Hospital is a big waste of tax dollars

Re: Proposed mega-hospital location best option for Essex County residents, opinion column by Lloyd Brown-John, Aug. 4.

Lloyd Brown-John suggests we support the proposed mega-hospital to “reflect the interests of the entire community the hospital will serve”.

He sees the location of the hospital as a positive step for the county. He anticipates after the next election we may see “an even more frugal governing party,” resulting in an abandonment of the mega-hospital. Let’s hope so. It’s a big waste.

What he applauds as progress is merely a reversal of circumstances with some county residents being closer to a hospital while many other residents will be farther away. This does not “reflect the interests of the entire community the hospital will serve,” it reflects the interests of a few at the expense of many.

As it happens, roughly 70 per cent of hospital users live within the city of Windsor, an even larger percentage live within the Windsor CMA. However, the more important issue is that one hospital alone simply can’t serve everyone.

He “reckons” the site is acceptable to “a large portion of Essex County and Windsor residents” as if Windsor isn’t part of Essex County. I might reckon otherwise but if support is so important and so overwhelming, a properly conducted survey would show it. It doesn’t matter how many are for or against though, if the plan is seriously flawed. I’ll continue to point out that the $400 million for satellite services is enough to buy a small but more complete hospital elsewhere.

Health care and the population are more important than ease of construction and parking when selecting a site.

The 990 acres of development for a 60-acre hospital site places emphasis on arbitrary possibilities for the next century rather than the next decade.

One hospital just won’t do. I see no rush to get on with something so wrong.