Campaign launch pushes for mega-hospital progress

The Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation is launching a campaign Wednesday aimed at harnessing grassroots support to help raise the profile and speed up provincial funding for the long-awaited mega-hospital project.

The We Can’t Wait campaign kicks off at 10 a.m. and will last a minimum of sixth months.

The campaign will be digital to start, with its own website (windsoressexcantwait.ca), as well as ads on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“What has been needed is an umbrella organization to champion this project and add a rocket booster to it,” said a source familiar with the campaign.

“Regardless of the debate about the site, people want it built.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has only put a more fine point on the need for a modern healthcare system in this region,” the source said.

The campaign will be interactive and engage the community in becoming involved with the project.

WEEDC, which has representatives from both the City of Windsor and Essex County on its board, has reached out to well-known, Ottawa-based Crestview Strategy to create the campaign.

In addition to raising the project’s profile with the provincial government and illustrating community support, the campaign is also aimed at countering efforts of the Citizens for an Accountable Megahospital Planning Process (CAMPP) to have the hospital built on another site.

CAMPP lost a decision last fall to have the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal overturn the selection of the site along County Road 42 and Ninth Concession. It argued for a leave to appeal the board’s decision earlier this month and both sides are awaiting a decision from Justice Gregory Verbeem.

“For a long while now, we’ve allowed inaccurate information to be circulated out there, particularly about how other health-care sites will be used, and part of the campaign is to correct that,” the source said. “It will be a chance to explain exactly how the modern, local health-care system will work.”

Currently, the new hospital plan is one of 22 projects in the pre-procurement phase, which is stage two of the five-stage process. Last fall, Infrastructure Ontario listed the project as requiring more than $1 billion in funding with the final closure of the deal five or more years away.

“Being five years away for a capital project is never, never land because it’s not budgeted for,” the source said.

“We need to get this moved up. We need to show there’s broad community support for the plan.

“We don’t want to leave them (with) an excuse to walk away.”

The source pointed to the current provincial government walking away from a $1-billion commitment made by the previous Liberal regime to build a light rail project in Hamilton as an example of what the campaign is trying to avoid.

Mobilizing groups and individual supporters in a co-ordinated way is a key part of

We need to get this moved up. We need to show there’s broad community support for the plan.

the campaign. It will do so by trying to lure visitors to the interactive website.

There’s a small form to fill out for those wanting to help, along with a series of short videos from front-line workers and others outlining the varied benefits of a modern health-care system.

The plan is to recruit supporters with “little asks,” such as signing petitions, while others can take on more activist roles.

The digital platform is also designed to allow the community to share their recorded experiences or reasons for supporting the project.

“It’s time for the community to take leadership on this project,” the source said. “It’s been mostly top down up until now, but we need to show how this community wants health-care facilities we don’t have to worry about sending our families to.”

Perhaps as impactful as anything are the photo collages of the conditions that health-care professionals and patients are enduring in Windsor’s aging facilities.

Patchwork efforts to create more isolation areas during the COVID -19 pandemic, crowded rooms, aging infrastructure, rusting pipes and dingy hallways crowded with equipment all speak to the need for change.

Another source familiar with the project said aging hospitals also effect the economy.

“Health care is like a black hole in presentations trying to recruit and retain companies and talent,” the second source said. “When a company is looking at locating in a place, health care is an important factor in their decision.

“We’d love to say we have a world-class system, but we can’t so we just kind of don’t mention it.”

Though designed for six months, the campaign can be extended and broadened depending on how successful it becomes.