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3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,F ebruary 14,2019 insidehalton.com Foot & Health Clinic .com Farewell foot pain Our foot care starts with education. We treat all foot issues so you can live without pain & improve mobility. • Best Chiropodist / Clinic / Orthotics provider since 2004 • We put care & service first!  905 632 1414  728 Burloak (South of the QEW)905 632 1414 728 Burloak (South of the QEW) For a Free consultation call oakville: 905.842.2022 ToronTo: 416.644.3999 Denied Disabled Benefits? I canhelp. My teamof experienced lawyers can help youwith: •Disability Claims Short-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPPShort-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPP •Car accidents •Slip and Falls •Wrongful Dismissal Injured? injurY and emploYment law I don't get paid unless I getYoumoneY. oFFiCeS in oakville and ToronTo eMail: sspadafora@slspc.ca 1540 Cornwall Rd. Suite 205,Oakville • 905-844-0464 • oakvillefamilylawyer.ca Protectyour estate by ensuringyour Willsand PoWers ofattorneyare uPto date! Free ½ hour consultation and reduced rates for packages. visits and hospital readmissions were reduced, leading to a health- system savings of $1.7 million over two years. The LHINs, however, are not without their critics, who argue the LHINs are costly and ineffec- tive. During a news conference at Queen's Park on Dec. 4, the non- profit organization Concerned Ontario Doctors (COD) called on the Ontario government to elim- inate the LHINs. "Ontario has fewer family doc- tors than it does health-care bu- reaucrats," said Dr. Kulvinder Gill, COD president. "In Ontario, the LHINs were the start of our health-care night- mare, and as this health-care bu- reaucracy has ballooned, fund- ing to front-line patient care has suffered from detrimental cuts ... The very first step to addressing our health-care crisis is abolish- ing these useless and wasteful LHINs." Gill also said the LHINs have served only as something to shield governments from ac- countability whenever there is a health-care disaster. She said that, moving forward, the Ontario government needs to genuinely engage with the prov- ince's front-line doctors and nurses to find real and tangible solutions to health-care issues. LHINs have also been criti- cized in the past for spending mil- lions on consultants. The Ontario Health Coalition, which repre- sents more than 400 health-care stakeholder groups, has voiced concerns about the potential re- structuring of the LHINs into five or fewer larger entities that fea- ture even more bureaucracy and less transparency. "When Tim Hudak was PC party leader, their plan was to shut down the LHINs entirely. Today the rumoured plan is to keep the LHINs but make the re- gions ginormous. The question is what part of the existing LHINs does Ford intend to keep," said Natalie Mehra, executive direc- tor of the Ontario Health Coali- tion. "The LHINs were established as restructuring entities pushing amalgamations and mergers. If this continues, only on the mas- sive scale rumoured, it will be devastating to local hospital ser- vices and other local health-care services." Mehra said the coalition would also object to any plan to privatize the remaining public home-care services. She argued there has been no public consultation on these ma- jor changes and called on the gov- ernment to make policy decisions with proper public consultation and meaningful input. The Doug Ford government has yet to come out and say exactly what the fate of the LHINs will be. When InsideHalton reached out to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and asked about the LHINs, it received the follow- ing response from Health Minis- ter Christine Elliott: "For 15 years, the Liberal gov- ernment failed to develop a com- prehensive health-care strategy, and we were left with a fractured health-care system that is built for bureaucracy and not for pa- tients. Our government for the people was elected to put the pa- tient at the centre of a sustainable health-care system built for the future. We are committed to that transformation," said Elliott. "Our government believes that everyone in Ontario de- serves to have access to the ser- vices they need at home, in the community or at a hospital. That's why we're working with partners in health care to develop our long-term transformational health-care strategy. We will con- tinue to listen to patients, fami- lies and front-line providers, and we will create a health-care sys- tem that works for the people of Ontario." Elliott concluded by stating that while there continues to be an ongoing review of government agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the government's priority is to ensure the delivery of front-line care is supported and protected. NEWS Continued from page 2 THE QUESTION: WHAT WILL BE THE FATE OF THE MISSISSAUGA LHIN? THE ANSWER: OFFICIALLY, THE FORD GOVERNMENT WILL ONLY SAY IT IS COMMITTED TO TRANSFORMING ONTARIO'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM INTO A MORE SUSTAINABLE THAT PUTS THE PATIENT AT THE CENTRE. STORY BEHIND THE STORY We approached the Mississauga Halton LHIN, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and various other stakeholders to get their take on the future of the LHIN, what they would like to see happen and why. Sheridan College's first maga- zine dedicated to mental health and well-being, named Pause, was re- leased in January. More than 25 Sheridan students, two faculty members and 13 depart- ments collaborated to create Pause. The goal of the magazine is to amplify students' voices through the sharing of real stories about their experiences with mental health and wellness, to make stu- dents aware of the services avail- able on campus related to mental health, and to break down barriers of access to those services by foster- ing a greater sense of community. Pause was born out of the Sheri- dan chapter of Jack.org, a national mental health organization dedi- cated to empowering youth. Jack- .org Sheridan co-leads Ben Le- Blanc and Brittany Tapper spear- headed the creation of the maga- zine and were available to take questions from the community when they launched the magazine in January. SHERIDAN COLLEGE STUDENTS LAUNCH MENTAL HEALTH MAGAZINE