David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Content disabled
Methinks Northrup's pals in Horizon and the RCMP enjoyed assaulting me and falsely imprisoning me so much that they did it for free N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/02/premier-braces-public-for-major-health.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/emergency-room-hour-changes-1.5459450
'It's disastrous': Communities uneasy about losing overnight ERs
'It penalizes people for living in rural areas'
· CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2020 3:57 PM AT
MLA Bruce Northrup spoke with angry protesters outside the hospital in Sussex about the cut in ER services. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
Hundreds of protesters stood outside the hospital emergency room in Sussex, ringing bells, waving bright orange signs and chanting "rural lives matter."
People in six New Brunswick communities expressed their anger Tuesday after learning the emergency room hours at their local hospitals, including the Sussex Health Centre, will be cut and local hospital beds will be converted to long-term care beds.
"As far as the government is concerned, rural lives don't matter," said Jill Beaulieu, who lives in the Sussex area.
People held up signs that read: "Health cuts kill," "Save Sussex," and "Seniors and everyone else in Sussex need our hospital open 24/7."
Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup, who sits on the government side of the house, was surrounded by protesters, although he wasn't happy about the cuts either.
As he spoke, residents kept interrupting him with comments like: "You just keep cutting and cutting until there's nothing left" and "We are your people. That's your hospital. Save it."
Protesters in Sussex held up signs today that read: Health cuts kill, save Sussex and Seniors and everyone else in Sussex need our hospital open 24/7. (Graham Thompson)
One man asked: "What are you going to do if you have a heart attack here at midnight and this hospital closed?"
Northrup said he will be getting more information from Horizon Health Network, stakeholders, doctors and people who run the hospital. Then he will make a decision on Thursday about whether he supports the government's decision.
Northrup said he heard rumours in December aabout the cuts and believes there should have been more communication among communities, members of the legislature, and people working in health care.
"Communication in this has been deplorable."
A similar angry crowd gathered in Caraquet as the changes were announced.
The reduced hours start March 11.
Marilyn Stockdale was also protesting outside the hospital in Sussex.
"I could crawl here in the middle of the night if I got sick," she said.
"Whether I get to Saint John on my own or not in the middle of the night, I don't know. They don't have any room for us anyway. They're already full up."
'I think it sucks'
The other hospitals losing some ER service are Hotel-Dieu of St. Joseph in Perth-Andover, Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Caraquet and Grand Falls General Hospital.
In Sackville, Ron Corbett said if he hadn't gone to his local emergency room, he would've died.
Corbett had low blood pressure and was losing a lot of blood when he was sent to the emergency department at Sackville Memorial Hospital. There, he received the treatments he needed and was later sent to the hospital in Moncton.
"One of the reasons why I was able to do OK once I got to Moncton, was that they treated me here," he said after the province announced the Sackville ER would not be open overnight and would also lose its surgical services.
Corbett said residents in the area are getting older and emergency services are "crucial."
"I think it sucks … I think it's disastrous," he said of the plan announced by the Progressive Conservative government and the two health networks.
'It doesn't make sense'
Sarah Poirier said she and her husband fell off a roof late in the evening and had to get to the ER in Sackville . Poirier said her husband's memory was seriously affected.
"Emergencies happen 24 hours a day," she said.
Poirier wasn't impressed by Monday's announcement.
Ron Corbett said the province shouldn't limit hours of emergency services, because more residents will need those services in the future. (Tori Weldon/CBC)
"It penalizes people for living in rural areas," she said.
With the changes, Sackville residents will need to drive almost 50 kilometres to an emergency room in Moncton or make a 16 minute trip to Amherst, NS.
"It doesn't make any sense," Poirier said. "Is the premier trying to drive New Brunswickers across the border to Nova Scotia and make it somebody else's problem?"
No consultation with town
Sackville Mayor John Higham participated in strategic planning sessions put on by Horizon Health Network last week and said the planned cuts to the ER and surgical services were not mentioned.
"If there's a strategic element, we didn't see it," Higham said. "We haven't heard it."
Sackville Mayor John Higham said many parents sent their children to Mount Allison University in Sackville because of the nearby hospital and its services. (Tori Weldon/CBC)
Perth-Andover Mayor Marianne Bell also took part in the strategic planning sessions, but only found out about the cuts Tuesday morning.
"I was horrified," she said. "We're baffled and outraged that the Department of Health would drop devastating news like this on our community."
She said it's even more devastating for people living in smaller communities like Plaster Rock and Riley Brook, at least 40 kilometres northeast of Perth-Andover.
"People are so afraid of what will happen if they have a fall, if they get sick in the late evening or overnight."
Perth-Andover Mayor Marianne Bell also took part in the strategic planning sessions, but only found out about the cuts Tuesday morning.
"I was horrified," she said. "We're baffled and outraged that the Department of Health would drop devastating news like this on our community."
She said it's even more devastating for people living in smaller communities like Plaster Rock and Riley Brook, at least 40 kilometres northeast of Perth-Andover.
"People are so afraid of what will happen if they have a fall, if they get sick in the late evening or overnight."
'We don't see how it helps'
After hearing talk of possible cuts, Sackville council held a meeting Monday night, and drew a crowd of concerned residents.He's lined up a meeting with Horizon Health Network CEO Karen McGrath this week to ask questions.
Community leaders and others in Caraquet speak to media outside the local hospital to defend existing levels of service there. (Alix Villeneuve/Radio-Canada)
"We don't see how it helps the health system and how it's better for everybody in the province versus just us in Sackville," he said.
Dr. Chris Goodyear, president of the New Brunswick Medical Society, said in a statement that the province's health-care system has to evolve in order to "reflect today's and tomorrow's populations."
He said changes to the health-care system are always concerning for New Brunswick physicians.
"We will be monitoring the situation closely and listening to our emergency department physicians to ensure that these changes reflect the future needs of our health system and that patient safety is not negatively impacted," Goodyear said.
'It's just not fair'
Rick Chasson lives in Grand Falls. He said the government made a mistake and should keep the ER open 24 hours, especially for seniors.
"It's just not fair, not to the senior citizens," he said. "It isn't right."
Perth-Andover Mayor Marianne Bell only found out about the cuts to emergency services in her village on Tuesday morning. The news came after she took part in strategic planning sessions recently put on by Horizon Health Network. (Shane/Fowler)
Pauline Gagnon has three children at her home in Grand Falls. With government cutting hours to emergency services, she'll be forced to travel to the hospital in Waterville, which is about 40 minutes away and Edmundston, which is one hour away.
"I think it's very sad and I don't agree," she said.
Horizon Health Network CEO Karen McGrath, Health Minister Ted Flemming and Vitalité Health Network CEO Gilles Lanteigne announce cuts to ER operating hours at six hospitals in New Brunswick. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Online petitions were already circulating in communities such as Sussex and Sackville aimed at preserving local hospital services.
And in Caraquet, about 40 people spoke outside the L'Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus RHSJ, including local Liberal MLA Isabelle Thériault, Acadie-Bathurst Liberal MP Serge Cormier and most members of the town council.
About the Author
With files from Tori Weldon
96 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise
David Amos
Methinks the liberals are dancing a jig about now N'esy Pas?
Lou Bell
Reply to @David Amos: Not from the comments being posted it appears ! Looks more like " common sense " is prevailing. Although one member of the Greens at least doesn't really know what that means .
David Amos
I see that Brucey Baby one of my my opponents in the last provincial election and my sneaky MLA Wetmore are having a bad day in Sussex
Methinks many would agree that it looks good on them. I certainly have the the right to think so in light of the fact that they laughed at my not having a Medicare Card and had to pay for my emergency room bills out of my old age pension stipend N'esy Pas?
Marguerite
Deschamps
Reply to @David Amos: just wondering why they would not give you a medicare card. Seriously, I am concerned.
David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite
Deschamps: Not long ago when I was in and out the emergency room while
running against Trudeau et al you wished me dead remember? Now that your
beloved liberals see a weakness in Higgy you pretend you care Methinks I
should ask how dumb do you think I am N'esy Pas?
