Brampton has suffered from a health care shortage for years, and the problems were always visible.
Pat Fortini, a member of Brampton’s City council, said staff are simply overrun because there aren’t enough facilities available. A recent announcement by the provincial government to pump in $21 million in expanding local facilities that’s a few years in the future.
“There’s only one hospital here. And it covers part of Georgetown and Caledon along with Brampton,” Fortini said. “Our medical staff just can’t keep up with the volume of patient traffic.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many issues in the Canadian healthcare system, including a surging need for protective equipment and a need to review and better coordinate response plans. This can be seen clearly within the City Of Brampton. For years, Brampton has only had one central hospital, Brampton Civic Hospital, after tearing down the old Brampton Memorial Hospital. A shortage of beds, staff and cramped space have all contributed to making the pandemic worse in the city.
The old Peel Memorial Hospital was closed down in 2007 and subsequently demolished. In its place a new health centre was built, not a new hospital. This left the newer Brampton Civic Hospital as the sole facility for the city.
Brampton Civic doesn’t just serve Brampton, however. It receives patients from across Peel Region, and even from Georgetown, Bolton and Orangeville. Even before the pandemic, Brampton City Council was stating the situation was unsustainable as there simply wasn’t enough care to get around.
“The city council looked at this whole thing over three years ago, and we knew there was a serious problem,” Fortini said. “But all we did was talk about it, when it came time to raise a levy for it, nothing happened.”
He said there had been a missed opportunity to combat the problem in the past, but political motivations at city council delayed the work from being started earlier. Councillors are concerned about raising the levy to fund a hospital, fearing they would lose momentum in the polls.
“Everyone talks, talks, talks, talks, but when it comes to actually voting or doing something, nobody puts their money where their mouth is,” Fortini said. “These counselors all talked about an emergency, but when it comes to the tax levy and coming up with a share, they’re against it, they’re worried about their elections.”
Fortini also claimed partial responsibility for the delays, as he himself wasn’t fully aware of the issues until his wife became sick in September.
“Once we got elected, we had so much stuff on our plates that we forgot some plans,” Fortini said. “And then my wife got sick in September, and I realized what the hell are we doing? We should have had this up and going three years ago.”
A Brampton resident shares the view. Carol Montoute, who had just moved to Orangeville from Brampton, said having a smaller but closer hospital would make her feel safer. The wait times in Brampton were too long.
“You could find yourself waiting over five hours to see a doctor in Brampton, how is that safe at all?” Montoute said. “Not that I would go to Brampton Civic now during COVID-19. An entire city forced to cram into one building isn’t safe.”
Montoute said because she is older, having faster access to healthcare is important to her and her family. It isn’t acceptable to her to have to wait in a hospital lobby or emergency room for hours because the government couldn’t react faster to the shortage.
“I’ve lived in Brampton for a long time, and the number of people living here has grown like crazy,” she said. “We could all see things were getting packed and city services weren’t enough to manage it all.
“I don’t know what’s taken so long, but at least they’re trying to invest more now, which is better than nothing,” Montoute said.
Premier Doug Ford announced April 3 that $21 million is being allotted towards increasing cancer care at Brampton Civic and establishing a 24-hour urgent care centre at the pre-existing Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness.
Construction is planned to finish by 2027, but until then, Brampton will have to make do, although Fortini said the announcement promises some improvement.
“It’s never too late to support the hospital, and we will continue to do so,” he said. “It’s better late than never and we’re glad the province announced more funding for us.”