Bokhout rallies community in support of Clinton Public Hospital

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Last week, Dr. Maarten Bokhout, a long-time physician, medical officer of health and coroner in Huron County, gathered over 100 members of the public to discuss the issues facing Clinton Public Hospital and a way forward.

 

Bokhout, who chaired the meeting, framed it as an unofficial follow-up to a meeting last fall held by the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA), which operates hospitals in Clinton, Seaforth, St. Marys and Stratford. This was billed as a community meeting, not hosted by HPHA. Indeed, no one from the HPHA board was in attendance at the meeting, despite Bokhout saying that CEO Andrew Williams and the board members were aware of it.

 

The purpose of the meeting, Bokhout said, was to gauge the community’s feelings on a number of issues pertaining to the hospital and deciding on a path forward to ensure its long-term health and viability as a hospital that’s beloved and needed by its community.

 

First, Bokhout went back in history, discussing last fall’s meeting and updating everyone as to where things stand. The purpose of that meeting, he said, was to bring forward the concept of amalgamating the four hospitals in an administrative sense for accounting purposes. Rather than four sets of books, one for each hospital, Williams said at the meeting, it would just be one corporation for the alliance’s four hospitals.

 

As far as he knew, Bokhout said that, after the meeting last September, the proposal was sent to the Ministry of Health in Ontario from the alliance’s board of directors. The Ministry agreed with the board’s proposal and approved it last month, he said.
Indeed, the HPHA website confirms that the hospitals have now officially amalgamated.

 

“Effective April 1, 2024, the four corporations that comprise the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance (HPHA) - Clinton Public Hospital, St. Marys Memorial Hospital, Seaforth Community Hospital, Stratford General Hospital - have formally amalgamated,” reads the website. “Formed in April, 2003, the HPHA’s four hospitals have effectively operated as an integrated organization, including a single board, administration and professional staff. Amalgamation is a responsible governance progression of our organization and aligns with our vision of innovating for exceptional health. Amalgamation will not only streamline business operations, it strengthens business continuity.

 

“There is no impact on the HPHA’s programs or services and the HPHA’s foundations will remain independent, raising funds for their local hospitals and healthcare priorities.”

 

Darren Stevenson, chair of the Clinton Public Hospital Foundation, was in attendance and assured everyone there that, as far as the foundation is concerned, the amalgamation will not change anything. Any money raised for the foundation will continue to be used in Clinton for priorities of the local hospital.

 

He also noted that the foundation has helped secure a doctor to replace Dr. Salisbury, who is retiring at the end of June. The hospital could likely use another doctor or two, he said, but things are looking good. The doctor, who will begin under supervision until her licence is fully obtained, is married to a surgeon, so the recruitment department is working diligently to find work for both professionals and making them feel welcome. In fact, he said, there will likely be a retirement party for Salisbury this fall, in addition to some other doctors who retired during the COVID-19 pandemic and weren’t properly feted (Bokhout included).

 

Bokhout then encouraged those in attendance to break out into small groups and discuss the issues at hand and some potential solutions.

 

Once reconvened, the meeting then continued with discussion about the nightly closure of the hospital’s emergency department, which has been in place and remained unchanged since November of 2019.

 

One member of the public said that local nurses need to be paid more to both attract new nurses and retain existing ones. Furthermore, another resident said that nurses should be offered full-time positions in one location, rather than nurses being used on a part-time basis and being moved throughout the four hospitals within the alliance. That movement, the person opined, is to blame for nurses moving to the newly-amalgamated Goderich and Exeter hospitals.

 

Residents were also concerned with nurses that were terminated for refusing innoculation against COVID-19. Bokhout said this has been a concern since before the pandemic in regards to influenza inoculations, but it could be something that could be discussed.

 

Vaccination mandates are decided by local hospital boards, he said, and while some have upheld them, others have dropped them in recent years, while others still chose not to impose them in the first place.

 

That would, however, make a minimal impact on the nursing shortage. Bokhout said that, to his knowledge, there were six nurses let go as a result of this policy across the entire four-hospital alliance. Furthermore, the emergency room closures began before the pandemic, so staffing issues predate the pandemic and vaccination mandates imposed by the alliance.

 

Indeed, later in the meeting, Bokhout asked for a show of hands from those who would not be comfortable being treated by a nurse who was not vaccinated and, while a handful of people raised their hands (under 10), the majority indicated that they would not have a problem with it.

 

As far as recruiting new nurses and doctors to the alliance, Stevenson said that work is ongoing and a Stratford-based employee works tirelessly to attract professionals to the four hospitals. 

 

One member of the public asked about outsourcing the work, making it results-based and operating almost as a “head hunter” and Stevenson said that could be raised at the next meeting, but he stood by his assertion that the current team in place is working as hard as it can.

 

Someone else said that, while the ideas being discussed weren’t bad, perhaps members of the community should prepare itself for the prospect of not attracting the nurses and doctors needed in the traditional sense, and, as a result, think up some out-of-the-box ideas. Some of these could be establishing a walk-in clinic, more RPNs or other options.

 

Bokhout said there had been some great discussion and then offered to put things into perspective in regards to Clinton’s current state of affairs. For example, he said, the City of London and its population of nearly 405,000 people is serviced by two emergency rooms. Meanwhile, Huron County and its approximately 60,000 residents have five from which to choose.
He also made a point to say that situations like those in Huron County and beyond are not unprecedented, even dating back decades. Bokhout referenced the Stanton Hospital situation of a few years back, in which expecting Yellowknife mothers were forced to find housing and give birth in Edmonton, nearly 1,500 kilometres away.

 

He told a story about his early career as a doctor in Newfoundland and expecting mothers on the Labrador coast had to travel to mainland Newfoundland in advance of their due date to ensure proper medical services and that was nearly 40 years ago. Bokhout said it was important to retain perspective and understand some of the more extreme scenarios that have been experienced across the country over the years.

 

Bokhout also noted that, as a long-time medical professional, he had no concerns with the level of care or state-of-the-art equipment at Clinton hospital. When the hospital is operating, he said, the care is top-notch. It’s the closures that have him concerned, he said.

 

Looking ahead, he asked those in attendance about their priorities. First and foremost was 24-hour-a-day emergency department access.

 

Bokhout acknowledged the importance of round-the-clock care, but also stated that emergency calls in this area are rare after midnight. 

 

The public also wanted staffing concerns addressed through recruitment and a potential revisitation of the vaccination policy.
He then suggested he could put some points together on behalf of the group and felt it would be appropriate to ask to speak to the board as a delegation at an upcoming meeting. However, Bokhout then asked anyone interested in getting involved to come up and speak to him at the end of the meeting, so the group could present strength in numbers.

 

“It cannot be just me, it just can’t,” he said.

 

Bokhout also acknowledged that healthcare, regardless of the level of government, is a political issue, so he encouraged anyone concerned about the future of the hospital in Clinton to reach out to their local representatives, saying the more people supporting the cause, the better.