Sackville parents weigh in on loss of French Immersion program and ‘erosion of bilingualism’
Lost opportunities for kids, an erosion of bilingualism for Anglophones, and yet another new language cohort in the school system. Those are some of the things Sackville parents are expecting to come about if the provincial government follows through on its plan to cut the French Immersion program starting next September.
Hear this story as reported on Tantramar Report:
Back in October, former education minister Dominic Cardy called out Premier Blaine Higgs for his “recent efforts to pressure EECD to abolish French Immersion by September 2023,” in a widely shared and highly critical resignation letter. Since then, new Education minister Bill Hogan has confirmed that Higgs’ plan to move up a phase-out of French Immersion would start next September, with kids going into grade one no longer eligible for the intensive language program.
Instead, Hogan is promising an enhanced French program as part of the regular English system.
Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton is one of the parents whose kids will be affected by the change. As someone who went through French Immersion herself, Mitton told CHMA that even though she finished in grade 10 and didn’t complete language proficiency tests at the time, her immersion education laid the foundation for her bilingualism today, something that is a key skill in her role as MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar.
Sackville’s Drew Nursing Home has lowest rate of inappropriate anti-psychotic use in province
New Brunswick nursing homes have the third highest use of antipsychotics deemed “potentially inappropriate” compared to their provincial counterparts, according to research done by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). But a Sackville nursing home stands out for its low “potentially inappropriate”use of the drugs.
CIHI looked into how many people living in long term care homes were taking antipsychotic drugs without a diagnosis of psychosis. Antipsychotics are sometimes used to help control patients with behavioural challenges brought on by conditions like dementia. But those uses can pose added risks, such as an increase in falls, says Drew Nursing Home director, Linda Shannon. “Use of antipsychotics for dementia is what normally is not appropriate,” says Shannon. “It’s not a good use of an antipsychotic.”
CIHI found rates of potentially inappropriate use in New Brunswick ranging from 71.4% at Villa St-Joseph in Tracadie, to 7.3% at the Drew Nursing Home in Sackville. The average rate in New Brunswick was 30.3%, above the national average of 22%.
Shannon says the reason for the low rate of inappropriate use at the Drew could have something to do with the resources in the nursing home, which accommodates up to 118 residents.
“The big reason that our use of antipsychotic is low at the Drew is because we have a nurse practitioner here four and a half days a week,” says Shannon. “Our nurse practitioner evaluates every resident as they come in, sometimes they may not be on an appropriate use of an antipsychotic.… Continue
Restore salt marshes for natural protection as sea level rise threatens Tantramar: prof
Listen to Tantramar Report for Thursday, October 27, 2022:
Anti-poverty advocates shine a light on homelessness, lack of services in rural areas
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.
‘Be part of this historic initiative’: Allain tries to drum up more candidates for municipal elections
There is just one week to go for candidates to nominate themselves for municipal elections in New Brunswick, and so far there are just eight candidates registered with Elections NB for the new town of Tantramar.
Tantramar Candidates according to Elections NB unofficial list
Mayor
Shawn Mesheau
Ward 1 (Dorchester) – One councillor seat available
Debbie Wiggins-Colwell
Robert Corkerton
Ward 2 (West Sackville/Rockport) – One councillor seat available
None
Ward 3 (Sackville) – Four councillor seats available
Mike Tower
Josh Goguen
Allison Butcher
Ward 4 (Upper Sackville/Midgic) – One councillor seat available
Matt Estabrooks
Ward 5 (Point de Bute/Aulac) – One councillor seat available
Greg Martin
Current Sackville councillor Sabine Dietz says she will be running in Ward 4 (Upper Sackville/Midgic) though she has yet to register.
Two current Sackville councillors have informed CHMA they will not be running: Bill Evans and Ken Hicks. Others are expected to declare candidacy soon, including Andrew Black and Bruce Phinney.
Counting Dietz as a candidate, there are just two actual elections guaranteed to take place in Tantramar, with no contest so far for Mayor, councillors in Ward 3 (Sackville), and councillor in Ward 5 (Point de Bute). There are no candidates whatsoever for councillor in Ward 2 (West Sackville).
