New citizens' group enters mega-hospital site debate

A group of citizens have banded together to voice their support for the chosen site of Windsor's controversial mega-hospital project, which would see the city's two existing acute care hospitals shut down in favour of building a new facility near the airport on County Road 42.

"42 Forward — Our New Hospital" is comprised of a core of eight people that spokesperson Joe McParland affectionately calls a group of "misfits."

On Monday, the group announced the launch of a petition that will eventually be delivered to the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

"We want to make sure that the voice of the silent majority in Windsor is being heard at Queen's Park with respect to the [County Road] 42 hospital site," he said. "We've been too quiet, and there have been other groups out there that have been louder than us."

McParland dismissed concerns that the mega-hospital's chosen location — currently a farmer's field — is less accessible than the current acute care hospitals on Ouellette Avenue and Lens Avenue.

"Whether we agree with it or not, Windsor's not that big, it's not going to matter if it's three or four kilometres this way or that way," he said. "We want to make sure that we proceed with that, and that the dollars follow so we can get into the planning."

McParland added that the area south of the airport was slated to be developed eventually, and that the hospital could be an "anchor" for that development.

CAMPP welcomes debate

Philippa von Ziegenweidt, a spokesperson for Citizens for an Accountable Mega Hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) — the citizens' group that is appealing the city's zoning of the County Road 42 site at the provincial Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) next month — said she welcomed the formation of the new group.

"We've always been interested in debates and the community discussion," she said. "I'm a little bit surprised, honestly, that [42 Forward formed] so soon before the LPAT tribunal ... that's quite interesting."

Von Ziegenweidt stressed that her group strongly supports a new hospital, but that it needs to be "responsibly located."

"We recognize that people who live outside Windsor have a right to accessible healthcare, but it's not responsible to achieve that by taking it away from people who have good access to it now," she said.

"And to be using farmland ... when we have so much brownfield land is just not a responsible decision."