Saturday, 5 September 2020

Scrapped health reforms linger over Sussex campaign, with hospital's fate a top concern

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Replying to @alllibertynews and 49 others
Methinks will not happen but I trust that Higgy et al know why it would make my day to see the PC Party lose this seat to any other party N'esy Pas?



https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2020/09/scrapped-health-reforms-linger-over.html



#nbpoli #cdnpoli



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/sussex-fundy-st-martins-riding-health-care-services-1.5713064



Scrapped health reforms linger over Sussex campaign, with hospital's fate a top concern

PCs say ER service cuts off table, but opposition parties dubious of Higgs’s commitment


 Colin McPhail · CBC News · Posted: Sep 05, 2020 7:00 AM AT


Concern for service reductions at the Sussex Health Centre remains months after the Progressive Conservative government abandoned plans for changes. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

Seven months ago a crowd gathered outside the Sussex Health Centre to protest significant health-care reforms the Progressive Conservative government had planned for six small-town hospitals across New Brunswick.

A lot has happened since February, but Apohaqui resident Jill Beaulieu remembers well the three days spent in frigid temperatures. Beaulieu was initially concerned about losing overnight emergency room service, but the more she listened, the more red flags appeared.

"This plan has many changes, and I became equally concerned with plans that basically would involve closing active hospital beds and turning our hospital into an extended-care facility," Beaulieu told CBC News this week.

The plan to reduce ER hours and convert acute-care beds into long-term care at hospitals in Sussex, Sackville, Grand Falls, Caraquet, Perth-Andover and Saint-Anne-de-Kent created immense political strife. The PCs lost their deputy minister and a Vitalité Health Network board member also resigned.
The pushback from the opposition and the public was vehement, and in less than a week the premier scrapped the plan. Blaine Higgs cited poor communication, lack of consultation and a messy rollout plan in his reasons.

In the months to follow, the PC leader committed to not reducing ER hours on several occasions, including a campaign stop in Sussex on Tuesday.

Yet the issue persists. And not only does it persist, the future of health care in Sussex is the main election issue for the riding of Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins.

"There was no resolution," Beaulieu said, citing the cancelled health-care summit to discuss a long-term vision for rural health care.

"There's a feeling, for me at least, of this unfinished business."


The trust factor

Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne said he knows health care is top of mind for the community, despite hearing the reassurance from Higgs. He said the reforms extended well beyond a reduction in ER hours, saying primary health care for the area was at stake.

"I've been very clear that I remain concerned because the same folks that made the decisions about what the reforms will look like in February are, in fact, the people that are sitting around the table today," Thorne said.

People gathered outside the Sussex Health Centre in February to protest the health reforms. (Pierre Fournier/CBC)

Opposition parties looking to unseat the Tories have been keen to suggest a Higgs majority could jeopardize local health services.

"People don't really trust this government," said Liberal candidate Cully Robinson, a former educator and a Sussex resident who ran for the Yukon Liberals in 2011.

"That's because I ask people. I say, 'Do you think we can trust this government to maintain a full suite of services at our hospital if they gain a majority?' And the answer is always emphatically no.

"Mr. Higgs is addicted to austerity."
 
 Cully Robinson is the Liberal candidate in Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Submitted by Cully Robinson)

Robinson said any cuts to the hospital not only impedes access to primary health care but economic growth by making it tougher to attract doctors, other professionals, new families and services.

The Liberal candidate said aid for small businesses in the form of working capital and effective startup programs is needed, and he said fracking, if done safely, could be a job creator as the province transitions into a green economy.

Newcomer takes PC reins

Longtime PC MLA Bruce Northrup held the riding with ease since he was first elected in 2006, securing at least half of the votes cast in the past four elections. But Northrup, who opposed the health reforms, has retired from politics, and Tammy Scott-Wallace won the nomination.

While Scott-Wallace is a newcomer to politics, she's a familiar name in the area after working as a journalist there for 25 years. She left Brunswick News in 2019 and opened her own communications company.