There are also no candidates for the elected advisory committee for the new Southeast Rural District which is spread over eight distinct areas of the region, from north of Midgic to the Canaan Bog to the edges of Fundy National Park.… Continue
Sackville emergency department closed Saturday
The Sackville Memorial Hospital emergency department will be closed this Saturday, October 22.
After it closes Friday at 4pm, the emergency room will not reopen to patients again until Sunday at 8am.
The Horizon Health Network says all patients requiring emergency medical care during the closure will need to be treated at another hospital, and all ambulances will be diverted to other hospitals.
Anyone experiencing a medical emergency can still call 911, or visit the next closest emergency department in Moncton or Amherst.
Horizon says the decision to close the emergency department was made because of a staff shortage.
The network says it is actively working to recruit physicians and nurses to reduce temporary closures and resume services.… Continue
Rally shows ‘solidarity and compassion’ amid housing crisis, inflation; province announces $100M for public housing
Listen to Tantramar Report for Tuesday, October 18, 2022:
Local artist channels Alex Colville to re-create frame for original painting in his style
Local artist Robert Lyon started noticing and admiring the work of Alex Colville as a kid leafing through art books. These days he’s paying very close attention to Colville’s style and technique, but not so much when it comes to painting. Instead, Lyon has been interested in how Colville created the frames that surround his paintings. Lyon was commissioned by the Owens Art Gallery to re-create a frame for a Colville painting that has been missing its artist-created frame since sometime in the 1980s.
Emily Falvey says the Owens originally borrowed Alex Colville’s painting Nude and Dummy from the New Brunswick Museum for an exhibition that opens October 29 called Room for One. “When it came from the museum, it was in a frame that was added later,” says Falvey. “People don’t often think about preserving the frame on a work, but when it’s made by the artist, it’s very important.”
When they saw the non-original frame, Falvey and Owens conservator Jane Tisdale wondered if they could replace it with a frame that replicated one Colville would have made himself. Tisdale thought of local artist Robert Lyon for the job. “She knew he was an artist and that he made his own frames,” says Falvey, “and she thought that was a really nice parallel.”… Continue
Sackville hospital to double OR capacity in 2023 as part of Horizon operating room expansion plan
Note: This story has been updated with a response from the Department of Health and comments from local retired doctor, Ross Thomas.
Two operating rooms at the Sackville Memorial Hospital are set to get some TLC starting in 2023.
On Friday, Horizon Health announced a plan to invest about $6.4 million in operating rooms (ORs) at the Sackville hospital and three other community hospitals in the province. In Sackville, that means spending about $2 million to upgrade one operating room that’s currently in use, and renovate another room to make it functional again.
The overall plan is to ramp up the use of ORs in community hospitals across the province to help alleviate the surgical backlog for less complex day surgeries, which will in turn allow more complex surgeries to happen more quickly in the regional hospitals.
“These programs will not only increase the number of hip and knee replacements completed each year, but in many cases, they will also increase our capacity for orthopedic surgery, cataract surgery, endoscopy and other procedures,” says acting Horizon CEO Margaret Melanson. “Augmenting the surgical services at these community facilities will also allow our regional hospitals to complete more complex and acute cases, which is a win-win for the broader healthcare system.”
Operating rooms are part of the centralized surgical system at Horizon.… Continue
Mt A retakes top spot in Maclean’s rankings; school poised to keep growing, says Boudreau
Mount Allison University is hosting an open house today for potential new students, just a week after getting another feather in its cap from Maclean’s magazine’s long-running ranking of Canadian universities. For the 23rd time in the 32 years that Maclean’s has been publishing rankings of Canadian schools, the magazine gave Mount Allison the number one spot in the primarily undergraduate category, made up mostly of smaller universities.
“It is a nice number to have kind of in our back pocket,” says Mount Allison Students’ Union president Rohin Minocha-McKenney. “It is an area of pride, because at the end of the day, all of us in the Mount A community, whether [we feel] good or bad about Mount A, we do have some level of pride in what is here, and what we all contribute to the community.”
“I think we do deserve it,” says Minocha-McKenney, referring to more than just the formal institution. “There’s a lot of great things that happen at Mount A and even Sackville in general, that makes this the best undergraduate university experience in Canada.“
Not that there’s not still room for improvement, says the MASU president. “We do have places to go. But I would say that people care in our whole community, and that care that goes in to our community and into Mount A, I think that’s why we really deserve number one.”… Continue