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This week St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital launched a new fundraising campaign because “Our community deserves access to the best possible care right around the corner, not in the next city over.”
That’s the assertion of Jeff Yurek, chair of the Transforming Tomorrow Campaign with a goal of $8 million.
The good news is the campaign is already at about 80 per cent of that target.
The goal is a complete makeover and expansion of the hospital’s diagnostic imaging department. The transformation will include the purchase and installation of the hospital’s first state-of-the-art MRI along with improvements to CT scans, nuclear medicine, X-ray and ultrasound services.
Ensuring residents have access to the highest quality care without the need to travel elsewhere.

Speaking to a large gathering in the hospital atrium Yurek noted, “Your generosity and compassion have and will continue to allow patients and their families across our region to enjoy improvements to their healthcare journeys.”
As pointed out by hospital president and CEO Karen Davies, the facility performs about 80,000 diagnostic imaging tests or procedures each year.

“And we know that is going to continue to increase with Amazon, the battery plant, immigration and a little bit of drift from London-Middlesex coming our way,” explained Davies.
And, as part of the transformation, the hospital will streamline the patient flow in the department, prioritizing patient registration to enhance accessibility and ease of navigation.
In the long run, this results in quicker diagnosis.
“Investing in healthcare,” continued Yurek “requires us to reject the status quo and think outside the box.”
“To adapt to the times we find ourselves in today, but with the foresight to plan for what is yet to come.

“The goal of this campaign is to ensure our loved ones can stay close to home when it matters most.”

“And that is why the Transforming Tomorrow Campaign is so critical.”
Davies added, “The big one is the obvious one and why we are all here today, the MRI installation and that will be open in October of 2024.
“And, this will allow upward of 5,000 people to not have to travel to London, Chatham or Woodstock to have their MRI. They can have it right here in this hospital.”
Chief of diagnostic imaging, Dr. Stefan Potoczny used the occasion to announce, “The real reason I’m here is because of the support I have from my family. They are the reason I do what I do every day.
“It isn’t every day we can be part of something that will be the legacy and have a monumental impact on our community.
“For that reason, today, my family and I are pledging $25,000 to the Transforming Tomorrow Campaign.”
It wasn’t the only piece of financial good news.
As revealed by Mary Lou Crowley, president and CEO of the STEGH Foundation, the FDC Foundation (a Canadian foundation which donates to the healthcare field, with a focus on hospitals) has announced a $1 million matching gift whereby every donation made from this point in time will be matched through the donation, resulting in double the impact up to $1 million.
She added, “The FDC Foundation’s generous contribution brings us significantly closer to providing enhanced care within our community.”
In a personal recollection from campaign ambassador Vera Warren, she documented her son Tyler’s journey through cancer that involved more than 40 MRIs.
“Which required trips to London for every one of those appointments, no matter the weather or time of day.
“I can tell you Tyler lived his life from MRI to MRI.”
Yurek concluded, “The goal of this campaign is to ensure our loved ones can stay close to home when it matters most.”

MEETING THE CITY’S GROWING NEEDS

In what proved to be a busy week, a public information centre was held Wednesday at Memorial Arena to provide details on the best location for the city’s new water reclamation facility (WRF).
Formerly known as a pollution control plant as is the case with the Sunset Drive facility.
Three potential sites have been identified, two on the north side of Water Tower Line, and the other on the south side of the roadway.

The recommended site, WRF 3 is actually in Central Elgin and so the majority of residents who attended the information centre were from that municipality.
The site is north of Water Tower Line and borders Dalewood Road to the east.
It is the preferred site because it has the available space for future expansion and has the least impact on adjacent communities with regard to odour emissions and construction activity.
It also has the least impact on cultural and natural heritage.
Speaking with one resident, Dayle Stott of Water Tower Line, adjacent to the preferred site, she bemoaned the lack of transparency to date with short notice on the public information centre.
She and other area residents said they had little to no information from Central Elgin officials.
It is another case of taking prime agricultural land out of production, added Stott who has lived in the area for 21 years.
The next step is to gather comments from the information centre and meet with key stakeholders and agencies for feedback and comments.
This will take place over the summer.
A second public information centre will be held this fall, with the date yet to be announced.
A Wastewater Master Plan will be filed over the winter with 30 days available for public review.
For more details on the project, visit here.

EXCUSE ME MINISTER, WE’D LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference is Aug. 18-21 in Ottawa and in a report to council for Monday’s meeting, there is an outline of what the city delegation is aiming to undertake at that time.
The city’s leadership team has identified the proposed delegations with provincial ministers and other officials at that time.
The first request is to meet with the Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria to discuss regional transportation.
The report notes, “On April 8, 2024, Middlesex County launched a new route linking the City of St. Thomas and the City of London.
“The funding for this route is reliant on a provincial grant that is currently set to expire in March 2025. Accessible and convenient transit is vital to the ongoing success and growth of our region.
“As locations of major employers in the area, including the additions of new and upcoming large employers such as PowerCo SE and Amazon, providing meaningful transit options for employees is critical.