Lou Bell
Reply to @David Amos:
Instead of running in an election for yourself , you might for once
actually run for the people you'd represent . Bet you'd get more than
the 10 to 15 votes you have been getting.
Marc Martin
Reply to @David Amos: That does not make any sense...
Reply to @David Amos: I reach out my hand and you spit in it. No wonder no one will give you the time of day.
Mary MacKenzie
Reply to @David Amos: Why do you have an obsession with ending your posts with "N'esy Pas?"?
David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks you cannot be offended without having a real name N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Reply to @Mary MacKenzie: Google me lady
Kevin Cormier
Shutting down emergency rooms because only 6-9 people each night use the service is a poor argument when it comes to health care. So if 1 of those 6-9 people were unable to get the help required each night, we are looking at over 300 people at each of the hospital locations possibility dying? We need more people in NB, not less.
Mary MacKenzie
Reply to @Kevin Cormier: You're inventing statistics.
David Amos
Reply to @Mary MacKenzie: What is just one child's life worth?
Lou Bell
Reply to @Kevin Cormier: An average of 5 IN 8 HOURS !! And you boost it to 6 to 9 ! Invented stats breed unreliable statements . Please readjust .
Marc Martin
Reply to @Kevin
Cormier: All the people who agree with this have not had their service
impacted, dont try to explain anything to them.
Mary
MacKenzie
People
abuse ERs by going for non-emergency visits. An average of 5 people in 8
hours overnight? How many of those were actual emergencies?
David Amos
David Amos
Reply to @Mary
MacKenzie: Methinks you should not complain about my visits particularly
when my doctor sends me there Whereas I have to pay for the visit at
least it did not cost you one thin dime for my old ticker until I sue
your beloved government to get my money back N'esy Pas?
Lou Bell
Reply to @David Amos: Ah , the old " woe is me " Dave . For the 2000th time .
Michel Forgeron
Reply to @David Amos:
i assume, as you have "hinted" many times, that you don't have a
Medicare card. Please enlighten us as to why?
John Montgomery
Reply to @Mary
MacKenzie: A better question is, if a person has an actual emergency and
these ERs are closed, what is the additional risk that they will not
get to a doctor in time?
Paul Bourgoin
'It's disastrous': Communities uneasy about losing overnight ER's and with good reason.
New Brunswick should tighten up their financial management of our Provincial Economy.
NB-Power would be an excellent place to start, stop those subsidies given to Industries on the cost of electricity, make them public, also subsides. tax breaks. abuse of our Natural Resources on Crown-Land, our wildlife destruction, The laying off our Forest Rangers, our eyes on the crown land forest, the laying off of our biologist, replacing them with forest Engineers disguised as biologist and the list goes on. Maybe that is why NB is the poorest province in Canada. Then there is NB-POWER, now we add on our Hospital system and our children are leaving our once PICTURE PROVINCE TO SURVIVE.
David Amos
New Brunswick should tighten up their financial management of our Provincial Economy.
NB-Power would be an excellent place to start, stop those subsidies given to Industries on the cost of electricity, make them public, also subsides. tax breaks. abuse of our Natural Resources on Crown-Land, our wildlife destruction, The laying off our Forest Rangers, our eyes on the crown land forest, the laying off of our biologist, replacing them with forest Engineers disguised as biologist and the list goes on. Maybe that is why NB is the poorest province in Canada. Then there is NB-POWER, now we add on our Hospital system and our children are leaving our once PICTURE PROVINCE TO SURVIVE.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Paul Bourgoin: I see that you are continuing to cry quite a river
Reply to @Paul Bourgoin: I see that you are continuing to cry quite a river
Thomas Imber
Maybe Vicker's will commit to building new hospitals in every village and town in the province. It would definitely get him elected, but it would definitely bankrupt the province. NB has an aging population, especially in the rural areas, which also have a shrinking tax base. The only answer it to have regional hospitals and a province-wide air ambulance service. It's getting harder and harder to find doctors who will work in these small, rural health facilities. The problems will only get worse unless changes are made. Ignoring the problem won't make it go away Mr. Vickers.
Kevin Cormier
Reply to @Thomas
Imber: I've never heard Vickers make such a statement but then you say
that he is ignoring the health care problem. So your solution is
regional hospitals serviced by air ambulances. ok.
Marc Martin
Reply to @Thomas
Imber: *NB has an aging population, especially in the rural areas* Wich
does not make any sense closing services..
David Amos
Reply to @Marc Martin: Oh My My Are you trying to make "Sense" now?
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Thomas Imber: Methinks Vickers should get off his high horse and ask his minions for a copy of the letter Mikey Murphy as Minister of Heath sent me and the RCMP not long before his buddies the RCMP falsely arrested me then assaulted in the DECH N'esy Pas?
Marc Martin
Reply to @David Amos: Cry me a river..
David Amos
Reply to @Marc Martin: Say Hey your hero Mr Vickers for me will ya?
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Marc Martin: Methinks its too bad so sad that folks could not read the comment about Vickers above your snide reply but you know where to find it N'esy Pas?
Reply to @Marc Martin: Methinks its too bad so sad that folks could not read the comment about Vickers above your snide reply but you know where to find it N'esy Pas?
Marc Martin
This is what you get when you vote blue, cuts cuts cuts and give give give to big corporations.
David Amos
Reply to @Marc
Martin: Methinks the liberals only care about more taxation that they
can spend on their buddies in the SANB N'esy Pas?
Marc Martin
4 out of the 6 hospitals closing are in Liberal won ridings we all knew Higgy was going to make a move sooner or later..
David Amos
Reply to @Marc
Martin: Methinks politicking in New Brunswick is not rocket science I
trust that you sneaky SANB dudes have figured out that in the dudes who
oversee the two Conservative ridings Northrup and Gauvin have fallen
out of favour with Higgy N'esy Pas?
David Peters
Since when has a mob mentality been the way to run something as important as the healthcare sector?
David Peters
Reply to @Mike Connors:
Union nonsense depends on as little accountability, transparency, and real competition as possible...with as much coercion as they can get away with. Turning a sectors management into a team sport, where the taxpayer and healthcare consumer have no voice or choice...and effective/efficient management is impossible.
Union nonsense depends on as little accountability, transparency, and real competition as possible...with as much coercion as they can get away with. Turning a sectors management into a team sport, where the taxpayer and healthcare consumer have no voice or choice...and effective/efficient management is impossible.
David Amos
Reply to @David Peters: Ask your Yankee hero Trump
Gary MacKay
There must be something I am missing. The wait times are currently the worst in the country. We have almost one thousand elderly waiting for special care beds. What is this going top do to correct this?
Let me use Sussex as an example of these similar rural hospitals. Sussex services a large surrounding area all rural. These rural users are at best an hour or more from other centres. The roads do not provide for safe transportation to any of the major centres that are further away. This leaves a significant gap between Moncton and Saint John. This will make wait times in larger centres longer. Personally I doubt the Sussex Dr. is going to jump in their car and start working in Moncton when their billing number is Sussex. What a mess. IMO
David Peters
Reply to @Gary MacKay:
As someone else pointed out, air service for acute cases would help. Demographics have to be considered.
As someone else pointed out, air service for acute cases would help. Demographics have to be considered.
David Amos
Reply to @Gary MacKay: Methinks logic commands if folks can't get a family doctor and need help ASAP then they should visit the emergency rooms after midnight when they are not busy N'esy Pas?
Holly Mossing
No, no, not an extra 16 minute drive to Amherst in an emergency!
We are almost bankrupt and have paid hundreds of dollars per hour to run empty emergency rooms for years. Spending money we could better use for daytime services, mental health, extramural, etc.
This is responsible government.
Adrian Baerlocher
Reply to @Holly
Mossing: Amherst is generally so overwhelmed that patients actually come
to Sackville (thanks to years of cuts in NS). We don’t pay taxes to NS,
I expect my government to fund our hospitals. Maybe we should turn one
of the hospitals in Moncton into a seniors care centre? After all, it’s a
tiny city and doesn’t need more than one hospital. What’s a few hours
more wait time?