Tammy Scott-Wallace is the PC candidate in Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Submitted by Tammy Scott-Wallace)

She said the idea to seek public office originated when community members came to her with their concerns about  hospital cuts. She told CBC News she shares the same values Higgs does and respected the decision "to not only reverse but say they were wrong and they were mistaken."

But the issue continues to dog her campaign, despite her and her leader's insistence service reductions aren't coming.


"I'm telling people there will not be a reduction in ER hours and there will not be a reduction in acute care beds," Scott-Wallace said.
 
PC Leader Blaine Higgs and local candidate Tammy Scott-Wallace pose for a photo outside the Sussex hospital. (Facebook/Tammy Scott-Wallace)

On the issue of trust, she said Higgs's commitment isn't a sudden campaign pledge to appease voters; he's been consistent on the matter for months. She said transparency in government "is vital to ensuring trust among the people," adding any discussions on the hospital's future must include the public and health-care providers.

Scott-Wallace said other key issues include economic development in the region and continuing the recovery after the loss of the potash mine and more than 400 jobs in 2016.

She said developing natural resources, such as natural gas, wind power and geothermal energy, can play an important part.

Alliance sees opportunity

Opposition parties see opportunity with unease over the hospital coupled with Northrup's departure, and People's Alliance candidate Jim Bedford is confident in his second shot at the seat.

Bedford, a Fairfield resident who owns a supply and service business with his son, was the lone candidate in the 2018 election to boost their party's share of the vote. He finished second behind Northrup's 3,816 votes with 1,874 of his own, more than 600 more than Liberal Ian Smyth.


He more than doubled the votes the Alliance received in 2014. However, the party is polling well below where it stood in the 2018 campaign.
 
Jim Bedford is the People's Alliance candidate for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Facebook/Jim Bedford)

The former St. Martins fire chief was heavily involved in the community as a first responder and part of the emergency management team before heading to Alberta to open a business. He returned to the area five years ago.

He said supporting small businesses through tax cuts and helping navigate red tape is a priority, but his main concern is health care. He, too, is skeptical of Higgs.

"That's fine and dandy that the premier made this statement and he's made it several times," Bedford said.

"If Mr. Higgs is going to change direction, why would he not replace that [Horizon] CEO?"

Echoing his Alliance Leader Kris Austin, Bedford extolled the virtues of a minority government.


"The People's Alliance have actually proven to the public that minority governments work, and the proof of that is these hospitals, the rural hospitals are still open today," he said.

Green, NDP candidates

Tim Thompson is running under the Green banner again, almost a year removed from his bid to be MP for Fundy Royal. The military reservist who grew up in Quispamsis said the once-community-run hospital needs more autonomy in how it operates.
 
Tim Thompson is the Green candidate for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Facebook/Tim Thompson)

"We need to ensure we're bringing the ownership of that hospital back to the community of Sussex and fully funding it,  and I would actually like to see us expand and start taking the burdens off the three major cities," Thompson said.

On other issues, Thompson said he wants to see the Fundy Parkway trail completed in a timely and proper fashion to boost local tourism as well as better stewardship of local natural resources, including no fracking and more sustainable forestry practices.

Jonas Lanz is running for the NDP on a platform to improve workers' rights and wages in the province. Born in Germany, Lanz moved to New Brunswick in 2007 and works as an operator at the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John.
 
Jonas Lanz is the NDP candidate for Sussex-Fundy-St. Martins. (Facebook/Jonas Lanz)

The Rothesay resident, who is campaigning outside his home riding, is hoping to see workers empowered to speak up on issues such as safety and liveable wages.

He also identified health care as a key issue in the riding.

"People in both rural and urban New Brunswick need the basics," he said. "It doesn't help a lot of people if we focus on being on the cutting edge of things in one or two cities of the province if the rest of the province doesn't have the basics."



CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
 



104 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.




David Amos 
Methinks will not happen but I trust that Higgy et al know why it would make my day to see the PC Party lose this seat to any other party N'esy Pas? 


Jos Allaire
Content disabled
Reply to @David Amos: That would be sweet!











