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Congratulations to David Caplan on his recent appointment as Minister of Health, becoming the fifth Don Mills-area Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to serve in what is regarded as the most challenging portfolio in the government.

With respect to the provision of health care to his Don Mills constituents, we can only hope that this is a case of right person, right place, right time.

Caplan now has the authority and the opportunity to address an emerging, and potentially very serious, issue of continuing access to care in central Don Mills. I refer to the need to address the likely scattering of the majority of the healthcare professionals in the area when 75 The Donway West is closed as an office facility in about three years.

Equally, we must be concerned about the growing number of our neighbours who have to rely on emergency rooms for even basic care because of their inability to find local family doctors; recent studies indicate that 20 per cent of our population is having to cope with this dilemma.

The Ministry of Health has announced plans to double, from 55 to more than 110, the number of government-funded and community-administered Community Health Centres. The CHCs provide primary care, along with a growing network of Family Health Teams, to hundreds of thousands in Ontario today.

I suggest that there will never be a better time than right now for Caplan to empower a steering committee of Don Mills residents to develop the plan for the creation of a Community Health Centre for our community, one that will provide the focal point for the retention of our existing healthcare providers, including the network of specialists and ancillary lab, physio and other services, and for the recruitment of new doctors, nurse practitioners and others to serve those who now must leave the community for primary care.

The proposed redevelopment of the balance of the Don Mills Centre lands and the need to relocate and enlarge the Civitan Arena provide a unique window of opportunity to empower the Don Mills community to work with the Ministry of Health and the Local Health Integration Network to develop our Community Health Centre in the heart of our community for this and future generations of Don Mills residents.

Dennis R. Timbrell