Mike Connors
Reply to @Holly
Mossing: The problem is the emergency rooms are NOT empty. Stop the
Higg's spin. People have had enough of your BS.
David Amos
Reply to @Mike Connors: I noticed your opinions go "Poof" too
Jake Newman
if anything more drastic changes are needed, but this was a good start. NB will always be a half-not province because of NIMBYs and citizens unwilling to change.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Jake Newman: Methinks many folks who don't bother to vote would agree that the real problem is corrupt politicians controlled by a few billionaires who don't pay their fair share of taxes N'esy Pas?
Reply to @Jake Newman: Methinks many folks who don't bother to vote would agree that the real problem is corrupt politicians controlled by a few billionaires who don't pay their fair share of taxes N'esy Pas?
Sean Pendragon
It sounds like they're just trying to optimize the resources they have.
Paramedics are still available just the drive is now 30 minutes away instead of 5.
Life threatening injuries tend to get routed to the larger hospitals anyways.
It will be interesting to hear the medical stall and hospital management weigh in on the change; they're the ones who have meaningful experience to add to the debate.
David Amos
Reply to @Sean Pendragon: YUP
Kyle Woodman
We need a boomer tax.
Mack Leigh
Reply to @Kyle
Woodman: Boomers have been taxed to death already....we need a
government willing to make the tough decisions and stand up to selfish
bullies.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Mack Leigh: selfish bullies??? Methinks Vickers should get off his high horse and ask his minions for a copy of the letter Mikey Murphy as Minister of Heath sent me and the RCMP not long before the RCMP falsely arrested me then assaulted in the DECH N'esy Pas?
John Pokiok
News flash maybe you like to live in rural settings but most doctors and nurses don't, hard to sell that one move to cities if you want better service pretty simple.
David Amos
Reply to @John Pokiok: Methinks you should read the news instead of giving it N'esy Pas?
Greg Miller
What a bunch of whiners! If you want "Cadillac" service you are in the wrong Province and quite frankly you're in the wrong country. Although I'm not sure what country you might want to go to to find better. Any suggestions?
David Amos
Reply to @Greg Miller: Trust that I ain't whining I am suggesting that the folks you are making fun of raise some Hell.
Greg Miller
Reply to @David Amos: To what end?
David Amos
Reply to @Greg Miller: A lawsuit
Greg Miller
Reply
to @David Amos: So be it, let the courts decide the future of health
care if that's what you want. And then another law suit, etc.!
David Amos
Reply to @Greg Miller: I want a Medicare Card like you have
Jacob Minton
Maybe if Gaëtan Thomas, CEO of Crown Corporation NB Power, hadn't handed over $15 million in public money to a Florida con artist for magic water there'd be some provincial money for little things like saving people's lives in emergencies.
David Amos
Reply to @Jacob
Minton: Or 100 million for "Not So Smart Meters" and another 100 million
for Quebec to advise us on how to refurbish a dam
John Smit:
Mount A no longer number one small university in Canada. UdeM surges in rankings.........
David Amos
Reply to @John Smit: Methinks many a true word is said in jest N'esy Pas?
Bob Smith
Hard to do consultation when the government knows what a town or village will say in advance. As for the folks cited here, well, you can die from a similar situation in the city as well. Fact is, the demographics of this province are changing and underused ER's in rural areas are a luxury in this poor province.
David Amos
Reply to @Bob Smith: Cry me a river
Holly Mossing
Reply to @Bob Smith: Health authorities have been requesting these changes for years, with good evidence. An excellent start to trying to become a “have” or at least a “not bankrupt” province.
David Peters
Maybe there would be room to open up rural areas for a user pay system, and let healthcare professionals run their own satellite offices.
David Amos
Reply to @David Peters: Spoken like a true neocon
David Peters
Reply to @David Amos:
neocons are for increased military spending, and foreign adventurism which I'm not...but, how does that relate to this issue?
David Amos
David Peters
Reply to @David Amos:
neocons are for increased military spending, and foreign adventurism which I'm not...but, how does that relate to this issue?
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @David Peters: Try finding my comments that were blocked elsewhere on the Internet
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @David Peters: Try finding my comments that were blocked elsewhere on the Internet
Reply to @David Peters: Try finding my comments that were blocked elsewhere on the Internet
David Amos
Reply to @David Peters: "Historically speaking, the term "neoconservative" refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist left to the camp of American conservatism during the 1960s and 1970s"
Phimail Wailing
It's all part of the choice to be rural. Rural is great, but like all choices it has advantages and disadvantages. It's not the responsibility of the government to make your choice to live rural 100% sunshine and roses.
Adrian Baerlocher
Reply to @Phimail
Wailing: Sackville is hardly 'rural' and has had a hospital for decades.
Both of Moncton's hospitals run at or over capacity, gutting the
hospital here will make that situation much worse.
Phimail
Wailing
Reply to @Adrian
Baerlocher: Well
that's a good point about Moncton's hospitals being already over
capacity. I think this would work if extra funding is put to beef up
the hospitals in the cities. Sackville and basically everywhere in NB
is not too far from some centre. At least in NB the population centres
are spread out. Between Edmunston, Campbelton, Bathurst, Miramachi,
Moncton, Saint John, and Fredricton, nobody in the province is really
more than an hour or hour and a half away from a city
Adrian
Baerlocher
Reply to @Phimail
Wailing: Or beef up the rural hospitals so the city hospitals aren't so
overwhelmed. Most of the cost is staff/wages, that doesn't go away
magically by closing rural hospitals. A report a few years ago found the
most expensive hospitals to operate in NB (per visit/capita) were the
larger hospitals (the smaller ones were much closer to national
average). Our city hospitals aren't particularly well run.
Phimail
Wailing
Reply to @Adrian Baerlocher: It's important to remember that these hospitals aren't being closed.
Adrian
Baerlocher
Reply to @Phimail
Wailing: Effectively they are. They’re not just cutting night ER but
also the surgery program and turning 21 beds from acute care to chronic
care. The lab is likely next (recent stories on that) at which point it
will just be a senior care home.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Adrian
Baerlocher: I was born in the Sackville Hospital in 1952 and it saved my
butt 3 years later when I went into a coma for a month. Methinks for
that reason alone I should fight tooth and nail to defend it. Obviously I
quite simply don't care what my cousin Megan Mitton and all her Green
Party pals say or do about it N'esy Pas?
Holly Mossing
Reply to @Adrian
Baerlocher: Please cite your evidence for this. Urban hospitals look
after the most complex and high needs patients, including those from
small hospitals, including specialized ICU, CCU and surgical care, so of
course cost per patient is much higher.
Fred Dee
I always love the "no one consulted with me!!" There is nothing that could be said that would make it worth the extra costs required. NB is BROKE!!!!
Roger Drisdelle
Reply to @Fred Dee: Why NB is broke is the elephant in the room. And has nothing to do with bilingualism.
David Amos
Reply to @Roger Drisdelle: Methinks Bruce Northrup and I know a lot of folks who disagree with you N'esy Pas?
Rob Franklin
Amalgamation gets too much push back every time the government tries to implement it, so I guess they are accomplishing the same think in another way.
David Peters
Reply to @Rob Franklin:
...but, increasing the tax base for a tax and spend happy city hall, who has already spent their way to sky high property taxes and massive debt...that's not good news for the ones getting amalgamated.
...but, increasing the tax base for a tax and spend happy city hall, who has already spent their way to sky high property taxes and massive debt...that's not good news for the ones getting amalgamated.
David Amos
Reply to @Rob
Franklin: Methinks Higgy and his cohorts are giving us all an equal
opportunity to vote them out of office N'esy Pas?
Fred Dee
IF you want big city service in a small area.... you got to be prepared to pay MORE for it!!!
HAVE EMT's there ready to role to get the patient to the ER if required
David Amos
Reply to @Fred Dee: How do I pay a CLOSED ER?
