Mission accomplished for group fighting for Clinton ED
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
The sign outside Clinton Public Hospital (CPH) is finally relaying the message that Huron County residents had been anticipating for so long - after six years of reduced hours, Clinton’s emergency department is once again open 24 hours a day.
The return to full service marks the end of an extended temporary measure that was put in place back in 2019, when a shortage of nursing staff forced the hospital to scale back its emergency services. The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic further aggravated the staffing issue, and citizens began to fear that the temporary measure would become permanent. The push to return to 24-hour service involved co-operation between hospital leadership, government and local physicians. Grassroots advocacy groups also sprang up to remind leaders that the population of Clinton remained deeply invested in the issue.
On June 3, various contributors to the cause gathered outside the hospital to celebrate a successful mission. Dr. Maarten Bokhout may have retired from the hospital in 2022, but he continued to advocate for 24-hour emergency room service until the job was done. “The fun began in November of 2019,” he recollected. “There was a shortage of nursing staff - a serious shortage. A number of people who’d been working for years and years retired, and they just couldn’t cover it, so they shortened the hours. And it was a temporary measure. That’s what was indicated at a public meeting, when this was first discussed.”
When the closure dragged on, Bokhout moderated community discussions of the issue and organized citizens to rally support for the return to 24-hour service. He feels community input was one important part of a wide-ranging effort to make a return to service happen. “Our role as a little group was merely to keep it in the public eye,” he pointed out. “But the work to make this happen, to make the hours of operation go back to full-time, was the work of many people. I think this is a notable achievement, and it wouldn’t have happened without the support of many people, publicly and behind the scenes.”
Andrew Williams, president of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance, said staffing was the critical factor. “We made a commitment to our community when we reduced our hours - this was a nursing situation where we did not have enough nurses to comfortably keep the emergency department open 24 hours a day…. We said once we were back at a comfortable level, we would look to reopen, which is exactly what we committed to the community, and we’ve done that.”
Williams praised the hospital team and the broader regional network that helped make the reopening possible. “We have an outstanding team here. We always have, and we’re very fortunate. We also know what our limitations are in emergency departments like this. We have great relationships with other hospitals in the region, and EMS is a strong partner. The whole network works together…. It’s great to see that sign that says ‘open all hours’ now.”
For Huron County residents, the return of full-time emergency services provides much-needed peace of mind. After years of uncertainty, the community now knows that urgent care is available around the clock.