Dear Community Members of the Save South Muskoka Hospital Committee (SSMHC):

We had an incredibly busy October and early November on the issues pertaining to the future of  South Muskoka Hospital:  From the Doctors Letter of October 7 in relation to the increase of 10 additional beds, to crucial votes at the MAHC Board, the District of Muskoka, the Town of Bracebridge and the release of the Medcura Report.   Not to mention many announcements from elected officials, questions raised about the sources of funding, the prospect of conditions on funding from municipal councils...the list goes on!

As the dust settles on these rapid developments, we want to assure you that we have never waivered in our ongoing support for the future of South Muskoka Hospital.  Our advocacy, with your support, must continue.  46 acute care beds is not sufficient to meet our future South Muskoka community needs.  Made in Muskoka continues to jeopardize the health, safety and well-being of South Muskoka residents.  SSMHC addressed this in our October 18 release, found here, in case you missed it.  We have also inserted our Position "In A Nutshell" below for your awareness.

Rest assured that the Save South Muskoka Hospital Committee is continuing to be engaged on this issue and we are looking forward to entering into a new phase of our advocacy work as MAHC submits to the province.

Please read on below concerning our other updates and expanding initiatives!  We are excited about this new newsletter format, so please let us know if you have any feedback about it.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Sign Update

As the winter approaches, we ask that all lawn-signs be removed for safe storage before December 1.  We will re-use the signs for continued advocacy in the spring.

Read the full update on our website.

Window Signs are Available too!

GET ENGAGED!

Donations: Friends of the South Muskoka Hospital Committee

At the option of all donors, we will be posting names of contributors who donate at least $75 to our cause.

 

 

Urgent: Calling for

Letters of Support

Are you part of a community group or local business that would like to publicly express support for the cause of Save South Muskoka Hospital?  If so, please let us know!  

 

We intend to publish letters of support on our website!

Advocacy and Petitions

Have you contacted the MPP, the Honourable Graydon Smith?  How about the Mayor of your Town? 

 

And we are encouraging residents to also email the Premier, the Honourable Doug Ford (premier@ontario.ca) with their concerns!

Join Us!

If you have experience in healthcare or are otherwise keen to save the future of South Muskoka Memorial Hospital, we want to hear from you!

 Please Contact Us 

 Please also spread the word about our Community Membership 

 

Our cause is driven by engagement from the community. Thank you for your support!

New SSMHC Executive 

We are pleased to announce that Jason Cole has become our new Chair.   Jason has been the Vice-Chair of the Committee since inception.  We also have new faces in various roles on the executive as identified here.

The Save South Muskoka Hospital Committee (SSMHC) was formed to support the efforts of our doctors and the community in response to MAHC’s Made in Muskoka hospital plan as announced in January 2024. 

While the local doctors have accepted a recent adaptation of the Made in Muskoka plan as satisfactory to meet basic acute care needs at a future South Muskoka site, the local doctors continue to encourage ongoing dialog and changes at the provincial level.   And it is clear that there remains significant opposition in the community to the Made in Muskoka plan for many good reasons, as we recently identified in our position statement of October 18.  

Our committee has determined that it is imperative to continue our efforts on behalf of the community and all healthcare professionals with informed and respectful dialogue to arrive at an equitable hospital plan, which, in our view, continues to be modelled on the Care Close to Home V2 with 60 acute care beds at the future South Muskoka site.

SSMHC continues to advocate for the adoption of a minimum of 60 acute care beds at the future South Muskoka Hospital.  This was identified in the Care Close to Home (V2) model produced in August 2024 by the local physicians.  SSMHC performed an analysis on this model and deemed it acceptable to meet the healthcare needs of the community. 

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Thank you for your ongoing support!

 

Please provide feedback on this newsletter by email:  ssmh@ssmh.ca