Miles Long
Yes people will have to move to he large centres where they can wait 24 hours in the ER, not much of plan.
Donald
Gallant
Reply to @Miles Long:
Yeah. That special service you mention costs the rest of us plenty.
Good job Horizon.
Yeah. That special service you mention costs the rest of us plenty.
Good job Horizon.
Clive Gibbons
Reply to @Miles Long:
If you're waiting 24 hours, and not dying, it wasn't terribly urgent,
wasn't it. People need to be reminded what an emergency really is.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Donald
Gallant: Methinks Northrup's pals in Horizon and the RCMP enjoyed
assaulting me and falsely imprisoning me so much that they did it for
free N'esy Pas?
Lou Bell
I suspect having extra doctors/ doctor when the demand is high will be much more efficient than when it's VERY low . An average of 5 people over an 8 hour period certainly doesn't sound that efficient. And are there not Paramedics in these places ? If it's a serious enough of an emergency call the Ambulance Service .
Adrian Baerlocher
Reply to @Lou Bell:
Doctors aren't sitting at these hospitals with nothing to do. They're
on-call and only come in for true emergencies. As for paramedics,
they're already overstretched here covering huge areas.
Lou Bell
Reply to @Adrian Baerlocher: So your community doesn't need Paramedics !
David Amos
Reply to @Adrian Baerlocher: True
Holly Mossing
Reply to @Adrian Baerlocher: Incorrect. ER doctors are paid hourly to be on site, at a rate of about $200/hour. Add the cost of nurses and support staff and you spend $4000 to staff an ER overnight to see 5 patients. Terribly inefficient use of money. And yes, that means that physicians are sitting around (or napping) on standby at these hospitals.
Adrian Baerlocher
Reply to @Holly Mossing: Actually, they are 'on-call' at night, at least here in Sackville. I speak from personal experience, they only come in for true emergencies. We also have 21 in-patient beds here so yes there are other support staff/nurses. They're not just there for the ER visits, obviously, so your numbers are nonsense. That said, there's definitely inefficient spending in our health care. Also, if bothered to read the announcement, this (supposedly) has nothing to do with money.
https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies
David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Content disabled
Methinks Higgy and
his minions should explain Johnny "Never Been Good" Horton's comments to
me real slow sometime soon N'esy Pas? https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/02/premier-braces-public-for-major-health.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/health-care-reforms-emergency-rooms-1.5459330
David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks cuts in emergency room services will cause some folks to will die quicker and save Higgy a lot more money for his Health Care budget than not issuing Medicare Cards to his foes N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/02/premier-braces-public-for-major-health.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/health-care-reforms-emergency-rooms-1.5459330
Province drops overnight ER hours in major repurposing of 6 hospitals
120 acute-care beds will become long-term care beds as hospitals are repurposed
CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2020 11:19 AM AT
Horizon Health Network CEO Karen McGrath, Health Minister Ted Flemming and Vitalité Health Network CEO Gilles Lanteigne announce changes to the role of six New Brunswick hospitals. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
he province says it will cut emergency-room operating hours at six New Brunswick hospitals and convert acute-care beds to long-term care beds in response to a shortage of staff and beds.
Starting March 11, the six emergency rooms will close from midnight to 8 a.m. and will not accept patients after 10 p.m., the government announced Tuesday. Patients in need of acute or hospital care will not not be admitted to those hospitals.
Hospitals that are affected are:
- Sussex Health Centre.
- Sackville Memorial Hospital, where surgical services will also close and be shifted to Moncton.
- Hotel-Dieu of St. Joseph in Perth-Andover.
- Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Kent.
- Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Caraquet.
- Grand Falls General Hospital.
A nurse practitioner will be added to the day shift at each of these hospitals as well.
In January, the province announced the creation of 32 new nurse-practitioner positions to reduce the burden on hospital emergency departments. The six nurse practitioners were part of that announcement.
Not many visits overnight
"The reality is that on average these emergency departments saw only five patients per night and most of these cases were not emergencies in critical situations such as trauma, heart attacks and strokes," Karen McGrath, CEO of Horizon Health, said of the three Horizon hospitals affected.
Each hospital is also within 75 kilometres of another emergency room in the province.
The CEOs said a doctor sees 20 to 25 patients on average during the day, and the changes will allow more patients to be seen.
In explaining the switch from acute to long-term care, the CEOs said many of the beds at these hospitals are already being used for that purpose anyway as patients wait an average of 90 days for long-term care beds elsewhere.
Now these units will be renovated, get dining rooms, social activities and recreation.
"This will improve the care that we provide to these patients by reducing the time that they are spending in their beds," the CEOs said. "We hope to keep them healthier longer."
More mental health services
The regional health authorities are also reviewing "several service areas" to address wait times, aging population, rising demand for mental health services.
Mental health services will be added to all six hospitals.
The regional health authorities are also looking at a centralized co-ordination and referral system for specialists to reduce surgical wait times across the province, and whether to continue doing surgeries in these six hospitals.
The new ER hours have already been in effect in Oromocto since 2002. St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John also has an ER operating on these hours.
According to the release, 58 per cent of ER visits in New Brunswick could be addressed by a family doctor or a nurse practitioner. The percentage rises to 70 per cent in smaller hospitals.
Premier's case for change
Premier Blaine Higgs has pointed to 23 different service interruptions in the province last year. He said an aging population, a mental health crisis and a labour shortage in the system mean the system is no longer sustainable the way it is now.
Last fall, Vitalité was forced to close emergency services, surgeries and other services at the Campbellton Regional Hospital because of a lack of staff and beds.
Online petitions were already circulating Monday morning in communities such as Sussex and Sackville to defend services at their local hospitals.
And in Caraquet, about 40 people spoke outside the L'Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus RHSJ, including local Liberal MLA Isabelle Thériault, Acadie-Bathurst Liberal MP Serge Cormier and most members of the town council.
With files from Jacques Poitras
293 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Amos
I see that Brucey Baby one of my opponents in the last provincial election and my sneaky MLA Wetmore are having a bad day in Sussex
Methinks many would agree that it looks good on them. I certainly have the the right to think so in light of the fact that they laughed at my not having a Medicare Card and having to pay for my emergency room bills etc out of my old age pension stipend N'esy Pas?
'It's disastrous': Communities uneasy about losing overnight ERs
'It penalizes people for living in rural areas'
Elizabeth Fraser · CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2020 3:57 PM AT
MLA Bruce Northrup spoke with angry protesters outside the hospital in Sussex about the cut in ER services. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
Hundreds of protesters stood outside the hospital emergency room in Sussex, ringing bells, waving bright orange signs and chanting "rural lives matter."
People in six New Brunswick communities expressed their anger Tuesday after learning the emergency room hours at their local hospitals, including the Sussex Health Centre, will be cut and local hospital beds will be converted to long-term care beds.
"As far as the government is concerned, rural lives don't matter," said Jill Beaulieu, who lives in the Sussex area.
People held up signs that read: "Health cuts kill," "Save Sussex," and "Seniors and everyone else in Sussex need our hospital open 24/7."
Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup, who sits on the government side of the house, was surrounded by protesters, although he wasn't happy about the cuts either.
As he spoke, residents kept interrupting him with comments like: "You just keep cutting and cutting until there's nothing left" and "We are your people. That's your hospital. Save it."
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Amos:
Methinks they got the last laugh as they won and you lost. Meaning they had the support and you didn’t, nestle tea.
Methinks they got the last laugh as they won and you lost. Meaning they had the support and you didn’t, nestle tea.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Amos:
In your next life perhaps you will have learnt the lesson, and stayed a Canadian if you wanted to be a Canadian with its benefits,
In your next life perhaps you will have learnt the lesson, and stayed a Canadian if you wanted to be a Canadian with its benefits,
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Amos:
Why don’t you tell the fine folks here the exact reason you lost the card in the first place. Ow wait whining is better and not taking responsibility is even better.
