Shawn Shank says the stories were shocking.
“They had horror stories like about admission and early discharges and people going home sick,” said Shank.
“One person talked about getting 15 minutes a week of home care after having major surgery.”
The testimonials were part of a massive city-wide teleconference call which took place between 6:30 and 8:15 p.m. on Thursday night.
The call was organized by CUPE as a way to educate the public about what P3 hospitals are all about.
Back in September the North Bay Regional Hospital announced that 158 full-time positions will be cut, likely all before Christmas.
Shank, who is the CUPE local 138 President, estimates close to 5,000 people took part in the call.
He was joined on the massive teleconference call by CUPE National president, Paul Moist and Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) director, Natalie Mehra.
CUPE also announced it will be holding another hospital rally on November 30th at Lee Park. The event is sponsored by the Ontario Health Coalition.
“So basically that’s going to be an event where the people of North Bay can basically speak out against the cuts to the city. And, what they are planning on doing, is streaming the protest live to Queen’s Park while all the M.P.’s are in the legislature,” said Shank.
Their message to the Premier and the MP’s will be "please finance the local hospital properly".
‘Being a P3 hospital it costs a fortune to keep this place going and unfortunately because of the P3 model frontline workers are losing, beds are closing, services are being cut. It’s really important that we get back to why we are here is to help people and provide services to the people of North Bay,” concluded Shank.
CUPE officials believe the message needs to get out there as more cuts could be on the horizon. They believe another 50 jobs could be in jeopardy at the North Bay Regional Health Centre if the province doesn’t inject more funding now.
