The already scaled-back Georgian Bay General Hospital in Penetanguishene will be closing for good.
Three years ago there were major cuts at the hospital and most services were moved to the nearby hospital in Midland. The programs that are left in Penetanguishene now have a deadline to find new homes.
The Georgian Bay General Hospital Board says it has no choice but to close it down.
“It was extremely difficult,” says Interim President and CEO of the hospital, Paul Davis. “The Board has been grappling with this issue for three years, and the economics of it is what has driven the decision.”
It costs close to half a million dollars a year to keep the Pentanguishene site open, and it needs about $750,000 in upgrades.
“The board felt that the money would probably be better spent in direct health care delivery,” says Davis.
The hospital building will close in a year. The finance department will be moved to Midland, but services like cancer support, dialysis and hospice care will need to find a new location.
Local residents say they are disappointed.
“Just think of what they are doing to those dialysis patients who are going to be in a state of shock, wondering where they are going to be put,” says Fran Moreau, a Penetanguishene resident.
“I’m disappointed for sure,” says the Mayor of Penetanguishene Gerry Marshall. “I’ve worked hard to keep this health hub going in our community.”
The mayor says it’s a blow to the town, and to the local economy. He’s hoping some kind of solution can be worked out to keep the medical services in town.
“It's an economic hit to us, right? I mean we have a high school closing. That's staff and student populations [who have] vacated our town. And a hospital closure, it’s the same type of setting, economic deflation to my town, so it does hurt.”
The hospital board says if any non-profit health agency wants to run the building it will donate the property to them.
