A hospital for the future

We shouldn’t have to be the Ross. How has Ontario’s public health care system come to this? How is it that the community must raise so much money for the renovations and equipment our hospital desperately needs, but that provincial funding can’t seem to cover?

Complaining about that reality won’t change anything, of course. Kawartha Lakes will see a boom in population over the next decade. Ross Memorial Hospital has to meet that growing need, regardless of how much the province ponies up.

While we shouldn’t have to raise millions from our rural municipality to buttress the health care system, we really don’t have a choice. We are incredibly fortunate to have a hospital like the Ross, so it’s time to do our part here at home to supplement the province’s contribution.

Anyone who’s lived in the area for a while has seen at least one major expansion to the Ross, and possibly many. The original building, which no longer stands, opened in 1902 thanks to the generosity of its namesake, James Ross. Having prospered while working on various North American railways, he chose to support his adopted home by donating money to build a hospital in memory of his parents, John and Mary Ross.

In that continuing spirit of community support, the hospital foundation has already raised $21 million. It’s turning to the public for the remaining $4 million of its largest ever fundraising campaign. The money is being used to expand emergency, intensive care and mental health services as well for new MRI and CT scanners and an updated system for handling patients’ medical information.

When conversation turns, as it so often does, to the need for greater capacity at our local hospital to keep up with population growth, it should turn next to supporting the foundation’s campaign. Seasonal dwellers benefit from having such a great hospital close by in the summer. Year-round residents rely on it from the moment they’re born throughout their lives.

For the thousands in Kawartha Lakes who don’t have a doctor of their own, the emergency room is a literal lifesaver. And let’s not forget how much staff raise for other charities or how great it is to get a special smile and extra chat from a nurse or cleaner or PSW who’s also a neighbour.

Ideally, we wouldn’t need to raise this kind of money from our midst, but we’re not in ideal days. It’s time to show how much we value and appreciate our hospital and its role in our community.

Yes, we are the Ross.