Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.

(Hamilton) A plan to close the emergency room at The Henderson Hospital is nothing short of abandoning the emergency health care needs of people on Hamilton Mountain. It is also throwing the future of the Hamilton Cancer Centre into serious doubt.

That assessment comes today from two union presidents representing 2,200 hundred hospital and cancer centre workers at the Henderson site.

CUPE Local 794s Ron Poynter, who represents 794 hospital workers at the Henderson, says the plan to be implemented by this October, “is like a lethal injection for the residents of Hamilton Mountain.”

Says Poynter, “Anyone who lives in Hamilton knows that because of the geography of the city, having no 24-hour hospital emergency room on the mountain will simply spell disaster for residents.”

The decision to eliminate all acute care from the Henderson site also puts the future of the Hamilton Cancer Centre in serious doubt.

CUPE Local 3566s Shaun Pearson says, “You simply cannot run a cancer centre in a facility that doesnt provide acute care. While the hospital is being evasive about the fate of the cancer centre, they have all but sealed its fate with this decision.”

Says Pearson, who represents some 250 workers at the Cancer Centre, “this facility is only 10 years old, its practically new. It cost $45 million to build back then what will it cost now to build a new one? The public should be outraged at this.”

The Hamilton Cancer Centre also has an adjoining lodge that is used by families of people receiving radiation treatment, which will have to be rebuilt at a huge cost to taxpayers.

Both CUPE presidents are issuing an appeal to the residents and homeowners on Hamilton Mountain to fight this decision. They say the community simply cannot let this disastrous decision go through.

For information:
John McCracken, CUPE Communications
(416) 292-3999 (o)
Ron Poynter, President, CUPE Local 794
(905) 385-4555 (o)
Shaun Pearson, President, CUPE Local 3566
(905) 317-3067 (Cell)

opeiu 491