03/05/2012

Vaughan health care group strikes back at MPP Sorbara

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Vaughan health care group strikes back at MPP Sorbara

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Vaughan MPP Greg Sorbara is calling on the city to take back control of the land it has agreed to hand over to the Vaughan Health Campus of Care. News Catagories If you have a minute to spare, please contact your MPP I dont want the attention of our community to be diverted away from our determination to get using our easy to use form asking they allow the a hospital approved for our community and get the resources needed to build it, he told The Ombudsman the power to investigate Ontario's publicly Citizen in an interview. At the same time, I dont think that the city of Vaughan is exercising Ontario Ombudsman funded institutions sufficient oversight and responsibility for the 47 acres of land that will not be required for Childrens Aid Societies by clicking here. hospital use. Colleges & Universities The Vaughan Health Campus of Care and the Vaughan Health Care Foundation have Hospitals & Long-Term Care countered Mr. Sorbaras letter with a strongly worded, five-page letter addressing the issues Municipalities raised by Mr. Sorbara and challenging some of his assertions. School Boards The letter, which was sent to Mr. Bevilacqua, is signed by Michael DeGasperis and Sam Police Ciccolini, who is also chairperson of the Vaughan Health Care Foundation. Events Were obviously very surprised, disappointed and quite disgusted at the tone and the content of Sorbaras letter to the mayor, Mr. DeGasperis said in an interview. Sorbaras letter is damaging. Its damaging to the VHCC and to establishing additional health services in Latest News Vaughan to meet the immediate needs of the community. So all we can say is that we hope that Sorbara will cease to engage in activity that could threaten the publics confidence in the work of our volunteers and the city to make our health care dreams for the citizens a reality. Chris Mazzas girlfriend glided into VP The organizations allege Mr. Sorbaras criticisms are politically motivated. job at ORNGE It is a thinly veiled attempt to shore up his partys sagging electoral prospects in this Minister admires focus on fixing ER riding. There is no other logical explanation for the language, tenor, tone and content of MPP Minister threatens to roll back fees Sorbaras letter. It suggests controversy where none exists, the letter from the organizations Algoma U tuition hike unwarranted, states student union contends In fact, Mr. DeGasperis said, many of Mr. Sorbaras statements are way off base. Porter: Tragic Katelynn Sampson was He pointed out city representatives and members of the campus of care group have been failed by Ontario social safety net working together to make some changes to the land deal and restructure the organization. Weve been in discussions for the last couple of months with the city to revise the contribution agreement because we are aware that it has to be revised, the landscape has changed somewhat, Mr. DeGasperis said. We want to engage the city more into the Local Discussion Groups campus of care initiatives, which includes more representation on the board and more transparency and accountability. City staff is preparing a report on the land deal, which is expected to be released in the fall. Durham Push for MUSH According to Mr. DeGasperis, many of the projects being planned for the hospital lands do Kingston Push for MUSH not require Ministry of Health approval to go ahead, rendering Mr. Sorbaras argument about Sudbury / Nickel Belt Push for MUSH the ministry moot. As for restructuring the foundation, the board recently decided not to break from the Vaughan Health Campus of Care. Donations to the VHCF are also alive and well. There is no concern in the philanthropic community whatsoever about VHCF or the VHCC, the letter states. It points out that in addition to raising funds for the hospital, the foundation also has a mandate to raise money for the Vaughan Community Health Centre, Vaughan Seniors Care Services and all future parts of the Vaughan Health Care Services Group. Mr. DeGasperis said he met with city representatives this week and is not concerned it will side with Mr. Sorbara. The campus of care is responsible for the entire development of 87 acres. Within the 87 acres, the nucleus is the hospital. But if the hospital doesnt get the approval to go ahead by the province then were still proceeding, he said. Mr. Sorbara, a heavyweight in the ruling Ontario Liberal government, fired off a letter to Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua Friday with copies sent to several people including members of council, York Central president and CEO Altaf Stationwala, Health Minister Deb Matthews, as well as representatives of Vaughan Health Campus of Care (VHCC) and Vaughan Health Care Foundation (VHCF), a non-profit organization established by the city in 2004 to raise money to build a hospital. In the letter, he provides an update on the hospital approval process and outlines his concerns about the Vaughan Health Campus of Care (VHCC) as well as the foundation. One of the issues raised by Mr. Sorbara is that the campus of care still has a role in planning what will be built on a portion of the 87-acre property at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street that the city purchased to build a hospital. Now that the land for the hospital has been assigned to (York Central Hospital), I think those surplus lands ought to be under the jurisdiction of the city and not a non-profit organization with a closed board, he said. The city put up $80 million in 2009 to buy and develop land for a health care campus comprised of a hospital and a range of ancillary health services that could include a longIf you would like help creating a local group, please send us an email.

