The Wallaceburg-Walpole Island First Nation (W-WIFN) Health Coalition is taking its concerns about the Sydenham District Hospital straight to Premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto.
Several representatives from the group are going to Queen's Park today to present the results of a local referendum on hospital cuts at the Wallaceburg site.
During the referendum, people were asked to indicate whether they agreed with two statements.
The first statement was in response to cuts across the province, but the second was more specific to the Sydenham District Hospital.
The second statement reads as follows: "Ontario's government must stop the closure of Sydenham District Hospital's Emergency Department and restore funding, services and staff to meet our communities' needs for care."
The results of that vote were unanimous. All 3032 votes were "yes."
Chair of the W-WIFN Health Coalition Shirley Roebuck says she's really pleased with how many people came out to vote.
"We had more than 3,000 people come out -- that's over 25% of the population of Wallaceburg," says Roebuck. "It's also one of the highest percentage per populations returned that the province experienced."
While they are in Toronto, the W-WIFN Health Coalition will also be joining with other health coalitions across the province to present the results of a vote that was held province-wide on a separate statement.
That statement reads: "Ontario's government must stop the cuts to our community hospitals and restore services, funding and staff to meet our communities' needs for care."
The results from the Wallaceburg-area on that statement were 3033 "yes" votes and 6 "no" votes.
It's not the first time communities across the province have banded together to take the province to task over health-care related issues.
Roebuck says the Ontario Health Coalition held a very similar campaign in 2014 blocking private clinics in Ontario.
"Votes were held all over the province," says Roebuck. "About 100,000 votes were collected at that point and the private clinics were stopped."
Roebuck says she knows the referendum won't change things overnight, but adds that the Premier Wynne and the provincial government "can hardly ignore the will of voters from all over Ontario."
