The Mayor of Saugeen Shores is standing up for the future of the Emergency Room at Saugeen Memorial Hospital in Southampton.
Mike Smith says he’s met with Huron-Bruce MPP Carol Mitchell over the uncertain future of the facility.
He says she’s been cooperative and believes a solution can be reached.
Smith says a resolution is needed, he says if you talk to anyone in the community, they don’t want to see the emergency room close under any circumstances.
The mayor says Health Force Ontario is covering a number of the ER shifts in Southampton because there aren’t enough local doctors to cover them.
Smith says those extra resources that keep the facility open are about to disappear.
In June, Grey-Bruce Health Services President and CEO Maureen Solecki told Bayshore Broadcasting News there are challenges to making sure ER shifts are covered but closing the department during overnight hours was not going to happen.
However, she said no decision had yet been made on cutting back emergency room services.
Mitchell, meanwhile has been named to the province’s new Ontario Rural and Northern Health Care Panel.
She joins fellow Liberal MPP Mike Brown as a member, along with selected health care representatives from across the province.