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Vaughan health care group strikes back at MPP Sorbara

term care facility, laboratories, teaching and training centres, pharmacies, medical retail operations, a research facility and possibly a medical school. Under an agreement struck at the time, ownership of the property was to be transferred to Vaughan Health Campus of Care when the project reached the third stage of the five-stage provincial approval process. The executive of the campus of care group is made up of Michael DeGasperis, who is chairperson, vice-chairperson Lou Greenbaum, secretary Quinto Annibale and treasurer Robert Bradbury. In addition, well-known local businessman Sam Ciccolini, Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua and West Woodbridge Councillor Tony Carella, among others, act as directors. When the two-year-old land deal was negotiated, Vaughan Health Campus of Care was spearheading the effort to bring a hospital to the city. A few months later, however, the province put York Central Hospital in charge. That led to a collaboration agreement between York Central and the campus of care group. The hospital board was restructured to reflect the new partnership. The city has since agreed to hand over 40 acres of the property to York Central for the future hospital. Meanwhile, Vaughan Health Campus of Care retained responsibility for planning ancillary health services for the remaining 47 acres. The organization is in the process of putting together a plan for what will be housed on the land. Dubbed the life sciences cluster, the project received a $10-million grant from the federal government earlier this year, announced with great fanfare by Vaughan Conservative MP Julian Fantino. It is simply inconceivable that the VHCC should have care and control of these lands in the absence of any health-related mandate regarding the hospital, Mr. Sorbara wrote in his twopage letter. At a minimum, I believe the city should undertake its own independent planning and economic study to determine the best and most appropriate use for the lands. Mr. Sorbara said the Health Ministry isnt interested, at this point, in projects like the one being pursued by the campus of care group. We have a bio-sciences cluster right down across from Queens Park called MaRS, Medical and Related Sciences, and phase two of that has been put on hold because of the lack of demand, he said. So, Im simply saying that health and its resources are not sufficient right now to entertain auxiliary ambitions on that land and certainly not until well after the hospital is built and running and thats going to be some time yet. When asked whether Health Minister Deb Matthews shares Mr. Sorbaras perspective, a spokesperson from her office said those types of projects dont fall within the ministrys mandate. We dont provide capital funding to private health care projects like that, our mandate is to work with the hospitals to develop plans for their proposed capital projects, so we wouldnt have anything to say specifically on the bio-sciences question, associate press secretary Paris Meilleur said. Mr. Sorbara also raised concerns about a lack of transparency at the Vaughan Health Campus of Care. He said so long as the campus of care group is involved with planning health care services on land purchased with taxpayers dollars, the city should insist on changes to the organizations governance model. That includes requiring that the board chairperson be a council member and the majority of board members be council members or people selected by the city. This is not a criticism of (Vaughan Health Campus of Care), this is a criticism of the structure, he said. I just dont think that you turn over to a non-profit organization with a closed board, $40-million worth of land and hope that they do the right thing with it. Mr. Sorbaras other concern was the close link between the Vaughan Health Campus of Care and the Vaughan Health Care Foundation. He said people are telling him they will not donate to the foundation so long as its connected to the campus of care. The current reporting structure is that the Vaughan Health Care Foundation reports to the Vaughan Health Campus of Care. I dont think that relationship is a particularly healthy one, he said. The fact is that the best practices in hospital foundation structures is that they not be associated with any other organization. The foundation has a huge job on its hands. It has to have a structure and a reporting relationship that ensures that every penny that goes to the foundation is set aside for the hospital. Mayor Bevilacqua, in an interview with The Citizen, said council has been aware of some of the issues brought forward by Mr. Sorbara for a while now and has been working toward resolving them. These were raised in council a number of months ago and people are working to address the issue, but lets keep an eye on the ball. And the eye on the ball is when will the province announce funding so the hospital can be built? I think the residents of Vaughan deserve it, he said. I will give it (the letter) the attention it deserves and council will give it the attention it deserves, and I will await peoples response to this letter as well. And we, collectively as a council, will also be responding to Mr. Sorbaras statement. But I really want the MPP for the area (Mr. Sorbara) to really focus his energies on getting funding for the hospital, because, quite frankly, people have been very, very patient in waiting for this announcement, Mr. Bevilacqua added. When pressed about whether he felt the campus of care group should continue to exist and have control of the lands, Mr. Bevilacqua responded that the VHCC exists already, its not that they should continue to exist, they exist. They are part-and-parcel of discussions that are taking place now and everybody needs to accommodate each other so that we can get to the conclusion that we need to get to, and that is a hospital in Vaughan. Vote View Results

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Vaughan health care group strikes back at MPP Sorbara

Article source: http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1036912--vaughan-health-care-groupstrikes-back-at-mpp-sorbara

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