In his report to council on Monday night, Mayor Shawn Mesheau told his colleagues he’s had several meetings on various health care issues affecting the Sackville community, and warned that social media posts claiming the imminent closure of the Sackville Memorial hospital are unfounded.
Mesheau said he’s been in discussions with Ambulance NB and the department of health about the possibility of allowing ambulances across the border into Nova Scotia in some emergency situations. He also mentioned two meetings involving the Rural Health Action Group, one in mid-December with Horizon officials focussing on recruitment, and one more recently with neighbouring mayors from the region, talking about the future of the action group.
As for warnings on posters and in social media posts that the Sackville hospital is in danger of imminent closure, Mesheau called them false statements. “Something that’s been seen social media wise and posted through our community is a false statement that Sackville Memorial Hospital is in danger of closing,” said Mesheau. “That is not the case.”
Posters have appeared in downtown Sackville making the claim, and listing the contact information for various public officials to contact to protest the closure of the hospital. Mesheau supported the idea of contacting elected officials, but also warned that the rumour of a closure could have negative side effects.
“It’s always important to send your concerns to the premier, to the health minister, to our MLA, to ensure that our voices are being heard,” said Mesheau. But the claim that the hospital is closing is “undermining to the hard work that the volunteers on the Rural Health Action Group, and the Horizon managers are doing, trying to mitigate the staffing issues here in Sackville.”
“The hospital is not at risk of closing,” said Mesheau. “There are difficulties happening right now. And there are many people working towards trying to right that.”
Councillor Sabine Dietz sits on the Rural Action Health Group, and told council on Monday that the group is very active and has been meeting “fairly regularly.” Dietz said the group’s work has been divided into five areas, each with its own lead person in place:
- recruitment and retention,
- community funding and incentives (linked to recruitment and retention),
- hospital morale,
- overall communications, including with the community, and
- the future approach to hospital services.
“There’s a lot going on,” said Dietz, “a lot of good work happening. And there’s still a lot of good communications with Horizon Health.”