Chesley residents prepare to fight for future of their hospital

Three times in the past 50 years, the Chesley and District Memorial Hospital has been on the provincial government’s chopping block.

Residents fear it’s happening again.

“People are really worried about the level the emergency department is open. It’s opened throughout the day, sort of business hours. And if that continues and we can’t recruit doctors to come, then it’s a slippery slope to maybe losing our entire hospital,” says Chesley area resident Hazel Pratt. 

Due to nursing shortages, Chesley’s emergency department has been dealing with rolling daytime closures for the past year and a half, after being closed in the overnight hours since 2019.  A short-lived return to 24/7 emergency department coverage ended abruptly last spring.

A full eight-week closure last October to December led to Chesley’s new Emergency Department hours, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, closed every weekend. 

Chesley and District Memorial Hospital signs and hours in Chelsey, Ont. on Wednesday, Mar. 1, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“In Ontario, we had the second highest number of ER closures, and that’s caused a lot of anxiety and angst in our area,” says Chesley resident Brenda Scott. 

To try and address that community concern, Pratt and Scott have started the Chesley Hospital Community Support group. They’re trying to build on an immense showing of support for the future of their town’s hospital last October, where most of the area’s 6,800 residents turned up to pack Chesley’s Community Centre. 

“It has not died down. You just have to walk up the street to find out that it has not died down. And the level of anxiety is actually increasing,” says Scott. 

As the community prepares for, what they believe will be, another fight for the future of their hospital, the Chesley Hospital Community Support group is planning a rally on April 1, and a petition calling on the government to ensure the return of a 24/7 Emergency Department to their hospital as soon as possible. 

“To help our small communities and rural communities to maintain their health services is, number one in our books,” says Chesley resident, and local representative of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, Doug Walsh. 

The South Bruce Grey Health Centre, which operates Chesley’s hospital and three others in Grey-Bruce, says they have no intention of closing the community’s hospital and continue to work towards returning the hospital to 24/7 care. 

The Chesley Hospital Community Support group is hoping to join forces, and possibly create a coalition, with other rural communities like Wingham, Durham, Walkerton, Clinton, and Seaforth, that have also endured, and continue to endure, rolling ER closures, due to ongoing nursing shortages. 

“There are many communities that have a similar issue,” says Pratt. “They’re rural, small communities, that are part of an amalgamated health service.”