"If you look at our situation we didn't join together with any other group in the past. We dealt with our own issues," said Roger Hayward, co-chair of the Committee of Concerned Citizens, which was set up when problems started surfacing at Alliston's Stevenson Memorial Hospital, particularly with the threatened closure of the birthing unit.
It was the CoCC that forced the mass resignation of the local hospital board in June 2007 resulting the province appointing a supervisor to run the facility until a new board could be established.
But since the public release of the new corporate structure by SMH supervisor Mark Rochon, which puts the power of electing new board members solely on existing members, the CoCC has been fairly quiet about the decision, at least in the media.
Some of the CoCC members met with Rochon last week to talk about the changes.
Alliston Herald columnist Kevin Kemp was there. In his column Aug. 29 he said it was evident from the start of the meeting that Rochon doesn't plan to change his decision.
"We've met with Mark Rochon as a group to express our concerns going forward that democracy isn't the way it was," said Hayward. "We're not at a total consensus as to whether what Mark is proposing is acceptable to the community or to ourselves."
Throughout Ontario, Simcoe-Grey MPP Jim Wilson said the province is moving away from community-elected hospital boards in favour of corporate boards.
About 47 per cent of Ontario hospitals already use the system, according to Rochon, who is also the Ontario Hospital Association chair.
SMH became a part of that statistic last month. Huronia District Hospital in Midland is facing the same fate, but not if the Midland community has a say in the matter.
The Southern Georgian Bay Health Coalition is petitioning and taking part in a rally Sept. 27 at Queen's Park. The petition addresses a number of issues the Midland hospital is facing, including protection of community memberships and democratic governance of its new hospital board.
In Toronto the Midland protesters will join forces with other communities wanting to protect public health care.
The collapse of the hospital boards at Stevenson Memorial and Huronia District Hospital are strikingly similar.
In Alliston, Rochon was appointed supervisor to take over and repair issues with the hospital board. He hand picked a four-person advisory committee to sift through applications for new board members and ultimately select the new, 17-member board. The 12 area residents selected were announced in December. The other five people are ex-officio officers and are hospital staff.
Essentially, the directors chosen last year will select their own replacements as terms expire or people step down. A committee will be formed with existing members of the board and just two regular hospital corportation members to sift through potential candidates once again and make recommendations to the board.
People in the community can be members of an advisory committee. These members can attend meetings, but have no voting rights.
The plight of the Midland hospital is much more in depth than issues with its board. It is dealing with the amalgamation of two hospitals, Huronia District and Penetanguishene General Hospital. As such, it will also need a new board of directors.
As the hospitals look to move forward as one entity, Huronia District Hospital's supervisor Kevin Smith has also recommended using the corporate model for its new board.
The province appointed Smith as the HDH supervisor after its hospital board resigned en masse in September 2007.
South Georgian Bay Health Coalition co-chair Vern Edwards said the resignation happened after some HDH directors quit the hospital board and went public with the amalgamation news.
When Smith released a corporate board recommendation in the spring it didn't sit well with Midland hospital critics.
"We're not able to manage our own affairs, only people who he (Smith) appoints to the committee in perpetuity will be able to do that," said Edwards.
Locally, Hayward, speaking for himself and not on behalf of the CoCC, said there is a necessity for the hospital board system to change.
"How do you put stability in with the old system? I don't know. You could have a radical group coming in and throwing a board out if you leave the old system in place and that wouldn't be good for us. I don't think that would happen, but on the other hand I can see the ministry's point of view in the sense that they have to put a slightly different structure in," said Hayward.
Having a single-interest group trying to take over is the same reasoning Wilson gave for corporate model boards.
Wilson was the Ontario health minister in the mid-90s under Mike Harris' Conservatives and is familiar with the corporate structure.
Before Rochon went public with his decision, he talked to Wilson.
"What I said to Rochon was that I think people like to take out a membership and vote directly, but I'm willing to give the new model a try," said Wilson. "It is a five-year period, the (health) minister can step in at any time if the board isn't doing what the public wants."
Public is the key word for Ontario Health Coalition director Natalie Mehra.
She said hospitals are publicly funded and have to be accountable to the communities and people who have fundraised and built them.
"It's extremely arrogant and high-handed to claim that hospitals cannot be democratically governed," said Mehra. "It's totally out of keeping with the basic fundamentals of our society. It's just unjustifiable."
Rochon holds stability up as the number one reason for the new model. He says it's not only important to the community that the board be stable, but it's especially important to the hospital staff for a stable work environment.
Local residents who have concerns about the corporate board style can join in the fight with Midland, and other communities.
"I want to give a message of hope that we can protect these rights if we fight for them," said Mehra.
More information on the rally scheduled for Sept. 27 is available online at www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca.
