Access to healthcare emerged as a major area of concern at the Campbell’s Bay community focus group organized by the Connexions Resource Centre at AutonHomme Pontiac on Tuesday evening.

“We don’t have enough doctors around here, we need better healthcare,” said Paulette Lamothe, one of the session’s attendees.

Connexions is a non-profit organization that aims to link the English-speaking community of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services.

Its focus group on Tuesday was the third in a series being held across five different Pontiac communities to gather information about the needs, challenges, strengths and opportunities defining each.

“My wife has been diagnosed with pulmonary thrombosis and she doesn’t have continuity of care,” said Earl Greer, who moved to Campbell’s Bay with his wife two years ago and has been on a waitlist for a family doctor ever since.

“Without a [family] doctor, nobody’s looking after you. Nobody is responsible,” Greer said, explaining that his wife now depends on doctors in walk-in clinics.

“You see them once, he [the doctor] does what he thinks is the right thing in the moment, and the next time you go there’s no follow-up. And if you die, it’s nobody’s fault, because you didn’t have a [family] doctor. It’s horrible,” Greer said.

Manon Cronier retired to Campbell’s Bay in 2021 after 35 years as a registered nurse, 25 of which were spent working at various locations around the Pontiac.

She believes access to healthcare in the area will only become more problematic once the province’s recently passed healthcare reform legislation, Bill 15, comes into effect. Sshe fears the bill will further centralize care and limit local access to essential services.

“How bad is it going to get?” Cronier asked. “You can’t even have your baby in Pontiac anymore . . . There’s been so many cut-offs [to services].”

“We need to do something, especially for the elderly,” Cronier said. “They’re at home with no care.”

Another key issue that arose during the focus-group session was the need for easily-accessible information for residents, particularly pertaining to community programming and social events.

As put by attendee Richard Gratton, “The most important thing is to find a way to let people know exactly what’s going on.”

Shelley Heaphy, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered during the sessions will be used to update a series of “community portraits” first created in 2018.

These updated portraits will help the organization target its services according to the information gathered, as well as advocate to community partners and apply for relevant funding.

Connexions’ final two community focus groups will be hosted Jan. 30 in Portage du Fort and Feb. 6 in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes.

Campbell’s Bay residents discussed frustrations with local healthcare services and the need to better support the community’s elderly at a focus group hosted by Connexions Resource Centre on Tuesday evening. From left, Paul Brown, Jeanette Romain, Paulette Lamothe, Shelley Heaphy, Charles Heaphy, Manon Cronier, Richard Gratton (not pictured, Earl Greer).

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