I am the Chief of Surgery at the Douglas Memorial Hospital. I would like to clarify for the people of Fort Erie what they stand to lose if our outpatient surgery department is closed:

Gynecology - Dr. M. Okon (ie. D & C's and exploratory surgery, all minor gynecological procedures)

General Surgery - Dr. Kapijimpamga (ie: screening and therapeutic colonoscopy, breast biopsy)

Ophthalmology - Dr. Teal (Cataract, strabismus, glaucoma and ocular plastic surgery)

Orthopedic surgery - Dr. Ansari and Dr. J. Rakem (ie. arthoscopies of the knee, carpal tunnel repairs, bunnons, etc.)

Urology - Dr. Mazmanian and Dr. Reddy (ie: cystoscopies, vasectomies, circumcision, urinary tract dilations,etc.)

Dentistry - Dr. Chow (ie. Wisdom teeth and complicated dental extractions)

This is just a partial list of the common procedures done as outpatient surgery at the Fort Erie hospital.

In addition to the surgery done in the mornings, all these surgeons run outpatient clinics in the afternoon in the emergency department at the Douglas Hospital. The family doctors send the people of Fort Erie to the appropriate clinics to receive non-emergency diagnosis and care.

If major surgery is required, it is done at one of the larger centres, but the patients return for their after-care to the Fort Erie clinics.

If outpatient surgery is all that is required, the problem can be taken care of locally at the Douglas Hospital.

With no surgery here and no emergency department, the possibility of retaining any of these clinics is next to zero.

In terms of my own specialty, ophthalmology, if we are to have no operating facility and no emergency room in Fort Erie, the possibility of recruiting another ophthalmologist here to take over medical eye care for our citizens when I retire is also in the next-to-zero category.

The concepts of who will staff and who will finance "primary care centres" and "community health centres" are fuzzy at best. The concept of what the entities are is equally fuzzy.

On the other hand, what the citizens will lose if our outpatient surgery is closed is crystal clear.

The services will be available in Welland, it is true. The time, effort, loss of wages and cost of travel, including gasoline cost, will not be on the shoulders of the NHS nor the government.

It will involve thousands of local people who must some how manage all that is involved on their own.

I write this to make sure everyone in our community clearly understands what they will lose when surgery disappears forever at the Douglas.

Your local hospital is like your home. When you are in need and you go there, you hope they will take you in. Think again and think carefully.

Patricia K. Teal, MD

Eye Physician and Surgeon