The Minden ER has shut its doors, but those trying to save it have not given up hope.
“It is a great and sad loss that we’ve experienced in this community. For myself, for my family and for many others in the community, I’m going to continue to fight,” says Patrick Porzuczek, founder of the ‘Save the Minden ER’ campaign. “I will continue to fight to bring Minden back, and [for] the community emergency department here in Minden Hills to service everybody, and all our neighbours.”
Despite the best efforts of the community, raising more than 20,000 petition signatures and $85,000 to fight the closure legally, the consolidation of emergency services at the Haliburton Hospital went ahead as scheduled on June 1.
Porzuczek says after all that, he’s feeling about the same as the rest of the Minden community.
“When that closure happened and we watched the blue H’s come off the building, it felt almost like a death. Like a part of us has died,” says Porzuczek. “The Minden emergency has been more than an emergency department to the community. It was like a guardian. It was the mother of the community. Whenever you were at your worst, if it was a heart attack, car accident, what have you, they were there to take care of you. You were never known there as a number, you were always by first name basis.”
Efforts by Schwartz Law Partners to file for an injunction or judicial review to block the closure fell through because of a lack of legal basis, but Porzuczek says the law firm is still exploring ways to bring the ER back in the future. “I know the lawyers have the best interests for us and every single angle they’re working. They’re never going to give up and they’re always going to be looked at,” he says.
While he says the majority of those who donated towards the legal efforts are in it for the long haul, Porzuczek says he’s working with the law firm on how to refund those who want it.
The Kawartha North Family Health Team filed a funding request with Ontario Health this week to start an urgent care clinic at the former ER. Porzuczek says in the lead up to the closure, he was reaching out to doctors and health care providers to find some alternative to the department, including the health team.
“When we have nothing, just having some kind of healthcare in place is a start,” says Porzuczek. “You have to remember, this emergency department didn’t only take in large accidents and things related to death. They took in people for dental care, mental health, general illnesses. They were the walk-in clinic, they were the emergency department, they were everything to this community.”
According to Porzuczek, many residents are disappointed with how the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, have handled the situation.
“I’m very let down by Laurie Scott,” says Porzuczek. “She knows what this brought to the community. Being the voice of the people, all the people that supported her throughout the years, her constituents, we feel greatly let down and saddened. I know she’s trying to help the best she can now, but it’s too bad that she came out in the eleventh hour.”
In the meantime, he says he’s trying to band together with other Ontario communities facing hospital closures and reductions, such as Chelsea, Port Colbourne, and Blind River.
“What I’m trying to do is get them all to network. Share their stories, share what they’ve been doing to fight, what’s been working, what’s not been working, and how to get the word out. Having to stay united, not just as individual towns but as a province, to show the province what’s happening with our healthcare. And to get as much information out there to show that the PC’s are not doing this in the best favour of the people of Ontario.”
While the battle to keep the ER open has been lost, Porzuczek says the way the community rallied together around it means there’s still hope the war to bring it back can be won.
“I don’t think anybody was ready for a small, little town and its neighbours to stand up and speak out the way we did,” says Porzuczek. “I’m so proud of Minden Hills, of Haliburton County, and all our neighbours on how well we fought this fight, and everybody needs to be proud.”