Grade 9 CASS student Julian La Fortune launches a petition Monday to shine light on frequent emergency department closures, Sault Area Hospital wait times<\/p>\n
Published Apr 13, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 6\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 5 minute read<\/p>\n
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Julian La Fortune, 15, wants the province to provide emergency funding to North Shore Health Network to ensure the Thessalon emergency department remains open around the clock.Article content<\/p>\n
A Thessalon teen aims to help cure his community\u2019s ailing emergency department situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Julian\u00a0La Fortune, a Grade 9 student at Central Algoma Secondary School<\/a> (CASS), launched a regional petition Monday, aiming to secure 2,000 signatures in a bid to shine brighter light on frequent closures at the town\u2019s hospital and \u201cextreme\u201d wait times at Sault Area Hospital, in Sault Ste. Marie.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Recommended Videos<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n La Fortune\u00a0brands\u00a0these\u00a0health-care\u00a0\u201cgaps\u201d\u00a0a \u201ccritical failure\u201d of public safety and essential service delivery for residents of the North Shore\u00a0and Algoma District.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen our local ER goes dark, public safety is compromised,\u201d La Fortune said. \u201cResidents shouldn\u2019t have to risk long-distance travel in an emergency because of predictable staffing shortages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The petition calls on the province to provide emergency funding to the North Shore Health Network<\/a> (NSHN) to ensure the Thessalon emergency department\u00a0remains\u00a0open\u00a0around the clock, implement a\u00a0\u201crobust\u201d\u00a0physician recruitment strategy specifically for Northern Ontario\u00a0and allocate resources to Sault Area Hospital to reduce wait times to\u00a0\u201cprovincial safety standards.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n La Fortune said\u00a0he is confident the\u00a0petition will garner 2,000 names.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost definitely,\u201d he told The Sault Star Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n EVERYONE AFFECTED<\/p>\n La Fortune, 15, said he and virtually everyone he knows in and around the small community, 90 kilometres east of Sault Ste. Marie, can tell a story about being impacted by emergency department closures, which, as of late, happen almost weekly. As if to hammer home the point, the community\u2019s ER is slated to begin the week on a sad note, closing for 24 hours, starting Monday at 8 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n When closures occur \u2013 Thessalon now reports about 70 per cent of North Shore ED shutdowns<\/a> compared to some 60 per cent early in the new year \u2013 NSHN indicates ambulances will be rerouted to the closest ER, whether that be one of the network\u2019s other two sites \u2013 Blind River or Richards Landing \u2013 or Sault Area Hospital, the region\u2019s principal health-care facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n La Fortune tells of\u00a0being sent to Blind River\u00a0recently\u00a0and waiting days for a bed to\u00a0open up\u00a0at Sault Area Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, also, that\u2019s happened\u00a0for\u00a0almost everyone\u00a0in Thessalon,\u201d La Fortune said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Monday duties including printing off some 180 petition sheets and delivering them door-to-door, to local\u00a0businesses\u00a0and\u00a0around school \u201cbecause I\u00a0know teachers would\u00a0almost definitely\u00a0sign it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n La Fortune\u00a0plans to \u201cco-ordinate the submission\u201d of petitions with provincial NDP Leader, and head of the Official Opposition,\u00a0Marit Stiles to\u00a0have results\u00a0delivered to\u00a0Queen\u2019s Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n THESSALON ON THE RADAR<\/p>\n The rash of recent emergency department closures in Thessalon is not going unnoticed<\/a> among top Ontario health-care brass, says\u00a0North Shore Health Network\u2019s top official.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Ontario Health<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0Ministry of Health<\/a>\u00a0are \u201cworking with us,\u201d and the\u00a0Huron Shores Family Health Team<\/a>\u00a0is \u201ctrying to come up with some solutions,\u201d\u00a0Tim Vine told The Sault Star last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think there\u2019s a growing recognition that the people of Thessalon deserve to have a reliable access to their emergency department, and that providing that reliability of access is something that the North Shore Health Network can\u2019t do alone,\u201d said Vine, tasked with trying to ensure rural emergency departments east of Sault Ste. Marie are staffed, most often with locums, temporary physicians often flown in from southern Ontario.