The mayor of Bracebridge is offering a potential solution for the hospital debate in Muskoka.
At a meeting in Bracebridge on Wednesday night, Mayor Graydon Smith announced the town will make a 44.5 acre section of land available for free to the Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare Board (MAHC), as the potential site for a brand new hospital.
MAHC is currently evaluating what to do with the aging hospitals in both Bracebridge and Hunstville.
“Bracebridge residents have strongly voiced their support for the continued delivery of acute care hospital services in Bracebridge and hundreds of individuals have signed a petition supporting our area hospitals,” said Mayor Graydon Smith in a release Wednesday night. “This initiative is being announced today to demonstrate to MAHC and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care that Bracebridge is willing to make a significant contribution to ensure that continued availability of acute care hospital services for Bracebridge and the entire Muskoka region.”
Right now, the options MAHCis include the construction of a single site acute care hospital, the reallocation of services… or continuing the current level services at both hospitals.
MAHC has said that all of the options will involve a costly price tag, reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
On Friday the CEO of MAHC, Natalie Bubela, released this statement to CTV News:
"We acknowledge the generous offer and appreciate the efforts of the Bracebridge Town Council and Mayor Graydon Smith to help address the challenges we are all facing with respect to the hospital issues we have been studying over the past two years. Any expansion or new build, on an existing or new site, will require us to complete our Master Program / Master Plan and follow the Ministry’s Capital Planning framework to seek approval for a project. So in other words, the offer of any land cannot be considered until the Board of Directors has made a decision on the best safe, high-quality, sustainable model of delivering health care services to those we serve in Muskoka and East Parry Sound in the year 2030 and beyond. No decisions have been made and until our Master Program / Master Plan proposal is developed we are continuing to study – and to take public input on – all three options that are currently under consideration. We hope to be in a position to make a recommendation to the Board in May. However, we will take the time we feel is required to have the facts in hand before we go to the Board."
Hundreds of people rallied in Bracebridge and Huntsville to oppose the changes last month as part of the ‘Hands Up for Our Hospitals’ community rallies.
