[LabComm] You made a real difference

[BC NDP NEWSWIRE]

You made a real difference



Dear friend,

I want to send this quick note to thank everyone who helped stop the cuts to Vancouver's Mount Saint Joseph Hospital.

Whether you were one of the thousands of people who signed the NDP petition, wrote a letter to the local newspaper, or sent an e-mail to Gordon Campbell -- <strong>you made a real difference.</strong>

A few weeks ago, following a number of reports about dangerous overcrowding in the emergency rooms of hospitals throughout BC, Gordon Campbell announced plans to cut ER services at Vancouver's Mount Saint Joseph by 23% on June 1.

I couldn't quite believe it when I heard it.

Since 2001, this government has closed 5 hospitals, 54 long-term care facilities and 1300 acute care beds around this province. Doctors had been warning for years that these cuts were creating a crisis in ERs.

Now people were dying in hallways while they waited for emergency care.

How could Gordon Campbell think that cutting ER services at a vital Vancouver hospital could possibly help?

Since then, doctors, community leaders and ordinary people around the province joined the NDP team in fighting to stop the cuts. Over 3500 people responded to our urgent call and signed the NDP petition, and many others sent messages to Gordon Campbell expressing their concerns. 

Finally, Gordon Campbell backed down. Mount Saint Joseph Hospital will be spared the cuts on June 1.

That's great news for the people who depend on the hospital for timely and quality emergency care. It's also great news for anyone who might need to visit a hospital in the Lower Mainland, because these cuts would have made overcrowding in other hospitals even worse.

<strong>But we need to keep the pressure on Gordon Campbell.</strong>

The Liberals haven't given up on their plans to cut ER services at Mount Saint Joseph -- they've only decided to postpone them for seven months.

We have to make sure that Gordon Campbell doesn't think that people have stopped caring about this important issue. We have to make sure he continues to hear that people in this province are not willing to accept ER cuts when our hospitals are dangerously overcrowded.

That means more public campaigns to alert the media, engage community leaders and give ordinary people a chance to be heard -- just like we've done over the last few weeks.

I'm very pleased that Mount Saint Joseph Hospital has been spared these cuts -- for now. 

But hospitals around the province continue to face increasing patient loads. It's time for Gordon Campbell to admit it was a mistake to break his promise to build 5000 new long-term care beds, and it was a mistake to cut 1300 hospital beds across the province.

<strong>The NDP team is going to keep the pressure on Gordon Campbell. With your help, we can succeed.</strong>

Thank you,

<strong>Jenny Kwan<br />
NDP MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant
</strong>

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