Bob Saracino is rallying the troops for a battle against the Niagara Health System.

The regional councillor will not give up his hospital without a fight. Last week the NHS announced its hospital improvement plan, which included recommendations to remove emergency and surgical services from Port Colborne General and Fort Erie's Douglas Memorial hospitals. The health system was ordered to come up with the plan by the Local Health Integration Network.

Emergency services will be temporarily replaced with 14-hour prompt care before being eliminated altogether.

"Essentially, Port Colborne Hospital won't be a hospital under their plan," a miffed Saracino said. "Fort Erie and Port Colborne have been clobbered."

This won't be the first time Saracino has waged a war against the hospital's governing body. In 1998, Port Colborne General Hospital was saved by the province's implementation of the rural health-care framework. Under the legislation, residents of rural communities, which both Port Colborne and Fort Erie were classified as, were ensured access to emergency care.

Saracino plans to use the legislation against the NHS as part of his battle plan.

"I firmly challenge the NHS on this," Saracino said. "I will do everything possible to ensure these critical services remain in Port Colborne."

When Port Colborne General opened in 1955, it was a full functioning hospital with emergency services, surgical and operating rooms, a maternity ward and other core services. Slowly, the services have been "stripped" from the hospital, Saracino said.

Before the NHS took over six of the region's hospitals, Port Colborne General was governed by a hospital commission board. Saracino was a member of the board for 17 years.

"We always operated in the black," he said. "The NHS took over and that's when the grief hit us."

Saracino has dug up his "we need our hospital" sweater which he wore in 1998 when the NHS threatened the closure of the hospital.

"We're at war with the NHS," Saracino said. "We once had a hospital we could boast as the best in the region. Over the years the NHS has stripped it down to subsidize service in other areas. No more."

CEO Debbie Sevenpifer said she is unsure when the prompt care plan will come into play. The LHIN will make a decision on the plan in the fall.

Decisions on other support services, such as increased paramedic coverage, have yet to be made, but will be in place before reducing emergency service by 10 hours.

"It won't happen overnight," she said. "We are not going to be removing any services until we can ensure we will be able to do so safely."

Under the plan, Port Colborne General will become a "centre of excellence" for diabetes care planning for all of Niagara. The constant care unit will not be reopened.

Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey said learning of the service cuts was like "being hit with a two-by-four." He said the health system has always assured him emergency services will be maintained in Port Colborne.

"I expect to be respected," said a "livid" Badawey. "This is unacceptable. We were down this road in '97, '98, 2001 and 2002. Here we go again."

Like Saracino, Badawey isn't ready to give up on the hospital and declared emergency services as being the city's No. 1 priority.

"If they want a fight, they're going to get a fight," said the mayor. "We, in Port Colborne, are fully prepared to go to battle with the NHS and LHIN over this.

"I will not lay down and let this happen. I will eat, sleep and breathe this issue until it's resolved."

He compared the closure of 24-hour emergency care to closing down the police station or fire department.

CEO Debbie Sevenpifer justified the closure at an announcement last week by stating the bulk of the visits to the emergency department aren't urgent, and in most cases, patients can wait until the morning to see a doctor.

"This is a vision for Niagara, and we're saying that the current model is not sustainable. Part of the vision for Niagara is that over 90 per cent of residents will be within 30 minutes of a hospital and 30 minutes to a centre of excellence. That's an acceptable standard level of access throughout the province," she said.

"Are there fires every night?" Badawey said in an interview. "If not, does that mean we should close the fire station."

While residents of Port Colborne and Wainfleet are losing a valued service, Badawey fears the removal of core services will negatively impact development and physician recruitment efforts in Port Colborne.

"It's going to affect everything we do in Port Colborne," he said. "Can't they just leave us the heck alone and provide us with the services we expect."

Wainfleet Mayor Barb Henderson said residents need to be assured they will have access to health care, and in some cases that means 24-hour emergency services.

"This means that all three communities along the Lake Erie shoreline have no emergency services," she said. "And that's a big concern."

Henderson said there needs to be an emergency room along the shoreline due to the high number of seasonal residents Fort Erie, Port Colborne and Wainfleet take in each summer. She said those residents will be in need of emergency care as they would have no access to a family doctor.

"And in some cases Welland is too far," she said.