Save Dr. Jack Newman's clinic

Sorry if this has already been posted here, but I thought it would
be of interest, especially for those in Canada.

http://www.infactcanada.ca/NYGH_Brea...e_Petition.htm


Also info about a nurse in for Dr. Newman:

From: Esther Goldstein ]

December 9, 2005

To All Supporters of Dr. Newman's NYGH Clinic:

As you know, I am running the campaign to save Dr. Newman's
NYGH
breastfeeding clinic. In the past few weeks we have obtained over
2200
signatures on our petition and hundreds of letters and emails of
support. All have been sent to Minister Smitherman and various
others in
the Ministry of Health, as well as to NYGH administrators. We have
also
sent several supportive articles to prove the benefits and cost
savings
breastfeeding brings to our health care system. We have obtained
media
attention from CFRB, CBC radio, CTV, Global, CBC National News, The
Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Bayview Post, The Town Crier
and
The North York Mirror.
Despite all of our attempts, both NYGH and the Ministry of
Health
have not responded to our concerns or requests to either reinstate
the
NYGH clinic or establish a new publicly funded clinic in Toronto
available to all mothers. At this point - based on the information
we
have obtained about a new ministry funding formula - it appears
that
there is no hope of persuading NYGH to reinstate the clinic. The
hospital insists that mothers will have to find help for
breastfeeding
difficulties in the community, but there are no unrestricted,
full-time,
government funded community clinics in Ontario with the presence of
a
doctor.
Our only hope appears to be to convince the Ministry of Health
to
assist us in creating and funding a new clinic. To this end we have
decided to stage a Nurse-In at Queen's Park. We believe that this
might
be the only way to get Mr. Smitherman to pay attention to us. The
Nurse-In must be organized quickly because the clinic at NYGH is
closing
December 15, 2005 and the house begins its winter break on December
16
and will not return to work until mid-February 2006.
We hope to get as many people as possible to commit to coming
down
to Queen's Park next Thursday, December 15, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.
Babies
and children are welcome. If you feel comfortable enough to nurse,
we
invite you to do so. If not, your presence is all we ask.
Once we have enough people committed to coming to Queen's Park
I
will inform Minister Smitherman of our plan. I hope to do this on
Monday. We will also inform the media and tell Minister Smitherman
that
they are aware of the Nurse-In. With any luck, the threat of a
protest
and media attention will convince the Ministry to take pre-emptive
action. But we have to be prepared to follow through if they don't.
To ensure that people don't go to Queen's Park unnecessarily,
we
will post a web page at savetheclinic.maxbiz.com with relevant
information. This notice will be posted, as will any updates.
Please
check this page Wednesday evening (December 14, 2005) to find out
if the
Nurse-In will be held or if it will be cancelled. We will give
Minister
Smitherman a deadline of Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. so that if he
agrees to
negotiate with us we have ample time to inform all participants
that the
Nurse-In is cancelled.
If you are interested in attending or if you know someone who
would
be, please send me an email ASAP with your contact information,
including your email address and phone number. It is important that
you
let me know if you are coming. I need to know how many people will
attend so we can ensure a fair turnout before informing the
Ministry of
Health and the media and so we can update Mr. Smitherman throughout
the
week on the number of supporters our campaign has.
Thank you for considering this request. Feel free to forward
this
email to anyone who might want to participate.

Sincerely
Esther Goldstein

905-482-0124