Minden residents rally to save their hospital's ER from closing

More than 200 people rallied at the Minden Community Centre Tuesday afternoon to show their opposition to the permanent closure of the hospital's emergency department.

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Last week, Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) hospital officials announced the June 1 closure of its emergency department.

Once the ER is closed, residents will have to travel to Haliburton for all emergency services.

The organizer of Tuesday's public meeting said the town is doing everything possible to keep the emergency doors open.

"I was overly, overly emotionally disturbed, upset, I felt every single emotion that's out there. I think we're going to be sending a very strong message, and that's what today is about. This is only the first step," said Patrick Porzuczek.

Residents pack into the Minden Community Centre on Tues., April 25, 2023, to try and save their hospital's emergency department from closing. (CTV News/Molly Frommer)

Some in attendance said having an ER in town is a matter of life or death.

"In 2015, my 48-year-old husband at the time woke up in the night and had terrible chest pain, he was the fire chief at the time, and he knew he was having a heart attack. We live five minutes from the hospital. I got him there in two minutes, and they said had we been five minutes further away, he wouldn't have made it," stated one individual at the meeting.

• RELATED | Minden emergency department to close permanently

Minden's mayor said this is a devastating loss for the community at a time when the town's population can triple with cottagers from southern cities.

"We are one of the fastest growing communities in all of Ontario and one of the oldest, and so we rely on that emergency services an awful lot," he said.

HHHS said the closure is due to staffing shortages and difficulties in hiring and keeping health care employees.

"We have worked very hard to keep both sites open. We know that no one wanted to see a closure at any site, but we had to make this decision. It was an operational decision that had to be made in order to make sure we can continue to provide high-quality care," said Carolyn Plummer, HHHS president and CEO.

Officials with the Haliburton hospital said no jobs would be lost, and they plan to consolidate services at the Haliburton site and will need the staff.