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Other NSHN sites have shouldered ED\u00a0shutdowns\u00a0and Sault Area Hospital<\/a> has had its own share of challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, at one point in early January, SAH was shouldering 119 per\u00a0cent\u00a0occupancy, with 18 patients\u00a0admitted\u00a0in the emergency department waiting for an inpatient bed and another 31 individuals waiting to be seen. Non-urgent patients were asked to use SAH\u2019s Virtual Home Waiting Room to check estimated wait times and wait from home until closer to their expected turn, and patients with non-urgent needs were asked to consider alternatives, such as contacting their family doctor, nurse practitioner, or visiting a community walk-in clinic.\u00a0<\/p>\n On a brighter note, SAH\u00a0says its ER waiting room project<\/a>, launched last August, has yielded encouraging\u00a0results\u00a0for patients with less urgent concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n The wait time to see a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, for patients using the virtual queue\u00a0has been reduced by half, compared to those with similar symptoms and health issues who physically wait at the hospital.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 6<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The amount of time spent in the emergency room has also dropped by half for patients using the tool, SAH said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Out of\u00a0nearly six\u00a0million ER visits in Ontario in 2024, close to\u00a0300,000 patients\u00a0\u2013 or 4.92 per cent \u2013 left without being treated, according to Montreal Economic Institute<\/a>, a non-profit research organization.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr. Stephen Smith, a SAH emergency department physician,\u00a0said his\u00a0hospital\u2019s\u00a0data show that using the virtual waiting room for certain health concerns is helping reduce the likelihood that patients will leave the hospital before seeing a health-care professional.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe had really positive results,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n SHOW ME THE MONEY<\/p>\n La Fortune said he believes money \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013\u00a0has prompted\u00a0much of\u00a0Thessalon\u2019s\u00a0problem. He hopes\u00a0Stiles will bring up the possibility of salary increases for physicians to \u2013 in part \u2013 encourage more family doctors to hang shingles in rural communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEven if we have physicians all day, every day, salaries are still very low for\u00a0physicians,\u00a0and they should definitely be higher,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0one of the root causes\u00a0for\u00a0the shortages.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 7<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n As of earlier this year,\u00a0Bruce Mines\/Thessalon had two doctors out of a complement of 5.5,\u00a0Richards Landing had two physicians out of a complement of five,\u00a0and Blind River had four out of a complement of six, albeit one MD was not providing hospital service as part of a \u201cplanned and staged\u201d retirement. So, three provide hospital support.\u00a0<\/p>\n La Fortune has no family doctor;\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0seen by a nurse practitioner\u00a0handling orphan patients in the community. He would very much like to have a dedicated doctor, someone more close.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think everyone does,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those familiar with La Fortune\u2019s definite career aspirations would not be surprised with this most recent act\u00a0of advocacy; he\u00a0wants to be\u00a0either\u00a0a defense lawyer or a\u00a0detective\u00a0constable with Halton Regional Police Service\u2019s intimate partner violence unit. \u00a0<\/p>\n And if he had his way, NOSM University<\/a> students would be more \u201cencouraged\u201d to not only remain in\u00a0Northern\u00a0Ontario, but\u00a0practise\u00a0in the hinterland where need is greatest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertisement 8<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n He has met medical students\u00a0training at\u00a0NSHN\u2019s\u00a0larger\u00a0Blind River\u00a0site and said he understands why Thessalon, which he describes as more of\u00a0an\u00a0outpatient emergency\u00a0clinic\/ambulance transfer point,\u00a0might not be\u00a0so\u00a0beneficial as a learning\u00a0centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIn Thessalon,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0kind of usually\u00a0the same thing,\u201d La Fortune said.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re\u00a0just different\u00a0patients.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyone wishing to support the petition or request a paper copy to collect signatures can e-mail\u00a0 algomahealthpetitions@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0or mail inquiries to PO Box 456,\u00a0Thessalon,\u00a0Ont.,\u00a0P0R 1L0.\u00a0Reach out via\u00a0text\u00a0or\u00a0call 705-297-8960.\u00a0<\/p>\n with files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n