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Say Hey to the Irving Clan for me will ya?
David Amos
Content disabled
Methinks Higgy and his minions should explain Johnny "Never Been Good" Horton's comments to me real slow sometime soon N'esy Pas?
Jim Cyr
Per usual, the site's guardians of what can and can't be said are not going to allow posts that aren't PC, or veer from the lamestream media narrative......
David Amos
Reply to @Jim Cyr: Its truly amazing how many are going "poof" this evening
David Amos
Reply to @David Amos: Yet Horton can go on and on and on and on
Jason Inness
Has no one seen this coming? Am I the only one that goes to an emergency room and has to wait 6, 8, 10 hours? Our health care system has been broken for decades. Our politicians have just been kicking the can down the road while the system wore down around them. This didn't happen today, it has been happening for years (and during the tenure of both the Liberals and PC Party governments, so all the Liberals can stop blaming the PC Party - they are just as culpable).
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Jason Inness:
If you went to an emergency room and weren’t seen for ten hours, it wasnt an “emergency”.
Which is the real problem without emergency rooms. People using the. As a doctors office and as s clinic,
If you went to an emergency room and weren’t seen for ten hours, it wasnt an “emergency”.
Which is the real problem without emergency rooms. People using the. As a doctors office and as s clinic,
Greg Smith:
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: Or it’s just yet another person in the province who’s been on a
waiting list for YEARS to get a family doctor, and has nowhere else to
go.
SarahRose Werner
Reply to @Greg Smith:
Or patient who called their family doctor and was told, "It sounds as
if you need to be seen today but we're already booked the entire day.
Go to the ER."
Greg Smith:
Content disabled
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: @johnnyhorton is paid by Irving to post these ridiculous statements. His arguments are always pro corporate welfare, and anti anything that would help out any of the electorate who don’t (read: can’t afford to) make huge political donations.
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: @johnnyhorton is paid by Irving to post these ridiculous statements. His arguments are always pro corporate welfare, and anti anything that would help out any of the electorate who don’t (read: can’t afford to) make huge political donations.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Greg Smith:
Go to a clinic instead of the er if you don’t have a family doctor.
People Ned to stop using the er ss their personal servant whenever they see fit,
Go to a clinic instead of the er if you don’t have a family doctor.
People Ned to stop using the er ss their personal servant whenever they see fit,
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @SarahRose Werner:
Greg just doesn’t like how I think people should be responsible for themselves and stop depending on government to do everything for them. Do he makes personal stacks.
Greg just doesn’t like how I think people should be responsible for themselves and stop depending on government to do everything for them. Do he makes personal stacks.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Greg Smith:
Stop slandering me with things I never said. Or you will hear from my lawyer
L
Stop slandering me with things I never said. Or you will hear from my lawyer
L
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Greg Smith: "@johnnyhorton is paid by Irving to post these ridiculous statements"
Of that I never had any doubt
Reply to @Greg Smith: "@johnnyhorton is paid by Irving to post these ridiculous statements"
Of that I never had any doubt
Dennis Atchison
The root problem is public's expectation to have a hospital in every community. Sorry, but those days are long over … so please let go of "We are losing our hospital!". What you probably want is excellent primary health care and excellent access. The changes proposed today are a step in that direction … so I hope you see that. Over two decades ago Minto hospital was transformed into a community health clinic … and it is excellent at serving the great majority of the community's needs, and anything greater than that Fredericton hospital is not that far away. This will happen all across the province as a regional health care model unfolds. My interview with (then) CEO John McGarry (three years ago) highlighted this improvement in great detail. (Google John McGarry The Dennis Report). BUT … citizens still confuse health care with hospitals … and the world has moved on from this. Time for us to improve out system too
David Amos
Reply to @Dennis Atchison: YEA RIGHT
David Amos
Methinks Higgy and his buddy Flemming must know that the Shawn Graham's mandate had no problem whatsoever squandering emergency room resources in July of 2008 after Carl Urquhart and his pal Greg Thompson made false allegations against me to the RCMP.
Nobody can deny that their buddy Chucky Leblanc and two of his pals violated my privacy and blogged about that malicious nonsense while I was falsely imprisoned in the DECH in Fat Fred City. The funny part was that shrinks didn't get paid from any Medicare Card that I don't have N'esy Pas?
Mary MacKenzie
Reply to @David Amos: What did you do to cause your Medicare Card to be revoked?
What reason were you given to be remanded against your will to the DECH?
Kyle Woodman
Reply to @Mary MacKenzie: I'd like to know more about that story too. Give us the readers digest version Amos.
David Amos
Reply to @Mary MacKenzie: Find my lawsuit on the Internet (Federal Court File No T-1557 -15) If you still don't understand then call the number at the bottom of the Statement of Claim etc leave a message and I will call you back and explain things personally
David Amos
HMMM Whereas Higgy and Teddy cut down on emergency room services some people will certainly die quicker. Methinks that will save them a lot more money for their Health Care budget than not issuing Medicare Cards to their political foes N'esy Pas?
Bob Smith
Reply to @David Amos: So, status quo is better? Just pretend there is no problem with healthcare in this province as governments have done for decades?
David Amos
Reply to @Bob Smith: Did I say that?
David Amos
Reply to @Bob Smith:
Why should I care about your concerns about free health care in light of
the fact I am denied the same right?
Michel Jones
Reply to @David Amos: You sound 'touchy'.
David Amos
David Amos
Reply to @Michel Jones: Trust that I think even less of your comments
Donald Gallant:
This is now a necessary evil.
24 hospitals for 750000 people is nuts.
12 or less would suffice .
Dusty Green
Reply to @Donald
Gallant: Just don't live in a rural community and get sick between 10PM
and 9AM, or you'll have to drive yourself an hour or two to the closest
ER.
Mike Connors
Reply to @Donald
Gallant: Do you live in a rural area or in one of the big cities? How
long will a heart attack victim last without life saving intervention?
Not an hour. So people die but we still can fund NB Power's JOI pet
project with our tax money because that is more important. So do the
people with no hospitals pay less tax because they are not worthy of a
hospital? Will the Province pay for the gas to visit a loved one in a
hospital an hour away?
SarahRose
Werner:
Reply to @Dusty
Green: Define "sick." How often does "sick" mean a real emergency that
requires immediate attention vs yeah, you don't feel great, maybe you're
in pain, but you can hang on until morning?
Vernon McPhee
Reply to @SarahRose
Werner: Sure because those average 5 patients a night decided that they
would get out of bed and drive to an ER at 3 AM because they had a runny
nose. I believe I am like most people and will only go to an ER if
there is no other choice especially in the middle of the night. The
only time I ever went to an ER in the early hours resulted in surgery.
And the other 2 times I went to an ER was when being sent there from my
own Doctor and a Walk in Clinic.
Greg Miller
Reply to @Donald
Gallant: You are right on the money! All these "extra" hospitals were
built because politicians couldn't say no. Living in outlying or rural
areas does not give you the right to expect to have a hospital 30
minutes away. If you want that service and availability move closer to
an urban centre. The same goes for employment opportunities!
Pierre Cyr:
Reply to @Donald
Gallant: Its not the number of hospitals its the number of beds and we
dont have more beds than other provinces nor spend more than they do for
healthcare. You are being lied to.
David Amos
Reply to @Dusty Green: Methinks Mr Gallant quite likely does not have to concern himself about such things N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Reply to @Mike Connors: Well put
Michel Jones
Reply to @Mike Connors: Cherry picking for the sake of argument does nothing for the conversation...
David Amos
Reply to @Michel Jones: So you say
Greg Miller
Reply to @Mike Connors: An hour away--that's to far? Give me a break! Do you want a hospital every say 60 miles--and your concern is a visit. Get real!
Garry Cyr
Greg Miller
Reply to @Mike Connors: An hour away--that's to far? Give me a break! Do you want a hospital every say 60 miles--and your concern is a visit. Get real!