David Amos 
I watched the debate in Sussex and laughed when the old dude asked all the wannabe MLAs about the lack of high speed internet in most of the riding and they all chimed in with the same beef. So I called him and told him that anyone can simply Google two names (David Amos Martine Turcotte) then say Hey to Higgy et. al for me and quite likely the High speed line will come to his house quite quickly 











David Amos 
Methinks I should welcome the newcomer Jonas Lanz to the local circus I suspect that he has no clue as to why I am laughing at this nonsense N'esy Pas? 












David Amos 
Hmmmm


David Amos 
Reply to @David Amos: I wonder how many elections I must run in within this area before I am allowed to state my political opinions












Corrie Weatherfield
gosh, I thought that DA guy must have been busy driving the big blue bus around but today it must be the day off


David Amos  
Reply to @Corrie Weatherfield: Methinks everybody knows that a son of the Keith Clan in Fundy Royal who is driving Higgy's bus He almost hit a deer on Route 10 oustside of Sussex and everything in the bus went flying N'esy Pas?













Jos Allaire
Content disabled
Look at that photo of that Higgs with the CORservative candidate in front of the hospital, a clear reminder of his intention to close it which he will do if he gets a majority. Higgs and his CORservatives cannot be trusted.


Lou Bell 
Content disabled
Reply to @Jos Allaire: Gallant had to relocate to another province . Too many questions , no answers by he , Melanson , and their SANB cohorts on attempted pilfering of taxpayer funds for their Phonie games . The SANB Liberals can never be trusted again by 67.5 % of all NB'ers !!!


Jos Allaire   
Content disabled
Reply to @Lou Bell: I can assert that Gallant is still in New Nouveau-Brunswick and doing very well.


David Amos  
Content disabled
Reply to @Jos Allaire: Of that I have no doubt












Matt Steele
At least Higgs listened , and backed down on the hospital cuts when there was an outcry from the public . When the poor Commissionaire was fired in Fredericton just ten months before retirement for failing to speak french , there was an outcry ; and Brian Gallants Liberals still upheld the firing with a smile on their face .


Jos Allaire 
Content disabled
Reply to @Matt Steele: He shouldn't have had the job in the first place just like many others who obtained jobs on the false pretense that they were bilingual, contrary to the fake news we read on here all the time.


Dan Stewart 
Reply to @Matt Steele: I guess you have to listen when you don't have a majority..... Do you actually think he would have otherwise?


Fred Brewer 
Reply to @Jos Allaire: I thought I read all the available news about the firing of the commissionaire and this is the first time I have heard that he claimed to be bilingual. That does not sound right. Can you please provide a reliable source for that statement?


Fred Brewer 
Reply to @Fred Brewer: Talk about conflict of interest. First the Language Commish files a complaint personally to her own office, and then she investigates her own complaint. Wow.
Furthermore she sends a letter to government saying she rec'd an anonymous complaint. Wow, wow, wow. No wonder all 5 political parties were upset with her.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/austin-language-commissioner-1.3301200


Michel Forgeron 
Reply to @Fred Brewer:The source I believe may be someone's imagination.


Lou Bell
Reply to @Fred Brewer: No Joey can't ! Of course not !


Lou Bell 
Reply to @Matt Steele: The Language Commissioner serves one language and one language only ! His / Her SANB endorsers .


Jos Allaire 
Content disabled
Reply to @Fred Brewer: The job he was doing was dealing with the public. I say it should have been designated as bilingual. I know people in high places who were appointed to the post on the false pretense that they were bilingual.


Jos Allaire
Content disabled
Reply to @Lou DumBell: "The Language Commissioner serves one language and one language only ! " - Her first language is English. You stated it.


Jos Allaire
Content disabled 
The new Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick is Shirley MacLean.


David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Jos Allaire: Methinks you know as well as I why Shirley MacLean offended me in 2004 N'esy Pas?


David Amos
Reply to @Jos Allaire: Anyone can Google

David Amos Shirley MacLean law society


Al Clark
Reply to @David Amos: Howcum gandalf the kray kray is in my google results?? ;-)







 

 





Ron Linda
People who don't understand the situation always believe the worst. This is not the case with hospitals - get real for heavens sake.


