{"id":82327,"date":"2022-02-16T14:27:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T19:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=82327"},"modified":"2022-02-16T16:34:41","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T21:34:41","slug":"andre-fortin-tables-petition-to-re-open-pontiac-hospitals-obstetrics-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/andre-fortin-tables-petition-to-re-open-pontiac-hospitals-obstetrics-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"Andr\u00e9 Fortin tables petition to re-open Pontiac Hospital\u2019s obstetrics unit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Pontiac MNA Andr\u00e9 Fortin filed a petition created by local residents demanding the return of obstetrics services to the Pontiac Hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The department was closed in February, 2020, due to a lack of nursing staff, with a tentative timeline of six months to re-open. Just weeks later, the first wave of the pandemic landed in the province and the \u201ctemporary closure\u201d has now lasted almost two years.<\/p>\n<p>The petition was spearheaded by the Pontiac Women\u2019s Institute, and was delivered to businesses and town halls across the region for a five-week period late last year, garnering a total of 1,050 signatures. Bringing it up the in the National Assembly allowed Fortin <a href=\"https:\/\/fb.watch\/bd1lDUf8GR\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to engage<\/a> with associate minister of health Lionel Carmant on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking later in the week, Fortin said that he brought the issue to the attention of the government because there doesn't seem to be a plan from regional health authority CISSSO to return the service to the area.<\/p>\n<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-82327-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-obs-petition.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-obs-petition.mp3\">https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-obs-petition.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>Fortin said that Carmant told him the Outaouais was next on the list for accelerated obstetrics training, but added that without an increase in pay for nurses in order to compete with neighboring Ontario, the situation wouldn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what he would say to people that have lost, or are losing hope that obstetrics services would ever return to the hospital, Fortin said \u201cthe day government tells you that it\u2019s not happening anymore is the day you lose hope.\u201d He noted that he and other members of the community were doing their best to keep the issue on the government\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-82327-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-losing-hope.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-losing-hope.mp3\">https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Clip-Andre-Fortin-losing-hope.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p><strong>The full interview with Fortin is available below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Pontiac MNA Andr\u00e9 Fortin filed a petition created by local residents demanding the return of obstetrics services to the Pontiac Hospital. The department was closed in February, 2020, due to a lack of nursing staff, with a tentative timeline of six months to re-open. Just weeks later, the first wave of the pandemic&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":68048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[223,225],"tags":[4305,10792,9344,4225],"radio":[239],"origine":[274,258,260],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82327"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=82327"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=82327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}