Garry Cyr
Reply to @Donald Gallant:
Ontario has 463 hospitals for 14.57 million people - 1 hospital per 31,500 residents
Nova Scotia has 41 hospitals for 971 thousand people - 1 hospital per 23.700 residents.
So New Brunswick 's number of hospitals are reasonable.
Ontario has 463 hospitals for 14.57 million people - 1 hospital per 31,500 residents
Nova Scotia has 41 hospitals for 971 thousand people - 1 hospital per 23.700 residents.
So New Brunswick 's number of hospitals are reasonable.
Lou Bell
Reply to @Dusty
Green: Many people do it now who are serviced by the larger hospitals .
The problem is they have MUCH LONGER wait times when they get there !
Lou Bell
Reply to @Mike
Connors: An average of 5 people being serviced in 8 hours is beyond
ridiculous ! Some people need to give their head a shake . You'd think
we had an excess of doctors !! It just isn't so !
Donald Gallant
Reply to @Dusty Green:
I live close to Hampton.
This does not bother me at all.
I live close to Hampton.
This does not bother me at all.
David Amos
Reply to @Donald Gallant: I bet you never voted for me EH?
Ray Bungay
So???????????? What next Mr Premier?=
Michel Jones
Reply to @Ray Bungay: He's trying to mitigate the problem Ray, we have to give it time..
David Amos
Reply to @Michel Jones: Yea Right
David Amos
Reply
to @Michel Jones: Methinks if Higgy truly believed in mitigation then
he and his buddies would not have sent me Tim Horton treats while I was
suing the Queen Anyone can Google Higgs Cardy and Butter Tarts N'esy
Pas?
Brian
Robertson
The government monopoly on healthcare guarantees the highest price for the poorest services.
Open up healthcare to competition from the private sector and watch services increase and prices drop.
That is the kind of significant change that is required in New Brunswick.
Open up healthcare to competition from the private sector and watch services increase and prices drop.
That is the kind of significant change that is required in New Brunswick.
Kyle
Woodman
Reply to @Brian
Robertson: Is that a quote from Blaine Higgs? Is this ultimately the
goal? If so, at least be upfront about it.
Mike Connors
Reply to @Kyle
Woodman: #1 I never saw a Conservative that was ever honest and #2 of
course that is the goal. Better have a house they can foreclose on if we
allow Higgs to go that route or you won't get health care if you are
sick. Our friend Brian obviously has never been in a U.S hospital if he
thinks prices will drop. Want a $150 band aid, Brian? How about a
$10,000 operation to deliver your baby because we know you guys don't
like abortion.
Kyle
Woodman
Reply to @Mike
Connors: yup. My questions are rhetorical. Higgs should just put it all
on the table. How many more cuts do we need to reach prosperity Blaine.
If he achieves his strategy of cutting our way to prosperity, he will be
the first to ever accomplish such a feat. Economists will write
textbooks about it.
Pierre Cyr
Reply to @Brian
Robertson: You obviously havent been to Maine for your healthcare.
Plenty of competition there. And prices are 2 to 5 times higher for a
given service. Profit motive increases prices everytime over non profit.
Brian
Robertson
Reply to @Pierre Cyr:
Then there is nothing for you socialists to be afraid of, is there?
Any private option would soon fail if it was too expensive.
So why insist on a mandatory government manopoly?
Then there is nothing for you socialists to be afraid of, is there?
Any private option would soon fail if it was too expensive.
So why insist on a mandatory government manopoly?
Michel Jones
Reply to @Mike Connors - Apparently you are confusing honesty and facing the truth head on..
Michel Jones
Reply to @Pierre Cyr: The US have only began to divulge prices before service recently because of a Presidential order..
David Amos
Reply to @Michel Jones: "Apparently you are confusing honesty and facing the truth head on.."
Interesting statement
Interesting statement
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/health-care-reforms-protests-politics-kevin-vickers-1.5460034
'This will get nasty': Protests erupt, Vickers threatens to topple government over health reforms
'This will get nasty' pledges Sussex protester predicting fight to reverse government decision
· CBC News · Posted: Feb 11, 2020 5:08 PM AT
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers told reporters at the New Brunswick Legislature he will try to bring down the provincial government over the health-care reforms. (CBC)
New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative minority government unveiled major, long-delayed health-care reforms that immediately triggered talk of an early provincial election.
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers said his party would try to defeat the government in the legislature over a plan to close six hospital emergency departments between midnight and 8 a.m.
Two PC MLAs refused to endorse the reforms, which were announced Tuesday morning by Health Minister Ted Flemming and the CEOs of the two regional health authorities.
Deputy Premier Robert Gauvin told Radio-Canada that "as an Acadian from northern New Brunswick, I can't support what has been announced," saying he was born in one of the affected hospitals, in Caraquet, and "better ideas must be found."
Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup was confronted by protesters outside the Sussex Health Centre on Tuesday. The government MLA said he was not consulted on the plan. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
Meanwhile, Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins MLA Bruce Northrup told an angry crowd at the Sussex Health Centre that he would speak to Horizon Health officials and local staff "and then I'll make a decision which way I'll be going on Thursday."
The Tory MLA, first elected in 2006, told people the reforms have been "a communication nightmare" and he had not been consulted on the plan, which includes the hospital in his riding.
'A government has to govern'
At a news conference in Fredericton, Flemming said there was no need for consultations because many of the ideas have been proposed by the health authorities for years, only to be rejected by risk-averse politicians.
"A government has to govern," he said. "There's been enough studies, enough consultations, enough reviews, enough, enough, enough. We know what the problem is. I believe the health-care professionals should be deciding this."
The two health authority CEOs confirmed that.
"We have been asking for these changes for many, many years … and we were never given authority to move forward," said Karen McGrath of Horizon Health.
Horizon Health Network CEO Karen McGrath, Health Minister Ted Flemming and Vitalité Health Network CEO Gilles Lanteigne announce cuts to ER operating hours at six hospitals in New Brunswick. (Jacques Poitras/CBC
Gilles Lanteigne, the CEO of Vitalité, said a plan approved by his board in 2015 along these lines has been gathering dust at the Health Department ever since.
"We're very happy that we're moving in the direction that is contained in these plans," he said.
'This will get nasty'
But the public reaction was far different, with rallies and online petitions popping up Monday and Tuesday in several of the communities affected.
"It is not going to happen, Bruce," one man in the Sussex crowd told Northrup. "This will get nasty. We will go to Fredericton and make sure this is not done."
The six hospitals affected are the Sussex Health Centre, the Sackville Memorial Hospital, Hotel-Dieu of St. Joseph in Perth-Andover, Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Kent, Enfant-Jésus Hospital in Caraquet and the Grand Falls General Hospital.
Protests were held outside some of the affected hospitals, including the Sussex Health Centre, above. (Graham Thompson/CBC)
McGrath and Lanteigne said the changes were needed because each of those hospitals has seen an average of only five emergency department visits per night, most of them not actual emergencies.
By closing those departments from midnight to 8 a.m., "the transfer of those hours should mean in all these facilities that these physicians are more available to see patients because they're not working overnight anymore," McGrath said.
A new nurse practitioner will be located in each of the six communities to further reduce wait lists.
Along with other nurse practitioner positions recently announced, the plan should spawn up to 118,000 additional doctor or nurse practitioner visits, the CEOs said, and reduce the provincial waiting list by more than half.
More than overnight service
But the reforms go beyond emergency departments to try to address the large number of seniors waiting for months in hospitals for alternative care arrangements such as nursing home spaces.
Those seniors don't require the acute-level care provided in hospitals, so the 120 acute-care beds in the six hospitals will be reclassified as chronic care beds requiring a less intense, and less costly, level of care.
Seniors in that category in larger hospitals will be moved to the smaller hospitals so that the larger hospitals are freed up to meet the demand for acute care, McGrath said.
The plan is to offer more services such as dining halls, recreation and social and emotional support to the seniors in those smaller facilities.
Flemming announced the health-care changes during a press conference Tuesday morning. (CBC)
The health authorities will also increase addiction and mental health services in the six communities where ERs will close at night.
