Emergency room in Minden, Ont. closes, PC MPP speaks out, calling for urgent care clinic at site

An emergency room in Minden, Ont., that residents had hoped to save was shuttered at midnight and the MPP who represents the area is now calling for an urgent care clinic there instead.

On Thursday, the large blue "H" was covered by plywood and the word "emergency" was removed from the sign on the hospital at the site, approximately 195 kilometres north of Toronto. 

Laurie Scott, Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, said in a series of tweets that she spent weeks talking to all parties involved and questioning what could have been done to avoid the closure.

Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS), a local health board, made the decision to close the Minden ER on June 1.

"In the end, it does not come down to a funding issue — rather, it is a staffing issue — and the board has the power to proceed," Scott said. The board has said the closure was necessary due to a nursing and medical staffing shortage.

A resident, however, says Scott should have spoken out sooner.

"Unfortunately, it's a little bit too late," Patrick Porzuczek, one of the organizers of the fight to keep the emergency room open, told CBC News on Thursday. 

"As you can see, the blue H is down. She really let down all her constituents and everybody that was trying to voice their opinion on how we needed to save this. There was something that the government could have done to help step in," he said.

"All we were asking for was a pause."

The HHHS has now transferred all emergency and in-patient services from Minden to its Haliburton site, roughly 25 kilometres away.

Carolyn Plummer, president of HHHS, said in a statement on the board's website, "The pressure to keep two emergency departments open, on top of the personal and professional sacrifices it has demanded, has been unbelievable. We have to support our staff, so they can keep protecting and caring for our patients."

HHHS says the Minden site now provides ambulatory clinics, specifically physiotherapy, bone densitometry, and outpatient x-ray by appointment. It also has a 62-bed long-term care facility called Hyland Crest and program offices for supportive housing and diabetes education.

The closure comes after residents presented the province with a petition containing thousands of signatures of people opposed to the move, and business people travelled to Queen's Park to make the case that the closure is bad for business.

One business owner has said the closure would hurt the Ontario Progressive Conservative party in the riding.