Jeanette Despatie & CCH Failing Seniors – Surgical Wait Times in Cornwall Brutal 081517

Cornwall Ontario – The province has an actual useful website that gives you data on surgical wait times.   With Cornwall having a higher level of seniors I thought I’d run some numbers based on historical issues that many seniors face.

While the community has to its credit come up with wads of cash to donate for our newly renovated hospital, we still are minus one hospital and desperately in need of more service and funding from the province.

Ms Despatie, who runs the hospital and many of her senior staff have above average salaries on the Sunshine list yet the hospital consistently has issues that are more management related than staff.

Cataracts surgery from the decision to have surgery:  Such a minor process than costs so little to perform.

Ontario Average  (Category 4)

94 Days (Target 182)

CCH

143 Days!

Brockville

249

Kingston

115

Orthopedics (including hip and knee replacement) surgery from the decision to have surgery:

Ontario Average (Category 4)

120 Days (Target 182)

CCH

202 Days!

Brockville

108

Kingston

161

Cancer surgery from the decision to have surgery:

Ontario Average (Category 3)

16 Days (Target 28)

Kingston

16

And there’s the rub.  The province only provided limited numbers (only showing breast cancer results).   There are no cancer surgeries for Cornwall according to the chart with many seniors having to travel to Ottawa.  Winchester is on the chart, but at the end of the spectrum with a 29 day wait for surgery.

Clearly the province is failing seniors in this region and CCH management under Despatie are failing the community as there are steps to be taken to requesting, if not demanding more from the province as Seniors are the ones that usually built the system and contributed their entire lives.

To visit the provincial website click HERE.

17 Comments

  1. Cancer surgeries are relatively quick, but you can’t find numbers on how many cancer surgeries there are. Is it possible that cancer surgeries are a major part of other surgery delays? Also yes I beleive seniors are an important part of our community, but so are working folk who become a drain on resources when not fixed and back to work promptly. I know from experience.

  2. Author

    Of course Jerry, but whether planned or not, Seniors have become a big component of this community whether by moving here or simply aging. To not give them proper service is bad for business.

  3. There is a woman on my floor who is younger than I am and has cancer you might say had since she had the surgery. She is gone back to work part time for now until she gets better. The woman must be off work since quite a number of months now and is just one to work part time since about a month now. Cancer is a horrible disease.

  4. Jules, yes cancer is absolutely horrible. Which is why I would like to see more data on patient numbers and some of the research money going into studies on why cancer is skyrocketing, and if it has plateaued or is getting worse. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. However, some of us understand that knowledge is given as seen fit, not a right.

  5. Author

    Jerry the public can’t get more involved in the process if they don’t have the information. Frankly in many cities a lot of people would be upset that the EOHU refuses to give us basic info as we’ve requested and now refuses to send us public notices and press releases that can impact life and death situations.

  6. Mom was a cancer patient and what she said made a lot of sense and that is to have a positive attitude and that helps with the longevity of the patient. We lack doctors today something awful and the young ones are not as good as the older doctors at all. My daughter went to get a blood test today at the lab that she does every so many months for her thyroid. Thyroid disease is on the rise as we

  7. Jerry you remember how bad the air quality was in Cornwall when Domtar and the other mills were down there. Well in China they have those mills on the go and the people cannot breathe and are going around with masks on. Mom never smoke nor drank – dad did the smoking and drinking and mom got cancer. Cancer is on the rise here in Ottawa as well.

  8. Jerry I just fell on something for you to read and the comments as well. Here is what to read and it is on Yahoo.ca. More than 500 Winnipeg nurses to be offered new jobs after positions deleted. When my daughter went to the Civic Hospital for thyroid the people were talking about nurses and doctors being replaced by people who come from other countries for less money.

  9. Jerry the doctors cannot give a person too much chemo or radiation or they can die. That stuff is lethal. Sometimes the chemo and radiation makes things worse and everybodys system is different to the other person. Some people die fast and others take longer and every time a cancer appears it has to be treated.

  10. It isn’t only Jeannette Despatie who is failing patients because this is everywhere in Ontario and the rest of Canada. The rich people will take a cancer on going to the US and Europe for surgery and chemo and even to Mexico for the experimental drugs. The problem is everywhere unfortunately. Stress causes cancer as well and in todays society that is one of the reasons for the increase.

  11. A result of continual government cutbacks. It’s hard to provide the service if you don’t have the budget to do so. There are some budget items that should be done with caution…..health and education are two of those items.

  12. Worried bout the Hospital, this has been a ongoing issue way before JD was in charge, this is a Ontario and Canada wide problem, funny thought we say nothing about housing refugees at a crazy cost, these refugees cost could be put to better use, like using it to take care of people who have paid taxes for many years in this country. Lots of people asleep at the wheel.

  13. I thank God that I don’t have any kids left in the school system with people coming over as fake refugees and full of diseases. Wait until you folks in Cornwall experience what you have just now. Hubby says the same and more – you all have no idea what you will be going through. These people are full of diseases. These people will get free health care, free education, free housing, free food,

  14. Why debate when someone thinks they’re always right and have all the answers??

  15. Jerry when Cornwalls industries were up and running the cancers in Cornwall were mighty high along with a town in Québec. I met a man 13 years ago from the Ottawa Valley in a small town where there was a paper mill and he had cancer as well. I met him when my daughter was going through tests for her thyroid in the cancer unit and he wondered if my daughter had cancer – there is so much of it.

  16. Jamie and Jerry yesterday we spoke about cancer well hubby and I had some bad news from a former teacher who goes to the park every day and his wife has cancer and has only so many months left to live. We wondered why we didn’t see him for quite a while and his wife hasn’t been around for a long time. We cried our eyes out in the park and we feel very bad. Cancer is very prevalent.

  17. Jerry every person has a different metabolism and they can have the same cancer and one can recover quite well and another will die. There is no guarantee at all. I remember back in 1967 going to the doctors office and crying to the doctor afraid that mom was going to die and the doctor told me that he got all the cancer but it was in Gods hands now. Nobody knows except the Good Lord.

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