We agree: The status quo is not an option!

Local leaders promote inspiring messages about combatting climate change and improving community health. Yet, with the new hospital location, they are openly planning for a more car-dependent future.

You may have seen the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's (WECHU) new social media campaign. It encourages walking, biking and public transit. These activities positively impact both personal and community health, and the climate. WECHU operates under the guidance of the Board of Health. Its Chair is Gary McNamara, who is also the Mayor of Tecumseh and the Warden of Essex County.

Both the City of Windsor and Essex County declared climate emergencies in 2019. On October 2, 2020, Mayor McNamara authored a guest column in the Windsor Star about the urgency to tackle climate change.  McNamara wrote: "the status quo is not an option. We have to weigh the costs of moving forward against the costs of doing nothing. The cost of doing nothing could be catastrophic." Yet his progressive language completely contradicts his unbridled vocal support for what may be the single worst planning decision in Windsor-Essex history: locating the region's only full service acute care hospital on an undeveloped rural site in Sandwich South, adjacent to Windsor Airport. This location is not within walking distance of where anybody lives today or in the foreseeable future. The area is explicitly designated for low density development. Locating the new hospital in Sandwich South will force residents to become even more car dependent than they are today. In another perplexing public display of cognitive dissonance, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who championed Windsor's climate emergency and Active Transportation Master Plan, stated at the November 9, 2020 City Council meeting:

"I can assure you, you're not going to solve climate change in the City of Windsor by not building a hospital. Not even quite sure I understand the argument...Most people are going to drive to a hospital. They will not ride their bike, if they need hospital care."

Mayor Dilkens may have a point when it comes to the sickest of patients, especially those who arrive by ambulance. But many people who travel to the hospital are perfectly capable of using active transportation, and may even prefer it. In addition to the many visitors and volunteers, the single largest group of people travelling to and from the hospital are the 5,000+ workers who staff it every day of the week, 365 days a year. That's without even including the numerous health-related businesses (doctors' offices, pharmacies, labs, restaurants) and their employees, located in the vicinity of Windsor Regional Hospital's (WRH) two current campuses situated in well-established neighborhoods. What will happen when these campuses are shuttered if the new rural site hospital is built? Mayor Dilkens also seems to have overlooked how active transportation was supposedly integral to the site selection for the new hospital, further proving how deeply flawed the hospital site selection process was. How many local healthcare workers and hospital support staff live within walking distance of their place of work today? How many patients go to their medical appointments by public transit? Has WRH ever gathered this information? Mayor Dilkens' statement is actually quite worrisome. Why should the public trust our elected leadership to build - and operate - the kind of active transportation network outlined in Active Transportation Master Plan to achieve the ambitious walking, cycling and public transit mode share targets approved by the City of Windsor in 2019?

With the recent loss of the third shift from the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Windsor Assembly Plant, WRH has become the region's single largest employer. And yet, disappointingly, there's little evidence of any environmental leadership (or management interest) in this subject at WRH. There is no environmental language in the hospital's Mission, Vision or Values statement. A search on the WRH website for "climate change" brings up advice on ostomy care; a search for "environment" delivers only a handful of news stories, among them a 2015 Earth Day initiative to replace the light bulbs at the WRH Ouellette Campus, and a more recent story about the installation of water bottle filling stations. We have every right to expect outstanding health and climate leadership from those entrusted with the care of our physical and community health. However, we have the right to expect more than just lip service, especially from our elected officials. Every Windsor-Essex resident has the right to expect consistency between what is written into public policies to guide decision makers, and the decisions our elected officials make. When will this wisdom be applied to the $2 billion+ hospital project? We must demand better.

Our fundraising campaign continues Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so generously to our GoFundMe campaign launched in February 2019. Together, you have helped us raise $93,460 to keep keep healthcare where people live. ​However, we are still short of our fundraising needs -- money required to pay our ongoing legal costs. There are several ways to support our legal campaign. We accept cheques and etransfers, or you can donate to our GoFundMe.

In their own words: Members of our community comment on the issues this week

"While we celebrate one new facility for Essex County, London has University, Victoria, St. Josephs, Parkwood and Children’s Hospitals, all within the city. The devil is in the details. Sadly, we’ve grown to feel that we don’t deserve any better."

"When I addressed council in 2015, I asked where the impact study was."

“The decision to develop a 60-acre greenfield site at a substantial distance from the city is environmentally irresponsible, short-sighted and not something any progressive city of the 21st century should be striving toward.”

“There was ZERO consultation by the city with regard to the hospital location. Not even at the city council level. Mayor Drew Dilkens made it very clear that the city had no part in deciding where the hospital was to be located. Only after the proposed site was chosen did the city decide to raise a voice...one that was completely onside (not withholding) exuberance and not willing to address a single concern tabled.”

"I think for a lot of people the actual plan (to tear down the current facilities) is too absurd to believe up front. The planners are counting on their continuing ignorance."

"How much economic damage is this going to do to the city's core? What infrastructure costs will Windsor tax payers be on the hook for in order to develop a new area on the outskirts? No one knows. Any attempts to find answers to these questions have been shut down. Why is that?"

"I want to write a letter to council titled “A Tale of Two Cities.” My sister lives in Erie, Pa., similar in size and population to Windsor. Erie has vibrant art museum, a maritime museum dedicated to nautical history on the Great Lakes, a two story nature center with a small theatre, labs where the local ecology is studied, and a gift shop. I could go on. Furthermore, all their major medical facilities are interconnected and located in the core of the city. When I told my sister about the proposed mega hospital site, she was astonished. It’s disheartening to see what other cities create for their constituents while Windsor residents have to settle for mediocre amenities that don’t excite or engage."

"This is yet another excellent newsletter laying out the issues, the contradictions, the deep problems in both decisions made by Dilkens and other councillors, and the depth of the scandalous way in which they conduct themselves in the face of evidence that challenges their very flawed logic. Thank you to CAMPP for continuing to engage the powers that be and the community on this critically important decision!!!"

Thank you for your many messages of support. Please continue to send us your comments and contribute to our fundraiser for legal expenses.

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