As council here continues to consider a project to enhance mobility transit in Wellington North, letters of support continue to roll by.
On April 18, councillors here considered a number of letters supporting the pilot project for Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit.
Letters came from Susan Trivers, executive director of the Mount Forest Family Health Team; Andrea Parsons, president of the Saugeen Valley Nursing Centre; Mary-Therese Haid, regional manager of Caressant Care Harriston; and Jerome Quenneville, president and CEO of North Wellington Health Care and Groves Memorial Community Hospital.
Councillor Dan Yake noted the letter from North Wellington Health Care resulted from a board meeting the week before [council], where there was very strong support of the initiative.
He said members would like to see the project, and they want to be kept up to date.
“It’s been identified as an issue with health care professionals here in the north. It’s a pretty major issue getting people to and from health care services. We have the services here, we just have the ability to get the people where they need to go,” Yake explained.
Trivers’ letter stated “Access to health care services is a significant issue for our rural communities.”
She said one of the main barriers to that access is transportation at a reasonable cost.
Trivers sees the pilot project for handicapped people from Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit (SMART) is an opportunity to address that issue. (Wellington County has also expressed some interest.)
Trivers said that in Mount Forest, roughly 20% of the 10,000 patients travel to the community from Grey and Bruce Counties.
Parsons said that “Accessible transportation is an essential life line for the seniors in our rural community.”
She believes that for seniors living at home, such a service would improve the quality of life by allowing them more social connections, to get to medical appointments, and allow them more independence.
“The benefit of the service is perhaps even more valuable for the seniors residing at Saugeen Valley Nursing Centre.”
She said the majority of residents at that facility need or require accessible transportation.
Haig agreed, stating that current means of such transportation is limited, expensive, and not extremely reliable.
She suggested that expansion of the service locally “would provide a vital link to the residents and the outreaching community.”
Quenneville added “We have often underlined for us that this is a major obstacle to care and basic accessibility for residents in our area.”
He pointed out that hospitals in Palmerston, Mount Forest, and Centre Wellington serve a large rural population.
Quenneville said the usefulness of such a service is clear, and aligns well with an aging demographic and the desire of most residents to remain independent for as long as possible.
Mayor Ray Tout later said the status of the service is awaiting final budget deliberations by council, and potential partnerships.
“There’s no two ways about it; it is a service that is needed.”
He said that Wellington North, through the county, is considering SMART as being a leader in that type of service.
Tout believes there is strong support at the county level and in neighbouring Minto.
He agreed that the numbers still have to be considered on the financial side, but, “It’s a much needed service in rural Ontario.”
