In its recent round of funding cuts Dr. Jack Kitts CEO of the Ottawa Hospital announced that the Stuttering Treatment Clinic will close at the end of October 2015.
Reasons given by the Hospital for closing the clinic are that stuttering is not an illness requiring medical expertise and that the Hospital’s mandate is to care for Eastern Ontario’s “sickest” individuals and to not fund services that can be provided in the community.
Members of the Ottawa Association of People Who Stutter (OAPWS) have written to Dr. Kitts requesting a meeting with either him or one of his senior staff to discuss the reasons behind the closure and to suggest a delay in the closing date.