The NDP's Windsor West candidate is saying there would be more local healthcare beds under in an NDP government.
Incumbent Lisa Gretzky announced that the party's southwestern Ontario platform would include opening 89 beds at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, which the NDP said the majority Liberal government left empty. Gretzky noted these beds would not only reduce wait times for treatment at local hospitals but also help address the need for more resources in mental health care.
Gretzky announced the plan in front of the west Windsor hospital Friday. Accompanying her was Andrea Corby, the parent of a 15-year-old boy who is getting treatment at a private, for-profit facility in Northern Ontario for anger and mental health issues.
Corby said for her son to get the help he needs, she had to re-mortgage her home, and even that covered just 30% of the total cost of her son's nine-month program. She said turning to a private facility in another part of the province was necessary because she had been turned away by local agencies due to overcrowding and long wait lists.
"To get into Maryvale [Windsor's youth mental health treatment centre], just to speak with the psychiatrist, is at least a four-month wait list," said Corby. "The intake packages to get on that wait list are enormous. They require a ton of work and a ton of cooperation from the child you're trying to help, which when they're in that state they are not cooperative."
Corby said the process to help her son has been exhausting and emotionally draining.
"I have spent hundreds of hours reaching out to numerous agencies, including the police, CAS [Children's Aid Society], CAM-H [Centre for Addiction and Mental Health], Service Ontario, guidance counsellors at my son's school, and social workers to name a few. No funding was available for me and my family."
Corby has had to start a GoFundMe page to help with the costs.
Gretzky also touched on previous NDP commitments on health care, including the hiring of over 2,200 mental health professionals province-wide, along with 400 in the high schools.
Meanwhile, the Liberals have pledged to spend $2.1-billion over the next four years to improve access to mental health services. The Progressive Conservatives have promised to spend $1.9-billion if they are elected June 7, over a ten-year period.