Flemming described the changes as putting the right people in the right places to address modern health-care needs, including an aging population, while also responding to a shortage of trained professionals that has been getting worse.
"It should come as a surprise to no one in this province that our health-care system is in a crisis," he said. "The status quo is simply not an option, because the status quo leads to deterioration."
The minister said 23 service interruptions within the system in 2019 "were not isolated, one-off, 'oh gee' events. … We just do not have enough people to maintain the level of services."
He said even if the decision caused some "political flak … we're going to do it anyway."
Liberal Leader Kevin Vickers says, if it came to it, he would ask House Speaker Daniel Guitard to step down and vote with the party to defeat PC government. (CBC)
The flak was not long in coming, with Vickers telling reporters his Liberals "will bring down this government at our first opportunity to ensure the safety and health and welfare of our New Brunswick citizens."
A Liberal government would then restore the services being reduced, he added, though he didn't say how he would address the human-resources crunch facing the health-care system.
The political math
The Liberals don't have the numbers to defeat the PC government on their own. They have 19 seats in the legislature, not including Speaker Daniel Guitard, who only votes to break ties. The PCs have 21 seats and the Greens and People's Alliance each have three.
There are two vacant seats, Saint Croix and Shediac Bay-Dieppe, where Premier Blaine Higgs must call byelections.
Vickers said if it's needed to defeat the PCs, he'll ask Guitard to step down as speaker so he can vote with the party.
Even then, it would take the Liberals gaining the Saint Croix seat in a byelection and at least one other party voting with them to defeat the government.
People's Alliance Leader Kris Austin wouldn't say whether his party would prop up the PC government against a possible vote to bring it down. (CBC)
Alliance Leader Kris Austin said Tuesday he was concerned about the ER reductions but saw merit in other aspects of the plan. He wouldn't commit to propping up the PCs if the Liberals introduce a non-confidence motion.
Green Leader David Coon said some elements of the plan are needed, but the ER closures are a non-starter. But he wouldn't commit to voting with the Liberals to defeat the government.
He said his party's priority is to persuade the government to change its mind.
"This isn't something to make political hay out of," he said. "This is something to find solutions for."
The hours being implemented in the six hospitals are already in effect at St. Joseph's Hospital in Saint John and at the hospital in Oromocto.
340 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
David Amos
Methinks Chucky Leblanc and all the others who attended the press conference know things got rather nasty out of the gate N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Content disabled
Methinks Vickers
should get off his high horse and ask his minions for a copy of the
letter Mikey Murphy as Minister of Heath sent me and the RCMP not long
before the RCMP falsely arrested me then assaulted in the DECH N'esy
Pas?
David Amos
I was born in the Sackville Hospital in 1952 and it saved my butt 3 years later when I went into a coma for a month. Methinks for that reason alone I should fight tooth and nail to defend it. Obviously I quite simply don't care what my cousin Megan Mitton and all her Green Party pals say or do about it N'esy Pas?
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Amos:
Yet the hospital isn’t closing and births will still continue there as well as emergencies for half the day,
Yet the hospital isn’t closing and births will still continue there as well as emergencies for half the day,
David Amos
Reply to @Johnny Horton: Say Hey to the Irving Clan for me will ya?
Johnny Horton
Reply to @David Amos:
I’ve never spoken to an Irving in my life. Why would I start now, I also don’t buy Irving products. so I’m at least not a hypocrite...
Seems to me David Amos and Greg Smith are dupes. They both have an unhealthy fixation on me and Irving,
I’ve never spoken to an Irving in my life. Why would I start now, I also don’t buy Irving products. so I’m at least not a hypocrite...
Seems to me David Amos and Greg Smith are dupes. They both have an unhealthy fixation on me and Irving,
Holly Mossing
This is responsible government. Between doctor, nurses, and admin/support staff it must cost $500/hour to run an ER from midnight to 8 am. That means $4000/hospital/night where on average 5 patients (almost all non urgent) may be seen. Over these 6 small hospitals that’s $24000/night or $168,000 per week. Think of all the ways we could use those doctors, nurses and dollars: seeing more patients during the day. Mental health services. This is absolutely the right thing to do for our province.
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Holly Mossing:
When are NBers ever going to see benefits from all the "investments" and cuts to public services, the government (especially from the conservatives) been cutting while funneling public money to their private sector backers.
When are NBers ever going to see benefits from all the "investments" and cuts to public services, the government (especially from the conservatives) been cutting while funneling public money to their private sector backers.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Rosco holt:
Well you have two choices,
Cons that cut services, funnel money to pals and hold or lower taxes
OR
Libs that continually add services costing more money and raised taxes AND ALSO funnel money to their pals.
As the greens and people’s alliance gleefully gave themselves all pay raises, options three and four are no better,
So I’ll hold my nose and pick option one that does st least not raise my taxes.
Well you have two choices,
Cons that cut services, funnel money to pals and hold or lower taxes
OR
Libs that continually add services costing more money and raised taxes AND ALSO funnel money to their pals.
As the greens and people’s alliance gleefully gave themselves all pay raises, options three and four are no better,
So I’ll hold my nose and pick option one that does st least not raise my taxes.
Terry Tibbs
Reply to @Holly Mossing:
"Responsible government" would be hiring and retaining health professionals as required. Responsible government would not entail telling a health professional looking for a cost of living raise to go to Alberta for it.
Many rural folks in this province no longer have a family doctor due to retirement and non replacement, their ONLY access to health care is the ER at the local hospital, this is not what responsible government looks like.
"Responsible government" would be hiring and retaining health professionals as required. Responsible government would not entail telling a health professional looking for a cost of living raise to go to Alberta for it.
Many rural folks in this province no longer have a family doctor due to retirement and non replacement, their ONLY access to health care is the ER at the local hospital, this is not what responsible government looks like.
Dan Lee
Reply to @Terry Tibbs:
Now there is a comment that makes sense...............
Now there is a comment that makes sense...............
Terry Tibbs
Reply to @Dan Lee:
Funny how it seems everyone here is pushing their own agenda?
My ONLY agenda is that government do the job they were elected for.
Funny how it seems everyone here is pushing their own agenda?
My ONLY agenda is that government do the job they were elected for.
Johnny Horton
Reply to @Terry Tibbs:
Which they just did. But it doesn’t meet your demands aka agenda.
Which they just did. But it doesn’t meet your demands aka agenda.
Terry Tibbs
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
So speaks the Irving shill.
So speaks the Irving shill.
David Amos
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: YUP
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Our taxes go up because your corporate friends are not paying their fair share of taxes. They keep asking for more. Funneling money to the rich doesn't help the economy, the province or the debt which is in part to all the hand outs.
Public money shouldn't be used to benefit private businesses.
Higgs raised taxes when he decided to keep the provincial share of the carbon tax.
Johnny Horton
Dear mr vickers riddle me this,
How much health care would $50m your party gave to ATCON buy.z
How much health care would your $100m to francophone games provide?
Mack Leigh
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: How much health care would $ 90 million per year buy just by
amalgamating the two health authorities and reinstating " bilingual
where numbers warrant " ?
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Mack Leigh:
Fake news
Fake news
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Johnny Horton:
Riddle me this.
When will Irving pay is fair share of taxes.
Riddle me this.
When will Irving pay is fair share of taxes.
Johnny
Horton
Reply to @Rosco holt:
Define fair share,
I’ve yet to see anyone that has been able to justify an open ended progressive tax system as “fair”.
Irving should absolutely pay taxes. But like every person and every business there should be a hard cap on income, property and other progressive taxes.
Define fair share,
I’ve yet to see anyone that has been able to justify an open ended progressive tax system as “fair”.
Irving should absolutely pay taxes. But like every person and every business there should be a hard cap on income, property and other progressive taxes.
David Webb NB
Reply to @Rosco holt:
Are you suggesting that Irving is breaking some law? Lobby your
federal government to change/fix the laws/loopholes. I can assure you
there isn't a government out there that even thinks there is a problem.