“Unfortunately, our community is challenged with lack of viable childcare locations for expansion and a significant labour shortage that will impact the ability to open any new spaces.”

“Enhancing our interregional connectivity will improve the movement of people, goods, and services between St. Thomas and surrounding areas.”
The city is also requesting increased funding for EV infrastructure.
The report notes, “While existing funding programs covering partial costs are a step in the right direction, municipalities, including St. Thomas are not in a position to fund the other 50+% of these large transit infrastructure projects and require further support from upper levels of government as we work to build a sustainable transit system and support the growth of our diverse and fast-growing city.”
The city is also seeking a delegation with Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education.
The report to council members cautions, “Unfortunately, our community is challenged with a lack of viable childcare locations for expansion and a significant labour shortage that will impact the ability to open any new spaces.
“As we move forward in our strategic planning around the new Ontario Framework, what stands out is the uncertainty of financial support for capital funding to support expansion. Based on the funding that has been allocated, the current expansion plan assumes that childcare operators have capital or access to capital funds.

“STPS requests that the Ministry take decisive action to instruct all school boards that the invitation for police officers to attend schools to support safe school communities, deter crime, and bridge the gaps between police and our youth is not open for review any longer.”

“This is not the case in St. Thomas-Elgin. The current allocated funds can support minor repairs or retrofits but does not address expansion in the form of new spaces (new building or significant rebuilds of existing spaces).
“Additionally, for St. Thomas-Elgin to reach the notional allocation of new childcare spaces, the recruitment and retention of qualified Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECE’s) is critical.
“Currently, the city has a shortfall of staff, resulting in several providers who are not able to offer their full capacity of programming. This means that rooms are closed. “During extremely challenging times, parents are being notified that care is not available on a given day due to staff shortfalls.
“Although the province has set a wage floor of $19 per hour in 2023 and offered a $1 increase to a maximum of $25 per hour, this wage is not sufficient to recruit and retain the staff needed to support our current programs, let alone those centers that will be part of the expansion.
“Additional funding to bring RECE’s wages in line with those that are paid by school boards would be an important start to making the child care field a sector where new graduates are eager to join.”

The next request should capture the attention of all parents with school children.
The St. Thomas Police Service is experiencing an increase in violence within schools.
The report goes on to advise, “St. Thomas falls within the catchment areas for the Thames Valley District School Board and the London District Catholic School Board.
“In 2021, both school boards paused their allowance for police officers to attend their schools except for emergency purposes.
“A 2020 review of the School Resource Officer Program remains active today with police unwelcome within school buildings, except for emergency response.
“There is a remedy for this violence. STPS officers need to return to some form of school presence immediately.
“STPS requests that the Ministry take decisive action to instruct all school boards that the invitation for police officers to attend schools to support safe school communities, deter crime, and bridge the gaps between police and our youth is not open for review any longer.”
In particular, this is a shot across the bow of the Thames Valley board trustees who continually champion student safety but stick their collective heads in the sand when it comes to warning flags on increased school violence.
The third request from the city is to meet with Attorney General Doug Downey to address concerns facing the St. Thomas Police Service. These include:
 Funding for police services to enhance existing service delivery and co-response models for mental health and substance use disorders, specifically the Mobile Outreach Support Team (MOST); an ongoing partnership between STPS and the Canadian Mental Health Association. Approval of a recent MCRT grant submission is requested to enhance this vital partnership.
 As a result of ongoing and future growth in St. Thomas, the Crime Severity Indexes reflect increases in both violent and non-violent crime in recent years. While early indications of 2023 CSI data reflect a positive impact of STPS strategies, our police force requires ongoing support to implement initiatives that address policing needs. Extension of the Community Safety and Policing (CSP) Grants beyond March
2025 are needed.
 In recent years, support by the Ontario Government for the policing sector has been remarkable. However, the following Provincial Grants for the STPS are expiring either in 2024 or early 2025: CSP Local, CSP Provincial, VSG, NG911, and MCRT, totalling $1.7 million. Provincial grant funding is essential to bolster and further support public safety and reduce pressure on taxpayers.
The city has not, at this time, identified the members of council and staff who will represent the city at the AMO conference.

FOR THE CALENDAR

Another public meeting will be held on June 10 in Belmont for updates on the Hydro One St. Thomas Transmission Line to come south from London to serve the new industries in the Yarmouth Yards industrial park.
We wrote about the project in February and you can link to that here.
The public meeting is at 6:30 p.m. June 10 at the Belmont Community Centre.

Questions and comments may be emailed to City Scope

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.