Arran-Elderslie is keeping pressure on the provincial government to get hospital staffing numbers up.
It was the topic of one of three delegations at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Toronto this week.
Mayor Steve Hammell says representatives of the municipality had a “very positive meeting” with the deputy minister of health and the ministry’s chief of staff.
“We advocated again for our Chesley emergency care to be restored to 24/7 and talked about the challenges and also the positive views about more nurses being hired in 2024,” says Hammell.
He explains, “The province did list several of the programs, and listed how there are more nursing students and in particular local nursing students that are soon to graduate,”
Some of the programs the province has in place are the Practice Ready Ontario program which speeds up the process to allow internationally trained doctors to practice in Ontario. Locally, use of that program has brought two new doctors to the Bruce Peninsula.
The Learn and Stay Grant is for students who commit to practicing for a period of time in the communities they are trained in. The Enhanced Extern Program, according to the province’s website, aims to help hospitals hire qualifying nursing, medical, and other heath care service students and internationally educated nurses to work in a hospital in an unregulated capacity, under the supervision of regulated care providers.
The province also has a new education program for registered nurses to qualify to be able to write prescriptions. So far, nearly 200 RNs have qualified.
Meanwhile, Georgian College in Owen Sound also launched its Honours Bachelor of Science – Nursing program in 2022.
While a number of new programs in place were listed during Arran-Elderslie’s meeting with ministry staff, no new commitments were made by the province with specific regard to Chesley. The Chesley Hospital — aside from a brief period in 2022 — hasn’t had a 24/7 emergency department since 2019.
In 2024, South Bruce Grey Health Centre hired about 12 registered nurses, with at least two working in the Chesley hospital.
Hammell says residents have been clear about their desire for council to keep pressure on the provincial government.
Meanwhile, the municipality also made a presentation to the Ministry of Infrastructure to asking for more funding opportunities for small municipalities to address aging infrastructure, specifically bridges.
A 2024 consultant’s report by BM Ross says about $3 million in work on priority bridges is needed in Arran-Elderslie over the next five years. In 2024, they recommended closing some bridges and either replacing or repairing others for as long as it’s feasible before those are also closed and removed. The remaining crossings would either be repaired or replaced.
“Our seventeen oldest bridges could cost us upwards of $28 to either repair or replace,” says Hammell, who adds, “Having 64 bridges, it’s very concerning, so we wanted to make sure that we’re allocating money to different pots, but please in the future consider bridges because it’s vital for our rural residents.”
Hammell points out the tax revenue from this year’s budget is $7.3 million. “With that $28 million need in the future, it’s unsustainable for Arran-Elderslie to be able to finance that ourselves,” says Hammell noting the municipality has had help with bridges in the past and they hope it will continue when more bridge work is needed.
Arran-Elderslie reps also met with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to tell them small municipalities are under a financial strain due to inflation, increased service demands and infrastructure deficits, increased OPP costs are making it difficult for municipalities to balance budgets and provide essential services.
“We’re not happy we’re getting used to budget increases of four, five, six per cent to our residents,” says Hammell noting it’s very expensive to run a household now.
He says, “We just explained how it’s unsustainable for us to continue to do this as it is, and we do need help in the future,” adding,”We’re trying our best but we’re seeing a lot of increases.”