To the editor,
Webster’s dictionary defines “ignorance” as “the state of not knowing.”
On Oct. 4, one of the candidates for a council position in the upcoming South Bruce municipal election exhibited ignorance of the Teeswater Medical Centre project in a Facebook post. In the post, the individual made three assertions that are untrue, and potentially damaging to the efforts of the Teeswater Medical Centre Building Committee to bring a modern, fully accessible medical centre to Teeswater. As co-chair of this committee, I feel the need to respond to their post and provide the residents of South Bruce facts about the Medical Centre.
The post states that the Centre is “designed to not be self-sufficient”; will “rely upon continual funding from NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) to remain sustainable.” And it is inferred that the committee had not looked to other communities for best practices to run the facility. All of these assertions display a “state of not knowing.”
Members of our committee spent time in the spring/summer of 2021 examining the operating models of five local medical clinics. They travelled around to visit these clinics and talk to the people involved in their operation. Questions were asked about best practices and their recommendations for an operating model for our medical centre. As a result of these discussions, it was decided by the entire committee that we should follow an operating model that is similar to the one used by the Mildmay Medical Clinic. A subcommittee is presently working on the establishment of a not-for-profit corporation to run the centre via a board of directors, and will be sending a set of proposed bylaws to the municipality for input, with the goal of adopting of a set of mutually acceptable bylaws in the near future.
Our committee has looked extensively at the possible financial situation the Teeswater Medical Centre will face. We are fortunate to have a clinic in Mildmay that is of similar size to the one we will have in Teeswater, and have been able to use their year-over-year expenses to estimate what we can expect. Based on this, we anticipate that if the clinic has three tenants, the centre can sustain itself financially. Having one physician, a pharmacist and one other health care professional will make this a viable operation, with room available for an additional health care provider. We are confident this will be achieved when the centre opens.
The NWMO has provided the committee with a donation through the Near-Term Investment Fund for the renovation of the new medical centre, but the assertion that the medical centre will rely on upon continual funding from NWMO is completely false. Our committee has never entered into any discussions of this nature with the NWMO.
I had an in-person conversation with this individual in an attempt to educate them about the realities of the project and the harm their written comments could do to it. I was led to believe that they were going to update the Facebook post to reflect reality, not false assertions. They did provide some clarity on the sustainability of the Teeswater Medical Centre in the Facebook update but did not correct the statements about NWMO funding or the efforts that were put into establish a working model for the centre based on best practices. As of the time of submission of this letter, I have not had any response to the emails I have sent to clarify their position on these issues.
I would hope that all our present and future municipal politicians will base their comments and decisions on facts and reality, not fantasy or what will “get them” votes. I expect this will be the question the residents of South Bruce need to answer when they vote during the upcoming municipal election.
I would like to thank the various organizations and individuals that have shown support for this project, and look forward to hearing from all municipal candidates on how they are going to show their support for our efforts to bring a fully accessible, modern medical centre to Teeswater.
Paul Cronin
Co-Chair, Teeswater Medical Centre Building Committee
