Big petition push for Memphremagog Hospital Vigilance Committee

In the coming weeks, members of the Memphremagog Hospital Vigilance Committee (CVHM) will be circulating a petition in the municipalities of the MRC calling for local governance and an improvement in services, which the committee believes have been in decline since the administrative restructuring of the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus in 2015.

“We’re hoping to get 20 per cent of the population to sign,” said CVHM member Andrea Fairchild.

With roughly 52,000 served by the Magog hospital, that represents around 10,000 signatures, she said.

“We want people from outlying areas to get on board,” Fairchild commented. “They are the ones that are more heavily hit by the situation.”

According to Fairchild, the CVHM is looking for concrete action sooner than later, worried about the upcoming election. “Once people are elected, what’s going to happen?” she wondered.

According to the committee, the centralization of services implemented during the major administrative restructuring of 2015 has resulted in a degradation of services at the health centre, to the detriment of employees and users.

The petition asserts that since the restructuring, strategic decisions are being made in Sherbrooke and the lack of a local intermediary has had a negative impact on services and working conditions.

The petition also states that the Memphremagog MRC has a higher aging population (27.2 per cent compared to 18.9

per cent for the rest of the province), but the long term (CHSLD) care beds available in Magog per 100 people over 65 years is 1.47 compared to 2.29 for Estrie.

The CVHM is calling for additional CHSLD beds, a local board of directors as well as a local voice on the CIUSSS de l’estrie-chus board, a return of the services previously available at the Magog hospital, and an assurance of continuity of services at the Potton and Stanstead CLSCS.

To illustrate the concerns of the CVHM, Fairchild said that recently her husband required a referral from their family doctor for a lung specialist. They were told the wait would be around six weeks for her husband to get his lungs tested.

After contacting a doctor from Montreal her husband had previously met with, Fairchild said an appointment was scheduled for a week later with the best lung specialist in Montreal.

“Are there that few people around here for this population?” she said.

According to Fairchild, the big petition push will happen on sept.8 and 9 with volunteers circulating in the different municipalities of the Memphremagog MRC.