Five solutions to Ottawa’s healthcare crisis

Good morning!

I wanted to ask something a bit different this morning. In September, I’m going to be taking part in the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope for my stepmother Nancy, who was diagnosed with this horrible disease mid-pandemic. It’s hard to describe how profoundly a diagnosis like this affects someone and their whole family made all the worse by how the disease and its treatment compromise your immune system.

It’s like the earth opens up beneath one’s feet, swallowing everything all at once. Here’s Nancy telling a little bit of her story here.

Part of participating in the Walk of Hope is raising money for Ovarian Cancer Canada, the foundation funds research, raises awareness, and provides support and community for people who have been diagnosed with this horrible disease.

So, if you’ve got a few bucks to give to a good cause, I’d be very grateful. I know Nancy would, too.

You can find a link to the Ovarian Cancer Canada donation website here.

With my thanks, let’s get to the newsletter.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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Weather Report

Monday: 27 🌡️ 16 | ⛈

Tuesday: 21 🌡️ 15 | 🌧

Wednesday: 25 🌡️ 14 | ☁

Ottawa-area emergency rooms closed over the weekend

What happened: Two emergency rooms closed over the weekend. In the east end, the Monfort Hospital closed overnight Saturday and Sunday because there were not enough nurses, CTV reported. The hospital remained open for ambulances.

The Carleton Place Hospital closed its ER because of staffing issues for Saturday, according to CBC. Making things worse, the hospital air conditioning unit failed Sunday, the hottest day of the year so far, CTV reported.

It’s part of a wider problem in the health care system, which is seemingly collapsing after years of too much stress. The Ontario Nurses Association told CBC as many as 50 hospitals across the province had to close departments because of staffing issues.

• Dig deeper: To fix the nursing shortage, start with a little respect [Ottawa Citizen]

First-hand witness: One Kingston mother told CBC about her experience at the Kingston General Hospital. She and her three year old have had to spend 40 days over the last several months because of a gene condition that causes seizures. Vanessa Ivimey told the broadcaster she had started to give her child prescribed medications from their own supply because staff weren’t able to keep up with the dosing schedules.

At one point, she had to operate the oxygen machine herself when her daughter began to turn blue during a seizure and no one responded to the buzzer. Ivimey told CBC she doesn’t blame the staff for the issues, but the system as a whole.

Possible solutions: Three unions which represent more than 120,000 front-line healthcare workers put out a five-point plan they say would help fix the crisis:

• Reduce workloads, provide mental-health support, invest in making hospitals safer for staff and patients, offer full-time employment, and on-site childcare;

• Increase wages and repeal Bill 124, which caps raises at one percent;

• Give financial incentives to discourage retirements and encourage hiring;

• Re-recruit the trained healthcare staff who have left the industry;

• Expand college and university healthcare programs, wave tuition, and provide other financial incentives.

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Transit woes continue throughout town

Cancelled buses: Over 1,000 bus trips were cancelled last week and into the weekend as a staffing crisis continued. Between two and four percent of bus trips were cancelled during the week, CBC reported.

Service is expected to continue to suffer this week because of the knock-on effects of the LRT lightning damage, which caused a big increase in overtime; as well as high sick-leave absences and normal summer vacations.

CTV counted the number of cancelled trips on the OC Transpo Live Twitter account, which gives live service alerts throughout the day:

• 324 trips cancelled Wednesday;

• 324 trips cancelled Thursday;

• 200 trips cancelled Friday;

• 210 trips cancelled Saturday;

• Sunday, when service is reduced, only about a dozen were cancelled by midday.

Cuts to blame: Coun. Catherine McKenney, who is running for mayor, told CFRA the problem stems from a 2011 decision to “optimize” service by eliminating 100 buses and driver positions. “We've got an extreme shortage of drivers, buses — we just don't have any extra capacity in the system, anything goes wrong and your bus doesn't show up,” McKenney told the station.

LRT west extension delayed: More bad transit news, as the Stage 2 extension of the LRT in the west end will be delayed for up to a year, and is now only expected to be done in 2026, CTV reported. The city blamed supply issues and labour disputes for the delays. The eastern extension is still expected to be on time, and open in spring 2024.

New opening: Green Fresh Supermarket

Green Fresh at 175 MacArthur Ave. opened on July 26 and the crowds are never-ending. It's good news for Ottawans who love to cook a broad range of Asian cuisines but don’t want to spend a lot on gas to get quality ingredients. We now have a top-flight destination within downtown Ottawa.

If you love mangosteen fruit, Green Fresh has it along with the kinds of prices you find only in Toronto, at $5.99 a pound. Brilliant.

There’s a fresh seafood counter, a broad range of Asian and Caribbean fruit and vegetables, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Caribbean and Filipino seasonings and a broad selection of meats.

Exciting for me are the frozen, sashimi grade Hokkaido scallops ($12.99 for 227 grams) and the frozen Egyptian freshwater crawfish ($12.99 a pound). I enjoy crawfish but have not eaten them in years due to environmental concerns with their most common location. Now that these are available from Egypt, I feel a little more comfortable and look forward to enjoying these with drawn garlic butter.

Finally, there’s no reason to shop around. I find the prices here very reasonable and the large, bright and clean space makes for enjoyable shopping.