Marc Martin
Reply to @Johnny
Horton: How much of the wood deal with the Irvings would have brought us
more health care, how much of the selling of NB (4.5 billion )would
have brought health care ??
Marc Martin
Reply to @Mack Leigh: Please provide the numbers where bilingualism cost money ?
David Amos
Reply to @Mack Leigh:
The wannabe country singer posts riddles and whines about your words as
"Fake News" Too too funny inddeed
Methinks Mr Vickers should answer a riddle for us and have certain Crown Corps disclose just exactly who the all knowing Irving shill really is N'esy Pas?
Methinks Mr Vickers should answer a riddle for us and have certain Crown Corps disclose just exactly who the all knowing Irving shill really is N'esy Pas?
Greg Miller
Mr. Vickers: YOUR SOLUTION TO THE HEALTH CARE PROBLEM IS??? Be careful what you initiate--there's a lot of memory out there re: former Liberal governments and their lack of ideas on implementing health care improvements. The last Liberal Government preferred to (secretly) spend 135 million dollars on things like the Francophone Games!
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Greg
Miller: Methinks Northrup's pals in Horizon and the RCMP enjoyed
assaulting me and falsely imprisoning me so much that they did it for
free N'esy Pas?
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Greg Miller:
The Cons don't have any idea either, just cutting for the benefits of their rich backers.
The Cons don't have any idea either, just cutting for the benefits of their rich backers.
Lou Bell
Reply to @Rosco holt: So ye got nuthin' ! Again !
Greg Miller
Reply to @Rosco holt: Appreciate and explanation.
David Amos
Reply to @Rosco holt: BINGO
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Lou Bell:
Don't pay bonuses to management when they show incompetence. Start showing returns on investments in the private sector, stop giving the province away to private interest, get businesses to pay their share of taxes, ban subsidizes, stop giving sweet deals unless there's a return, get money for our resources.
Stop burning out health care workers, make their position permanent instead of casual. Cut MLAs salaries and pensions.
Setup the taxes system that reward good corporate behavior like paying good wages, work conditions
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Greg Miller:
What Higgs is doing was done in the 90s(cut, cuts, cuts). Fast forward now and things are worst not better. It's the old rinse and repeat.
The give everything to businesses routine is ruining the province not helping it.
What Higgs is doing was done in the 90s(cut, cuts, cuts). Fast forward now and things are worst not better. It's the old rinse and repeat.
The give everything to businesses routine is ruining the province not helping it.
Shawn Tabor
It’s all playing out like a beautiful instrument. Remember this, the folks that control or run the show have had many years, and guidelines to go on. Topple the Government, which cost money, new crew comes in, get rid of this new proposal only to deal with another very important matter down the road. Face it, We are broke and someone going to pay now or later, weather it’s healthcare or any other important services that the Province provides. Just a shame because they knew for many years that this was comming. Think about the scams that has happened and knowone was ever held accountable. I believe that their is outside people paying very close attention to the outcome or the sustainability of this Province. If nothing else a good learning tool. NB the place to be. Have a great, safe day. Don’t take any wooden Nickles. LOL.
https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies
David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks it should begin with Higgy making certain that I get my Medicare Card Back N'esy Pas?
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/02/premier-braces-public-for-major-health.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/vitalite-health-network-hospital-services-1.5458149
Premier braces public for major health-care reform Tuesday
'While change is not easy, it is necessary,' Blaine Higgs says on eve of announcement
· CBC News · Posted: Feb 10, 2020 12:37 PM AT
Online petitions have been circulating in communities such as Sussex and Sackville to defend services at local hospitals. (CBC)
A major reform to the New Brunswick health care system will be announced Tuesday.
Premier Blaine Higgs confirmed in a statement that the CEOs of the province's two health care networks will reveal the changes on Tuesday morning.
"We need to act with a sense of urgency to ensure quality health care will always be there when you need it," he said in the statement.
"These ongoing challenges have been ignored for far too long by previous governments for political reasons. While change is not easy, it is necessary and we are prepared to do what is right for all New Brunswickers."
The statement provided no details on what the changes will be.
But the premier pointed to 23 different service interruptions in the province last year. He said an aging population, a mental health crisis and a labour shortage in the system mean the system is no longer sustainable the way it is now.
Health Minister Ted Flemming has called the shortage of medical professionals in the health-care system a 'tsunami.' (Shane Fowler/CBC)
The Vitalité Health Network made similar comments earlier Monday.
"We are facing recruitment issues that are now damaging the way we deliver services to patients," spokesperson Thomas Lizotte said in an emailed statement.
"Recent service interruptions have demonstrated that it is now time to take action. Challenges are real, and we cannot wait for other closures to come and disrupt patients' services."
Last fall Vitalité was forced to close emergency services, surgeries and other services at the Campbellton Regional Hospital because of a lack of staff and beds.
A spokesperson for the Horizon Health Network wouldn't comment Monday on its role in any announcement. Health Department spokesperson Bruce MacFarlane also refused to comment.
Online petitions circulating
But online petitions were already circulating Monday morning in communities such as Sussex and Sackville to defend services at their local hospitals.
And in Caraquet, about 40 people spoke outside the L'Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus RHSJ, including local Liberal MLA Isabelle Thériault, Acadie-Bathurst Liberal MP Serge Cormier and most members of the town council.
"Leave small community hospitals like the one in Caraquet alone," said Dr. Hubert Dupuis, the president of the lobby group Égalité Santé en français. He told the crowd that more cost savings are to be found in larger hospitals.
Community leaders and others in Caraquet speaking to media outside the local hospital to defend existing levels of service there. (Alix Villeneuve/Radio-Canada)
In a year-end interview with CBC News, Higgs warned health reforms to be announced in the first quarter of 2020 might not be popular.
"We're not going to shy away from them," he said. "I hope to be able to communicate in a way that people understand the rationale behind everything we do. I would never suggest that means everyone will like it. It's just that they'll understand why."
Staff shortage a 'tsunami'
Health Minister Ted Flemming has called the shortage of medical professionals in the system a tsunami that has to be addressed.
Last fall Vitalité Health Network was forced to close emergency services, surgeries and other services at the Campbellton Regional Hospital because there weren't enough staff or beds. (Radio-Canada)
A recent report by Horizon said a review was underway to address growing wait times in the emergency departments of its five regional hospitals in Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Waterville, in the Woodstock area, and Miramichi.
"We are nearing the completion of our current state analysis," the report said. "Next steps are for the project team to identify and prioritize the areas for targeted improvement."
In January the province announced the creation of 32 new nurse-practitioner positions to reduce the burden on hospital emergency departments.
Last month CBC News reported that the government was looking at ways to centralize hospital laboratories, including a proposal that would see the number of facilities slashed by more than half.
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David Amos
Methinks it should begin with Higgy making certain that I get my Medicare Card Back N'esy Pas?
David Amos
everybody should understand why I have every right to sue Higgy and his minions for forcing me to pay for the emergency room bills and doctor fees etc because of their refusal to give me back my Medicare Card. What would they do if they were I?
However to be fair to my malicious political foes methinks the other folks should wait to hear what Higgy's plans for our Health Care are before they complain because It could be of benefit us all even those in the SANB N'esy Pas Marguerite Deschamps?
Marguerite Deschamps
You want cuts in services, vote CONservative.
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: or should I say, CORservative?
Joe Mufferaw
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Not true.
David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Who do you think was responsible for putting a "stay" my right to medicare?
Rosco Holt
Reply to @Joe Mufferaw:
Cons do cut services and taxes more often than Liberals.
Cons do cut services and taxes more often than Liberals.
Colin Seeley
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps:
Gallant and Rogers did nothing. Lie perhaps.
Gallant and Rogers did nothing. Lie perhaps.
Joe Mufferaw
Reply to @Rosco holt:
Show the proof that Con cut more than Liberals. I support neither
party but I definitely do not see one group better than the other.
Sounds like partisan talk.
Dan Armitage
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: you want deficits to soar vote liberal
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