Quebecers flooding Ontario hospitals

	Canadians for Language Fairness Inc. P.O. Box 40111 Bank & Hunt Club Postal Outlet 2515 Bank Street. Ottawa, ON, K1V 0W8 Website: http://www.languagefairness.ca/ Email: clf1@sympatico.ca
March 26, 2009 This is something that our supporters have been screaming about for years and the medical authorities have always denied it. Of course this is not surprising as most of the medical agencies are run by French-speakers or people who are pro-French. Those who don’t fall into those two categories are people who dare not do anything in case they are brought up in front of the HRC for violation of the Charter. When someone complained to Mayor O’Brien about the number of Quebecers who cross the river to take jobs from Ontarians, he said that his hands are tied by the Charter. Now we see that the authorities have admitted that our hospitals are being flooded by Quebec patients and Ontario patients are being pushed to the back of the list. Lowell Green did an excellent show this morning on this. CFRA’s poll this morning is on this question: CFRA Polls (to vote, link to www.cfra.com) Should Ontario patients be bumped down waiting lists by Quebec patients coming to eastern Ontario hospitals? To comment, email mornings@cfra.com Yes - 6.48% No - 92.2% Other - 1.24% Total Votes: 725 Read the article by Pauline Tam and the comments following. Some of the comments are aggravating because it shows that Quebecers feel entitled to come to Ottawa for services they cannot get in Quebec. Not only are we short-changing Ontario patients who pay dearly for their healthcare but we are also denying jobs to our nurses who find that bilingualism is a prerequisite for nursing positions. One nurse complained to me that despite several college degrees & her nursing qualifications, she cannot get a full-time position and when she gets the occasional part-time positions, the French nurses make it difficult by writing their reports entirely in French & English nurses are hampered because they have to get the reports translated into English before they can do any follow-up. Why are we allowing Quebec & Quebecers to do this to us? How many Ottawa residents are willing to march about this to one of the hospitals? If so, which one? Kim THE OTTAWA CITIZEN : MARCH 26, 2009 Eastern Ontario hospitals struggling with flood of Quebec patients, study finds BY PAULINE TAM Between 2004 and 2007, the number of visits by west Quebecers to eastern Ontario emergency rooms jumped by 14 per cent, according to the report released Wednesday morning by the Outaouais Health and Social Services Agency. OTTAWA — A flood of Quebec patients into eastern Ontario hospitals is creating surgical backlogs, bed shortages and some of the province’s longest emergency-room wait times, suggests a new report that, for the first time provides a snapshot of the health-care pressures facing both sides of the Ottawa River. Between 2004 and 2007, the number of visits by west Quebecers to eastern Ontario emergency rooms jumped by 14 per cent, from nearly 30,900 to 35,200 visits, according to the report released Wednesday morning by the Outaouais Health and Social Services Agency. The sharp increase is a result of a severe shortage of family doctors in West Quebec, made worse by hospital overcrowding in that region. According to the study, only 77 per cent of Outaouais residents have family doctors, compared to 89 per cent for eastern Ontarians. The extra burden on eastern Ontario hospitals, already stretched to the limit, has translated into particularly long emergency-room wait times at the Montfort Hospital and the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital, which see a large number of Quebec patients. In Hawkesbury, more than 30 per cent of hospitalizations are for Quebec patients, the report indicates. As a result, ER wait times at both hospitals can stretch up to 30 hours for the sickest patients — a delay that is nearly four times longer than the Ontario target of eight hours for the most complex cases. The long-awaited report — compiled with the Champlain Local Health Integration Network, eastern Ontario’s health-planning agency — is considered a key tool for officials from both sides of the river, who are attempting to determine just how much their health-care systems are affected by the large number of Outaouais residents crossing into eastern Ontario for treatment. In total, Quebecers made nearly 145,000 visits to Ontario hospitals in 2007-08, an 11-per-cent increase over the past four years. That same year, the Quebec government paid more than $70 million to have Outaouais residents treated in eastern Ontario. Hospitalizations for pregnancies and baby deliveries formed the bulk of inpatient admissions, followed by pediatrics, cardiology and ophthalmology, the report says. The trends reflect a shortage of medical specialists in those fields, resulting in 169,000 such procedures being performed in eastern Ontario last year, at a cost of more than $2.2 million to the Quebec government. To meet growing demand, the Outaouais region needs the equivalent of 37 full-time specialists in those medical areas, the report estimates. The demand is particularly acute in obstetrics given that a team of four currently serves all of west Quebec. As a result, about 900 deliveries a year are performed in Ottawa, when only half of those require the specialized care provided by this city’s hospitals. According to the report, about 20 per cent of Outaouais babies have been born in Ontario over the past nine years. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen Andre March 26, 2009 - 8:02 AM It's about time that we Ontarians tell Quebecers where to go! Why should we be saddled with Quebecs' problems. If these people want our services, let them pay taxes to our government instead of crying about whatever they always cry about, independence, bilingualism, high taxes, etc. How about getting them to pay upfront for our health services, that will no doubt solve the problem. Gracchus March 26, 2009 - 7:24 AM What I find interesting is that Gatineau residents elected a Bloc member in the last federal election. Would not prioritizing Ontario patients over those from Quebec be in line with Gatineau’s ideology and wishes? Mak March 26, 2009 - 6:55 AM I know of clinics in N. Ont that are run by Francophones and they regularly turn away Anglos in favour of french. not surprised March 25, 2009 - 10:37 PM Quebec pays 70 million so that Quebecers can delay the system for people who live in Ottawa and Ontario. What a deal!! For Quebec to upgrade it's health care system to Ontario's standards would cost billions. Again, unbelievable deal. Now when do we get a report on the percentage of Quebecers working in Ottawa hospitals, taking jobs from those who live in the city and province, much like our beloved federal government. Oh that's right. One has to be bilingual. Did anyone ever think that speaking French would trump an education, experience and a skill set in a city where 85% of the population is English speaking? And exactly how many of these people from Quebec who use Ontario's health system as well as those who work in it support a separatist Quebec. When do we get that study!! Suzanne V March 25, 2009 - 10:25 PM My comment is regarding the idea of putting Quebecers at the bottom of the waiting list. I live in Quebec and the Civic Campus is where the Heart Institute is located. If my husband wasn't put at the bottom of the waiting list, he would be alive today. carol March 25, 2009 - 10:16 PM Maybe Quebec could throw some money into west Quebec health care instead of ... as usual....unloading their problems wherever they can....or....just whining about it! But....hey....don't forget to hire more Language Police....let's get our priorities now!! Jobs which have magically become designated unnecessarily bilingual....French licence plates available to Ontario drivers...cultural centres...and on and on.....now our hospitals. jj March 25, 2009 - 9:50 PM Ontarions who pay taxes in Ontario should not have to bear the burden for this. Priority must be given to ontarions first in Ontario hospitals unless it is an absolute emergency medical situation and not elective surgery. . Mark March 25, 2009 - 8:27 PM With all the money that the Feds pound into Quebec I'm surprised that they don't have a state of the art facility in Gatineau already. If only us poor Ontarians could be treated in the same way. Jim March 25, 2009 - 5:31 PM Quebec only pays according to their own rates. Ontario residents have pay the difference. Good work Dalton me March 25, 2009 - 4:50 PM Do you know that only in ottawa around 500 international training doctors,that will never will become a doctors again,because of the system? Luc March 25, 2009 - 4:38 PM Ottawa and Gatineau are part of the same economic region. If Quebeckers can't get health care in the region, they will leave and we will all suffer. Annonymous March 25, 2009 - 3:43 PM Why can't priority be given to people who reside in Ontario? i.e. Quebecers should automatically be put at the bottom of a waiting list. ED March 25, 2009 - 3:37 PM I wonder if a person from Ontario would be given the same respect & attention in Quebec's hospital that we give them here in Ontario and bilingual service to boot. Joyce M March 25, 2009 - 2:54 PM Our hospitals should not be tied up by out of province patients and our system over taxed and can't look after our own local people from Ontario. I would not even consider going into Quebec to a Dr or hospital as my choice is to live in Ontario, so why doesn't the same apply. EEE March 25, 2009 - 2:54 PM Why is this not surprising? It was the only reason I could think of, to account for the wait times, delays, etc. Perhaps an Outaouais district health authority? Or at least a mechanism for ensuring people get the service they pay for, no matter what side of the river they are on.