— Ralf Joneikies, food and drink editor

Have a food tip for Ralf? You can email him at [email protected]

Jobs around town

• Senior civil engineer at the National Capital Commission

• Program manager, citizen services at the City of Ottawa

• Team coordinator at the National Research Council

• General manager at Trades for Tomorrow

• Google Workspace account manager at Onix Networking Canada

Federal workers want to work at home: what does that mean for the city?

What happened: The federal public service is having difficulties convincing its staff to come back into the office. A majority of federal workers have told their unions they prefer working from home, CBC reported.

This could have long-term effects for downtown, where businesses have long relied on federal workers to stay afloat.

New thinking: The Downtown Ottawa Revitalization Task Force was formed last month to bring a new mode of thinking about the city’s core, the Ottawa Citizen reported. The group includes politicians, housing advocates, for- and not-for-profit housing developers, Indigenous leaders, business and tourism representatives. On the table is looking at ways to convert unused office space to housing. The task force is set to begin meeting this month.

What it means: City planners can no longer count on a permanent federal workforce downtown. It has huge implications for everything about life downtown, but will also impact transit. OC Transpo is designed more as a commuter network, than a true way to get around the city. That's going to need to change if the biggest group of commuters stay home.

Stories you might have missed

Senegal diplomat allegedly beaten by police: The Senegalese government is protesting after they say police “exercised humiliating physical and moral violence” against a diplomat posted to Canada. They accuse officers, since identified as the Gatineau Police Service, of beating the diplomat in her own home to the point she needed to go to the hospital. Gatineau police say they subdued and arrested someone who was violent toward police. [CBC]

Vanier cenotaph vandalized: In what may have been a fit of grief, someone wrote “RIP Alexis” on the memorial to Vanier’s war dead at the Eastview City Cenotaph. It’s believed Alexis is the woman who was killed by a driver in July in the neighbourhood. The local Legion decried the message, saying the monument is sacred. The writing, written in permanent marker, was removed Friday. [CBC]

Firefighters save man trapped in bread machine: A man in his 20s who had his hand trapped in an industrial bread machine was saved by firefighters, who had to take the machine apart piece by piece for an hour to get him free. The man was taken to hospital in stable condition with extensive injuries to his hands and fingers. [Ottawa Citizen]

One dead in three-motorcycle crash: Two people were injured and a third died after three motorcycles crashed west of Pembroke. The name of the person who died was not released as police were notifying their next of kin. [CBC]

417 closure: Thursday at 8 pm the Queensway will be closed in both directions between the Metcalfe, and Carling/Kirkwood exits for the Booth Street bridge replacement. It is expected to open next Monday at 6 am.

Secret WWII codebreakers honoured: A plaque was unveiled at the site of a top-secret 1940s code-breaking site in Sandy Hill this weekend. The Examination Unit operated out of a mansion, which has since been torn down, next door to Laurier House. Sylvia Gellman, 101 years old, worked at the bureau and was on hand for the plaque's unveiling. [CBC]

Community highlights

• Congrats to a Barrhaven couple who got engaged on the weekend in the ByWard Market after a flash-mob dance turned into a proposal. [CTV]

• World-class puppeteers. Kids crafts. A puppet parade. It’s where everyone is going this weekend. But hurry, tickets to Puppets Up! are going fast. Purchase one today.*

• The Redblacks returned to their losing ways on Friday, falling 17-3 to the Calgary Stampeders. [The Canadian Press]

• Love ice cream? You could win $100 to La Cigale. Enter the giveaway today.

• Need to go to the washroom downtown? GottaGo Ottawa has a map of more than 20 public toilets you may not know exist.

• Atlético Ottawa moved to third in the standings with a 3-1 win over FC Edmonton in a wet and wild match this weekend.

• Please tie down things on your car, unlike this driver who secured a mattress and box spring to their SUV with one rope. [CTV]

• The Wolfe Island Ferry in Kingston was able to stay open after a qualified crew member was found at the last minute.

• A bell that went missing after the derecho damaged a western Quebec was mysteriously returned. [CBC]

Today's top photo

Today’s photo comes courtesy of P.A. Richer, who sends us this great shot of the William Commanda Bridge at night.

Have some nice photos from around the city? Send them in! We’re always looking to run reader photos.

Ottawa Quiz

The Monfort Hospital had to close its ER over the weekend. Who was the woman, who recently passed away, who led the campaign to save the hospital in the 1990s?

Reply with your name, and if you get it right, you'll get a shout out in the next newsletter!

Latest COVID stats

Note: Ottawa Public Health is now only updating COVID stats twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Because of the Lookout’s publishing schedule, this means the numbers here may be out of date. For the most recent stats, see the OPH COVID Dashboard.

• Active Cases: 1,027

• Total deaths: 851

• Ottawans In Hospital: 30

• Ottawans In ICU: 3

• Acute Beds Occupied: 95%

• ICU Beds Occupied: 73%

• ICU Ventilator Beds Occupied: 23%

Previous Lookout editions

• Why home sales dropped 35 percent in July - read more 

• Major closures to the 417 and LRT this month - read more 

• aramedic service under heavy strain - read more 

• LRT expected to return Friday - read more 

• Wheel hub problems take LRT out of service - read more