“Really the reason for getting around the province is to hear where people’s thinking is, what their experiences are, and what they think should change and would help,” said Green Party leader David Coon on Tuesday night. About 50 people gathered in the Sackville Commons on Lorne Street to hear from Coon and Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton on ‘Healing our Healthcare’.
Coon is on a small tour of the southeast this week, meeting healthcare workers and patients during the day, and hosting town hall sessions in the evening.
Participants shared a wide range of experiences and concerns, from the challenges of working in a long term care facility, to concern over the possible deterioration of trans health care, and the continued use of glyphosate in New Brunswick forests. Many expressed their frustration in not being able to access primary care, or urgent care at the Sackville Memorial Hospital.
“There was so much great engagement tonight,” Cool told CHMA. “I really appreciated people coming out and participating in that way.”
Coon said there are significant reforms needed to help the health care system meet New Brunswick’s needs.
“We need restructuring,” said Coon. “We need to change the way the management takes place, we need to change the funding models, to ensure that we can get actual team-based, multidisciplinary care in the system to take people off the waiting list.”
“We also need some urgent changes that will make a difference right now,” said Coon. “Here in in Tantramar, that new Community Health Center has that potential if it’s properly resourced, and and there’s a good vision and ambition around what that can become. I’ve seen it in other parts of the province done successfully, and other areas where they haven’t been able to pull it off. So, so the potential is there.”
Hear the full conversation with David Coon here:
