During the provincial budget announcement last week, Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) officials were hoping for good news, but they did not receive the planning grant they are seeking to advance the process of building a new hospital.
While OSMH president and CEO Carmine Stumpo says he is “disappointed” the funding didn’t come, the hospital will continue to work with the government.
“We had the minister of health (Sylvia Jones) visit us (recently) and spent a significant amount of time with us, our teams, and front-line staff,” he said.
Stumpo says Jones and Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop seem to understand the infrastructure and growth challenges OSMH is facing.
“The urgency hasn’t changed,” he said. “We need a new hospital. We understand it’s a long process, and we need to work at that.”
He says OSMH knows planning a new hospital is a “very complex” and long process.
“We have to be committed to moving forward. I wouldn’t take this as a setback; we just continue to work toward a new hospital,” he said, adding OSMH will continue to call on the province for the planning grant.
While the hospital doesn’t yet have the government’s financial support, Stumpo praised the community for its support. He says the Start Today, Serve Tomorrow campaign is making “incredible” progress.
“We are thrilled with the awareness that we’ve been able to raise with the community,” he said.
Despite not receiving the grant, Ontario hospitals received a four per cent increase in last week’s budget — funding as part of the Ministry of Health’s plan to create more than 3,000 beds across the province.
“We welcome the increase,” Stumpo said. “We are waiting to see the details, but we understand that the funding will also include a number of the beds that we have been operating over the last couple of years as part of our growth strategy.”
Relative to many other hospitals, he says, OSMH is running at the highest occupancy.
“We know our growth has been high. This funding of the beds is very welcomed,” he said.
Dunlop did not reply to a request for a comment in time for publication of this article.
