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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Hi all:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Recall that along with the members of our group who have had Robotic Assisted Prostate Surgery (RAPS), I have “taken on” the Minister of Health on funding wrt RAPS.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Below is my latest volley sent to the Minister, as well as the MOH & LTC reply from Oct 2017 as a reference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Feel free to share it widely throughout your networks.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Take care,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Glen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Glen Tolhurst [mailto:Glen46Nor@gmail.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> February 21, 2018 10:01 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'ehoskins.mpp@liberal.ola.org'<br><b>Subject:</b> FUNDING of ROBOTIC ASSISTED PROSTATE SURGERY<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Minister Hoskins:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I hope you did not presume that the attached response sent by D. Ramanayake was in anyway adequate.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I circulated it widely amongst PCa support chapters and men treated via Robotic Assisted Prostate Surgery (RAPS).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The common refrain from them was that it was an “insulting boiler plate” response from an unknowing bureaucrat.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In fact, one response to it stated “The letter you received is a standard response that is now being sent out to all patients…it’s a shame that there is a template letter without addressing the constituents individually”. This was reinforced by a similar response sent to a member of the local Prostate Cancer Support Group which I, by the way, chair, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have subsequently done some further digging on the RAPS funding folder.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>When accounting for the cost difference per case (disposables) between robotics and open surgery, there is an incremental cost difference of over $3000 for robotic cases which very quickly adds up for any hospital. The base funding by the government barely covers the hospital costs for open surgery. It is strongly felt that robotic prostatectomy is the best approach and is rapidly becoming the <b>standard of care in many industrialized nations.</b> The MOH & LTC has never paid for the incremental cost difference (let alone the robotic equipment maintenance costs etc). Fundraising and philanthropy is not sustainable in the long-term and nor should it be in a publicly funded system where physicians and hospitals have to constantly lobby <b>to simply meet what should already be a standard of care in a tertiary care centre in a modern nation.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>The closing boiler plate paragraph wrt PSA testing exhibits an astounding ignorance in that men diagnosed with Prostate Cancer (PCa) seldom exhibit any symptoms until PCa is well advanced, and often metastatic. 8 men die every month in Waterloo- Wellington from PCa. Since June 2016, our PCCN Waterloo-Wellington prostate cancer support group has had 2 members die from PCa. Both of them joined our group after they were diagnosed with what proved to be metastatic PCa.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Does it take having MPP’s diagnosed with PCa to get the MOH & LTC to meet the reasonable level of care about men’s health to get PSA testing covered by OHIP and join the level of care of all other provinces?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As you read this, do not contemplate having a bureaucrat grind out another boiler plate response.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Take time to approve funding for RAPS!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Remember, you and the Liberal party of Ontario are lagging in the polls leading up to the June provincial election.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Glen<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Glen N. Tolhurst P.Eng. MBA</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><b><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Chair PCCN Waterloo- Wellington</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>web site: </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="http://pccn-waterloo-wellington.ca/" id=LPlnk825412><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>http://pccn-waterloo-wellington.ca/</span></a></span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>e-mail: </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="mailto:info@pccn-waterloo-wellington.ca"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>info@pccn-waterloo-wellington.ca</span></a></span><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>answering service 226-240-9264</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:red'>Direct contact via:</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Tel (519) 826-0716 </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Cell (519) 994-4536</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>e-mail: </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black'><a href="mailto:Glen46Nor@gmail.com"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Glen46Nor@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>