Demonstration Dec. 10 at Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital to keep beds staffed and open

ARNPRIOR, ON, Dec. 6, 2013 /CNW/ - Hospital staff from across Eastern Ontario will demonstrate at the Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital on Dec 10, to keep 6 acute care beds open, which have been primarily closed since June 2013. Summer bed closures in Arnprior now stretch into fall and winter.

"The hospital went from de-staffing 6 beds indefinitely, to saying it was only 4 beds and they are trying to send patients home faster, says Patrick Garbutt, president of CUPE local 2198. "  Now the hospital is telling nursing staff that the beds are open but they are yet to be properly staffed. More patients are held in ER "Overload" beds.  The hospital plans to cut more services in physiotherapy and diagnostic imaging, which will mean longer waiting times for our patients. These are essential services which make a hospital a hospital." 

" Hospital employees from across Eastern Ontario are extremely concerned about the ongoing closures of beds at the Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital. We see a clear pattern of patients from smaller communities being redirected to Ottawa for treatments that they should receive in their community hospital. We believe that smaller community hospitals, including Arnprior and District, are being deliberately phased down and phased out. " says Michael Hurley, the president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).

The protest will begin at the Arnpior Quality Inn at 11:30 a.m. and proceed up Madawaska and John to the Hospital.

SOURCE: Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (CUPE)

Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE
416-884-0770