SHELBURNE MAYOR ED CREWSON came back from a Toronto conference last week having discovered that north-central Dufferin residents aren’t alone in their dismay at the closing of their hospital, and that there’s little hope of improvements in rural health care.

He says that at the combined sessions of the Good Roads Association and Rural Ontario Municipal Association, he found general dissatisfaction with Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), and that there were no assurances from either LHIN representatives or the Ministry of Health that anything is about to change.

He said a northern mayor told the public gathering tearfully that he had been among the volunteers who built a now-closed community hospital.

Mayor Crewson said he noted for the meetings that Central West LHIN, of which Dufferin is a part, has the lowest per capita funding in the province, and wondered if it has something to do with the low value the Province places on rural people relative to urban residents.

But his major question of the ministry on funding had been related to current studies on bridging the gap on health services in Central Dufferin. Noting that the LHIN is to study ways to best meet Shelburne-area health service needs, he said, “I would like the ministry’s assurance it will be provided with funds. If a solution is recommended, would there be funding?” He described the responses he got as “bafflegab.”

We strongly suspect the hospital closures have more to do with changing demographics than with any real savings for the healthcare system. Sadly, small-town and rural Ontario have been deprived of the clout they once enjoyed at Queen’s Park.