Tag: CHMA

Grassroots efforts to attract nurses to Sackville Memorial Hospital got results, volunteer committee reports

Former mayor John Higham, co-chair of the Rural Health Action Group speaking to Sackville town councillors on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Screenshot: Sackville.com/YouTube

A local volunteer committee says its efforts to recruit health-care workers for the Sackville Memorial Hospital are paying off.

The Rural Health Action Group updated town councillors on a partnership with the regional health authority on Tuesday, and suggested their grassroots approach could become a model for other communities.

The hospital’s emergency department has been operating 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. following service cuts linked to widespread labour shortages in the health-care sector.

In December 2021, Horizon health authority also converted all acute-care beds at the hospital into long-term care, citing the nurse shortage. 

On Tuesday, John Higham — who co-chairs the committee with Pat Estabrooks, both of them former Sackville mayors — presented figures that showed improved staffing numbers.

Listen to highlights from the Rural Health Action Group’s Nov. 8, 2022 presentation at Sackville town council:

Higham also confirmed that a highly anticipated return of acute-care beds is happening.

“It’s important to note that the inpatient services are coming back,” Higham said. “Major investment in two operating rooms was announced last week, that’s significant.  

“It’s going to be aligned with the waiting list for the region on operations, which is what we’ve also talked to [Horizon] about for quite a while, the Brunswick beds are turning back into inpatients.”

Improved staff vacancy rates in that unit were also noted in background documents circulated among Sackville town councillors.… Continue

Meet the candidates: Andrew Black, running for mayor of Tantramar

Town of Sackville deputy mayor Andrew Black is a candidate for mayor in the new town of Tantramar. Photo: Submitted

Andrew Black was just elected for a second term on Sackville town council when the province decided to amalgamate surrounding areas and create a new town of Tantramar. After serving the past year as Deputy Mayor and taking an active role in the Union of New Brunswick Municipalities (Black was elected president of the organization last month), he decided to run for mayor of the amalgamated municipality. Black says the coming year in municipal government will be a tough one, dealing with unknowns and a new council composition.

CHMA’s David Gordon Koch has interviewed all three mayoral candidates for Tantramar. Listen to his interview with Andrew Black here:


CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.

TRANSCRIPT:

CHMA: So thanks for taking the time today, Andrew Black. Could you start by telling me a bit about yourself and how long you’ve been involved with council?

Andrew Black: Well, I’m 47 years old. I was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. And I think it was five months old when my parents moved out west., I lived in Calgary until I was about 10 years old and moved back to the Maritimes, to Sackville, in 1985. So I’ve lived here most of my life. Graduated from Tantramar High School, graduated from Mount Allison University and my parents are both from the area.… Continue

Meet the candidates: Bonnie Swift, running for mayor of Tantramar

Bonnie Swift is a candidate for mayor in the new town of Tantramar. Photo: Bruce Wark

Bonnie Swift is an environmental engineer who worked for years in Alberta, moving east to Sackville in 2010 and serving as the town of Sackville business development officer for two years. Swift describes herself as a “small town girl” from Dorchester, and says she’s running for mayor of the new municipality of Tantramar after encouragement from friends. Swift became active in Sackville politics this past year, advocating for reconsideration and public consultation of a zoning change that made way for the AIL pipe plant now under construction on Walker Road.

CHMA’s David Gordon Koch has interviewed all three mayoral candidates for Tantramar. Listen to his interview with Bonnie Swift here:

CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.

TRANSCRIPT:

CHMA: I’m speaking with Bonnie Swift. She’s one of three candidates in the race for mayor, the first-ever mayor of the new town of Tantramar. Bonnie, thanks for speaking to CHMA today.

Bonnie Swift: Thank you. You’re welcome. Glad to do it.

CHMA: First of all, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? This is your first run for a municipal council seat, isn’t it?

Bonnie Swift: Yeah, well, as far as I go, I’m a small town girl. I grew up in Dorchester. I went to high school in Sackville.… Continue

‘Expect the previously unexpected’: Hurricane Fiona, rising sea levels show need to restore salt marshes for natural protection, says prof

A map shows critical infrastructure in the Sackville-Amherst area. Screengrab: Chignecto Isthmus Climate Change Adaptation Comprehensive Engineering and Feasibility Study, 2022/gnb.ca

With sea levels rising and weather patterns becoming more volatile, the storm that wreaked havoc in Atlantic Canada last month might be a mere sampling of things to come.

In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Prof. Jeff Ollerhead of Mount Allison University says decision-makers can reduce the risks of catastrophic flooding in the Tantramar area by restoring salt marshes.

“Are we seeing storms? Are we seeing impacts? Yes. Fiona has just reminded us of that,” he said. “And do we have the ability or the capacity to do something about this? Yes, we do.”

Ollerhead made those comments during a recent talk with the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership, described as a “virtual Institute” open to people interested in the well-being of the bay.

CHMA tuned into the talk to bring you highlights. Ollerhead started by talking about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and how things appear to be changing faster than predicted.

… Continue

Anti-poverty advocates shine a light on homelessness, lack of services in rural areas

A crowd of approximately 75 people marched through downtown Moncton on Monday, October 17, 2022, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Photo: David Gordon Koch
Janelle LeBlanc, provincial coordinator of the NB Common Front is pictured in downtown Moncton on October 17, 2022.

On Monday, the New Brunswick Common Front for Social Justice organized a march through downtown Moncton to renew their commitment to the fight against poverty and show solidarity with the poor. 

The event took place in an urban setting, but conditions of poverty also exist in rural and semi-rural areas like Tantramar.

“I live in a rural area,” said Janelle LeBlanc, provincial coordinator of the NB Common Front. “I’ve seen, in the communities around where I live, unhoused people on the street.”

It’s a phenomenon she never witnessed growing up. And it has happened in tandem with massive increases in rent that have affected tenants in cities and the countryside.

Earlier this year, the provincial government implemented a temporary rent cap that expires on Dec. 31, 2022.

Listen to the interview with Janelle LeBlanc, provincial coordinator of the NB Common Front:

Event organizers estimated that about 75 people showed up for the march from Riverfront Park to Saint George’s Anglican Church, which offers social services to homeless people in downtown Moncton. 

The event featured testimonies from people that have struggled with poverty, including a young woman with autism who experienced homelessness.

Senator Nancy Hartling.
… Continue