Brockville Mental Health Centre: Town Hall Meeting
In a Town Hall meeting at the Royal Canadian Legion in Brockville last night, more than 300 people heard that OPSEU has no intention of dropping its fight to keep the Brockville Mental Health Centre open beyond its scheduled closing In March, 2011.
The Town Hall meeting in Brockville was organized by OPSEU to draw together residents, members of Local 439 and other interested parties. That included local politicians and civic leaders who have a stake in the future of the BMHC.
Invited speakers included the CEO of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group which is planning to shut down 64 transitional beds in Brockville and move some of them to Ottawa in 2011. This plan jeopardizes more than 200 jobs in a community that has already been hit hard by plant closures and layoffs in the private sector.
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas, one of the keynote speakers at the event, said that there is a need and room in today’s society for institutions. “We need institutions to care for those that no one else can, or will, care for. If the community comes together we can accomplish two things: A – a one year moratorium; and, B – getting other services in place.”
Those packed into the auditorium heard a variety of proposals by the speakers, but it was clear from the mood of the crowd that the real victims of the planned closure will be the patients – those who face a bleak future and few health care options if the BMHC closes its doors in 2011.
Region 4 Vice-President Dave Lundy told the crowd that jobs are what sustain a community, and that Brockville has been hard-hit by job losses and cuts to services. “It is about commitment,” Lundy said. “A commitment to say, ‘enough already.’ The people of Brockville have already paid a heavy price.”
Anne Clark, Region 2 Vice-President of the Ontario Nurses Association, was deeply concerned for those in need of services at BMHC. “This is no way to treat the patients,” she said, “patients who need and deserve nothing less than to have these services in their community.”
David McDougall, president of OPSEU Local 439 which represents workers at the BMHC said the turnout at the Town Hall showed that his members weren"t prepared to simply cave in to the plans by the Royal Ottawa hospital.
“The fight to save the BMHC is all about preserving these vital services in Brockville, for our clients, our community, and professionals, MacDougall said. “We must save the Brockville Mental Health Centre.”
One member of the public who attended the meeting was blunt in his assessment: “In today’s economy people are staying home and fixing up. In the case of BMHC, why not stay home, and fix up? Keep it here!
