Hospital committee joins task force, ambulance service increased to cover ER downtime
At their meeting on July 6, the ad hoc committee that has been addressing hospital service cuts in Sackville decided to officially join the ranks of the Memramcook-Tantramar Community Task Force, previously known as the Tantramar COVID-19 Task Force.
The committee is made up of concerned citizens, including retired doctors and several former mayors, many of whom had been working on health reform in Sackville ever since last February when sudden cuts were proposed and then withdrawn by Horizon and Vitalité.
In June, shortly after Horizon announced the latest temporary cuts to overnight weekend emergency room service at the Sackville Memorial Hospital, Mayor Shawn Mesheau and Councillor Sabine Dietz were appointed to liaise with the group on behalf of council.
At the time, council debated the role that the town would play in the committee, choosing not to formalize a committee as part of the town’s structure, in favour of a more regional, and flexible approach.
The new working group will be called the Rural Health Action Group, and works under the umbrella of the new MTCTF, now co-chaired by former Sackville mayor Pat Estabrooks, and former councillor and recently retired Open Sky director Margaret Tusz-King.
At council on Monday night, mayor Shawn Mesheau said the new working group will “continue to provide informed thinking and offer constructive, innovative alternatives to past practices, including offering assistance to the Horizon Health Network in recruitment of medical personnel.”… Continue