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stouffirilksimtribunem thursday oct 1120077 bed shortage forces man urgery byseanpearce staff writer its never easy to have a loved one undergo surgery but in stouffville resident cathy rob insons case it may have been made much more difficult than it needed to be at the beginning of septem ber ms robinson brought her 76yearold father who lives in newmarket to southlake regional health centre for treat ment we were there for 13 hours ms robinson said one hour of that was actually seeing the doc tor still ms robinson wasnt upset and she called the treat ment she received there despite the wait excellent what did upset her however was what she learned next it turned out southlake could not accommodate her fathers necessary neurosurgery due to a lack of adequate beds for him to recuperate in fact it wasnt just southlake that was in that position it was every hospital in ontario the only option was to have her father flown via heli copter to a hospital in buffalo following that news on sept 8 ms robinsons father was flown down to millard fillmore gates hospital in buffalo the same hospital that treated buf falo bills player michael everett for his recent spinal injury the surgery was a success ordinarily the ordeal would have been over but not in ms robinsons case her father was cleared to return home by the hospital sept 21 but couldnt due to again a lack of adequate care beds at southlake weeks went by with ms rob insons father stranded in buffa lo ms robinson got fed up and to view a video on this issue go to yorkregioncom finally called progressive con servative candidate prank klees mr klees obviously on the campaign trail stepped in on ms robinsons behalf and contacted southlake to see if ms robin sons father could be hastened home mr klees said the situa tion indicates what four years of neglect has done to ontarios hospitals on the positive side he was well looked after but he had to be sent to buffalo to get treat ment he said the problem is he was cleared sept 21 and was avail able to be moved back but southlake couldnt take him the hospital confirmed it is indeed short of beds largely due to the fact a number of them were occupied by people await ing longterm care another area mr klees described as in rough shape there are literally hundreds of stories like this he said the liberals are people who keep saying how bad the health care system is in the unit ed states and yet we are having to send people there for treat ment southlake spokesperson tammy la rue explained per sonnel at the hospital cant com ment on specific cases but gen erally speaking conceded there was a shortage of beds and that 47 are occupied by individuals awaiting proper longterm care beds elsewhere the demand for beds is primarily due to the explosive growth in the region coupled with a generally aging popula tion usually demand doesnt get quite so high until the winter months from the hospitals perspec tive ms la rue said stories such as ms robinsons are unfortu nate but the hospital can only do so much to hold beds as the needs of emergency patients from the local community have to come first the patient at a hospital else where is safe she said its not ideal but emergency patients need to be our first priority and thats how its handled at all hos pitals not just southlake in any case ms robinson said shes just happy her father is finally on his way home even though its now oct 5 the real losers are not just her she added as taxpayers across ontario have had to pay for her fathers trip to the united states and those of many others while in buffalo to be with her father ms robinson was told 40 per cent of the neurosurgery beds in at millard fillmore gates were occupied by canadians you can imagine that for my 76yearold father stuck in buf falo away from his wife family and friends he was anxious to return to newmarket ms rob inson said my mother is in a nurs ing home in newmarket and requires full care in addition to the cost to our family in time and money commuting between buffalo and newmarket this has taken a toll emotionally physi cally financially on our jobs and on our families ontario minister of health and longterm care george smitherman could not be reached by press time staff photobill roberts aurora pc candi date frank klees addresses media friday outside southlake region al health centre alongside cathy robinson whose father had to have lifesaving surgery in buffalo ny due to a short age of beds at this hospital and other ontario hospitals open for bri montofri8amt61 sat all day 730 am to 8pr sun all day 730 am to 4 pml guides 18005658111 ducanada wwwgirlguidesca this message brought to you as a community service of the economistsuntribune chicken fussili penne arrabiatta pizza italiano 10 chicken pesto 10 seafood linguini breakfast special 3 eggs 2 pancakes home fries toast coffee add with bacon ham sausage peameal all day home made angus cheese burgers lunch specials montreal smoked meat or corned beef on rye 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