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @Ron Linda:
I have to ask. Does your vehicle have a spare tire? If it does you likely paid $200-300 for it. What good is it most of the time? What is it for?


David Amos
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Methinks our many potholes cause wiseguys not to leave home without the spare tire N'esy Pas?


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @David Amos:
Mt spare is in the trunk, quite unused as yet, but there "just in case". Kinda like an ER? 
 











Leigh Smith
Does the Liberal party pay for the CBC coverage or is it free? How about a headline investigating the Liberals and the Francophonie games fiasco.


Troy Murray 
Reply to @Leigh Smith: very biased, almost see enn enn


Al Clark 
Reply to @Leigh Smith: Did blue tie Steve Murphy bring it up? No? Call him ;-)


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @Leigh Smith:
Yes, there are many of us who would welcome a FULL investigation.
By cancelling that event: How many tourist dollars were lost? And how much tax on those tourist dollars was lost? And how much local income was lost? And how much income tax on that lost income was lost?
How much did we really save? Let's get some "real" numbers, instead of BS.


David Amos
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Surely you jest


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @David Amos:
How so? An investigation, is supposed to be an investigation, let's see us some truth for a change. 


David Amos
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: You know thats a pipe dream as well as I 
 













Donald Gallant
Ken McGeorge often writes articles published in the media.
He speaks and writes of reforms and changes that must happen in providing care in Family Medicine that would allow NP’s and PA’s to perform and substitute for Dr’s in a collaborative centres and team based model.

These ideas apply especially to the more rural areas.

One has to wonder if Vickers and Coon are in agreements with the solutions for primary care as proposed by
Mr. Mc George ?

Surly the media can ask the right questions !


Terry Tibbs
Reply to @Donald Gallant:
By asking the right questions it would significantly change the approved narrative and we can't have that.


David Amos 
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Of course not













Donald Gallant
I seem to recall it was not that long ago that a man had a hernia repair done in a local and semi rural area without backup supports.
Things did not go as expected and an artery was severed .

The poor man Started bleeding which could not be stopped and passed away .

The message is clear. Be careful Of where and if what you get treated for.

A rural centre may not be the best place to be.


Kris Boucher 
Reply to @Donald Gallant: sorry about the loss but that could’ve happened at any hospital. As for me I had a partial amputation at my wrist when I was caught up in some fishing gear, and if it wasn’t for a rural hospital I’d have have a stump now instead of a hand. I am very grateful for rural hospitals and clinics.


Kris Boucher  
Reply to @Kris Boucher: oops I see I’m stutter texting again, only supposed to be one “have” not “ have have” lol.


Colin Seeley
Reply to @Kris Boucher:
Of course you will be happy when there are no surgeons to care for you and Nurse Practitioner become the standard.

Good luck.


Kris Boucher  
Reply to @Colin Seeley: hasn’t happened yet and I’m not spending my day worrying about “if” something “might” happen. I know the system in our rural community is working “now” and that’s all that matters to me and others who live in rural communities. The PC’s forgot the human side of the equation, and that’s why they won’t be getting our vote.


Donald Gallant
Reply to @Kris Boucher:
Only in NB could ideas such as yours prevail.

These ideas are not realistic or sustainable.


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @Donald Gallant:
It is not "realistic, or sustainable" to carry a spare tire in your vehicle. It likely added $300 to the price when your vehicle was new. And it is pure BS when you have to get it out, jack up your vehicle, change it, put everything away, and get cleaned up. Yet most of us carry one. Why would that be?


David Amos 
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: Methinks we would be rather dumb if we did not lug a spare tire around on these roads N'esy Pas?


Terry Tibbs 
Reply to @David Amos:
"Just in case", right? Your hard earned money invested in a spare just in case you need it, yet many/most times it sits there, quite unused.
Don't ER's fall into the same kind of "thing"? Quite unused until you need it, and when you need it, you really need it.


David Amos 
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: How many times have I paid emergency room and doctor fees in the past year to not understand your point?


David Amos 
Reply to @Terry Tibbs: What you should wonder why do I go to ones controlled by French folks instead of the local one in Sussex






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