternate level of care beds, palliative beds, clinics and post-secondary training.

Kelley said residents have heard little since about that work, such as who would own the building after Niagara Health leaves or about which healthcare model the town prefers.

Douglas Memorial’s urgent care centre is currently open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., after Niagara Health ended 24-hour service in 2023. Kelley said residents who need care outside those hours face a trip to Niagara Falls, which becomes harder for people who arrive by ambulance or rely on family for a ride home.

“I don’t want to be the person in the middle of the night that’s trying to get to Niagara Falls in the middle of winter, hoping that I can make it there,” she said.

Kelley acknowledged some residents believe past campaigns to save the hospital accomplished little, but argued staying quiet guarantees the town is overlooked.

“If we’re not talking and we’re not speaking out loud and we’re not taking it outside of the coffee shop, yeah, no one’s hearing you,” she said. “It’s getting to be time. 2028 is around the corner.”

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