Preliminary Results of Referendum Show Majority of Peterborough County Residents Vote No for the Privatization of Hospitals

The preliminary numbers show a total of 9,345 citizens from across Peterborough City and County voted NO for the privatization of public hospitals in the cross-Province citizen-led referendum held on May 26 and 27 and online.

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“The numbers are great. It was a massive effort that far exceeded our expectations,” said Peterborough Health Coalition co-chair Marion Burton.

Volunteers counted the in-person votes on Sunday, which saw No votes totalling 4,866, and Yes votes totalling 65. These totals include some workplace votes.

Online voting results from Douro Dummer, Keene, Lakefield, Millbrook, Peterborough and Selwyn totalled 4,479 No votes and 35 Yes votes.

At press time, Peterborough’s preliminary total of No votes is 9,345 and 100 Yes votes.

There are still some workplace votes that remain to be counted.

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Peterborough Community Rallies For a Community Health Centre

Peterborough patients, providers and community leaders rally for the Ontario government to support a local proposal to build a Community Health Centre that meets the City’s needs.

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Community members, including patients, health leaders, retired and current physicians, and concerned local residents crowded today into a community hall to hear about a proposal being put forth to bring a Community Health Centre (CHC) to Peterborough. The local-based coalition, which involves a broad range of voices, including Indigenous leaders, is highly organized, with a volunteer community board already in place, and an existing 100+ page detailed proposal to draw from during the Ontario government’s current period of “expressions of interest” to allocate new funds for inter-professional primary health care team expansions.

“I have benefited from having so many resources in one place. The staff always welcomes me. When a community is able to connect this way, it restores one's faith in health care. They have helped me tremendously in moving forward in my life,” says Michelle Carr a patient at a nearby CHC in Port Hope, credits the judgement-free health care she received there with changing her life.

Speakers noted that Peterborough is one of the only communities in Ontario without a CHC to support its health needs. They added that a CHC would help enable clinicians and other health and social services providers to work across organizations and sectors to better provide health care to people who are marginalized by homelessness, mental health issues, including the opioid poisoning crisis, among other socio-economic factors.

A CHC would be able to better coordinate existing care and services, and provide much-needed capacity through programs  such as outreach, warm handoffs with acute care, system navigation for socially and medically complex clients, and support for the community’s family physicians and nurse practitioners in the areas of trans care and shared training, programs, and administrative functions.

The vice-chair of Peterborough CHC’s Board of Directors, Dawn Lavell Harvard, spoke to the paradox that the city’s most socially and medically vulnerable are the people most likely to not have access to a primary care provider. “There are so many in our community whose only response to a mental health crisis or health challenge is the emergency department. And the poorer and less healthy you are, the more like that is to be the case. This impacts us all, in terms of wait times, poor health outcomes, and costs. A CHC in Peterborough is an investment that will be less expensive overall.”

CHCs are cited as a proven model – to meet the needs of complex patients marginalized in various ways across the health system – and also to better integrate primary health care and social services across the community. Examples of CHCs innovating to integrate services better to serve patients more seamlessly abound, from food security initiatives in Guelph, to programs to integrate services for mental health and addressing opioids in Kingston, to innovative programs to address homelessness and its impacts on health in Hamilton and Durham.

The system impacts of CHCs are considerable – more people attached to primary health care services, better health outcomes, and for every place in Ontario these days – reduced usage and burden on local emergency departments and hospital services.

“CHCs across Ontario are constantly working with their patients and communities to co-design programs and services that have a profound impact on people’s lives, which result in better health outcomes,” said Sarah Hobbs, CEO, Alliance for Healthier Communities, which represents Community Health Centres, among other comprehensive primary health care providers across Ontario. “Peterborough’s movement has been created through broad community involvement and consultation. They are ready to tailor this organization to the community’s needs and strengths, to better leverage all the existing services and resources. A CHC’s support to address marginalization and inequities through health system integration is invaluable – for patients, providers and everyone in a community like Peterborough.”

“An early-career family physician spoke to her conviction that a CHC would help recruit new doctors and nurse practitioners to offer primary care in Peterborough. “I know for a fact that there are family doctors in Peterborough who wish to serve our large population of marginalized people in need of care, but currently there is no system in which they can function sustainably.” said Dr. Jaclyn Vanek.

Dr. Vanek resides in Peterborough but often works elsewhere since she prefers to work in team-based, salaried models.

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