On today’s CHMA daily news:
- Horizon CEO Karen McGrath calls thwarted health care cuts “reasonable”;
- Canada Day goes online;
- Sackville’s last call for a new senior manager;
- Air Canada cuts regional Atlantic routes;
- Amherst’s foray into solar energy production;
- And the COVID numbers update.
The COVID update
The province reported no new cases of COVID-19 again on Tuesday, marking a full week with no new cases.
There are just 4 remaining active cases in New Brunswick.
Two people are still in hospital, with one in intensive care.
The province reported 237 new test results, putting the weekly total just above the threshold recommended by Chief Medical Officer of Health Jennifer Russell in May.
People are still being asked to get tested if they have just one symptom of COVID-19.
After nearly three weeks with no new cases, Nova Scotia announced one new case of COVID-19 yesterday.
The case is in the Central Zone, which includes Halifax, and is related to travel.
Officials say the person has been self-isolating since arriving in the province.
Canada Day goes online
The Town of Sackville is hosting Canada Day festivities online this year, including:
- a morning walk-run event for all-ages,
- an online craft workshop for kids,
- a virtual Mayor’s speech and flag raising,
- a performance by local fiddlers
- a virtual Teddy Bear’s picnic
- and a baking lesson on gourmet Canada Day cupcakes.
Not to be outdone, Amherst will also be hosting online Canada Day events including a Zumba workout, an interactive magician show, an Atlantic Cirque performance, and a variety of live, online musical performances throughout the evening.
Horizon CEO Karen McGrath calls thwarted health care cuts “reasonable”
A controversial, pre-pandemic plan to make major cuts at the Sackville Memorial Hospital and five other hospitals in the province is rearing its head again.
The CEO of Horizon Health Network brought up the proposed cuts at the organization’s AGM last week.
Karen McGrath told the Horizon board the plan to cut services in six rural hospitals was “reasonable.”
The plan, announced on February 11th, included shutting down the emergency room overnight, eliminating all acute-care beds and closing the operating room where day surgeries are performed.
After five days of protests and outcry, Premier Blaine Higgs scrapped the plan and said government would first consult with people in the six rural communities where hospitals would have been affected.
Last week McGrath said the problems the cuts where meant to fix haven’t gone away, and won’t go away without “meaningful action.”
McGrath told the Horizon board of directors that, “Doing nothing isn’t an option.”
Sackville Mayor John Higham says he was not surprised by McGrath’s comments.
Higham recently spoke with a group of mayors from areas affected by the proposed cuts, and discussed rumours that the Horizon CEO had been making similar statements.
Higham says he “absolutely disagrees” with McGrath’s conclusions, and that the government has not been forthcoming with showing the rationale behind the proposed plan.
Requests for access to data that back up the proposed cuts have been turned down, says Higham.
Click to listen:
“So I think it’s a typical case of, I’ve got a really, really good argument, but I can’t tell you why. And I’m not going to show you my work, but it’s right. Sounds like a kid in elementary school to me, quite frankly… I think she has an obligation to prove it. And right now they’re taking steps to not prove that it was actually the best possible decision.“
Higham says both the world and the health care system have changed in the last three or four months.
He cites the example of cross-agency cooperation between Vitalité and Horizon Health which freed up 150 beds in advance of the virus, and moved many people waiting in hospitals into long term care homes.
He also cites the experience in Italy, where a centralized hospital system has been blamed for contributing to the severity of the coronavirus crisis in the country.
Higham says many of the assumptions behind the decision to cut rural health services are no longer valid.
Click to listen:
“So I can’t see how we can accept that the previous decision, on data they won’t show us, in conditions that were different, is still valid. I simply don’t think that that’s going to fly with anybody who is really thinking about this. What we’re increasingly saying, what we really need now is a real true health summit, about public services in the province.“
Higham says the steering committee formed in response to the proposed cuts went on hiatus when COVID struck, but they are now ready to get back into action.
Higham says he will be making an argument for a health summit, so that consultations on the proposed cuts take in the bigger picture of health care across the province.
Click to listen:
“I mean, we created these corporate boxes, as I call them, to make health decisions within those boxes. And what I think we’ve seen is that public policy for health services is bigger than that. And you’re going to get very short term operational decisions within those boxes. But if you take a larger look, you will probably have a more effective public policy for health.”
Recruitment for new senior manager closes Friday
The call for applications for a new Senior Manager of Corporate Project for the Town of Sackville is closing this Friday at 4:30pm.
Jamie Burke, who held the role until he was appointed CAO by town council in April, says the position is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades role.
Click to listen:
“I guess the best way to describe it is anything that’s not finance or engineering kind of falls into this corner of the shop. And it’s anything from, you know, corporate strategy to working with Mr. Kelly Spurles or Mr. Pryde on tourism and business development or recreation programs and events.“
The Senior Manager is also responsible for town communications,
including working with the Engineering Department on the third phase of the flood control project.
Burke was responsible for the controversial land assembly for the project, which is now completed.
The newly hired senior manager will focus more on communications for the project, says Burke.
The Senior manager also shares responsibility for economic development with the CAO.
In the most recent Sackville residents’ survey, fewer people said they were satisfied with economic development than most other aspects of the town.
Burke says the town’s approach to economic development has been to serve as a connector between businesses and federal and provincial agencies with bigger budgets at their disposal.
Click to listen:
“We do have a business retention and expansion program, which is mainly run through our tourism business development department. But then the investment attraction is really what the senior manager and Chief Administrative Officer do in cooperation with the province and federal government. So the new role… We have a business development strategy that was recently adopted by Council, and the new position will kind of assist me in implementing the overall strategy.”
Burke says he is currently trying to fill both his new and old job, and he will be delighted when the senior manager post is filled.
Click to listen:
“It’s a fun, dynamic, challenging role… It requires someone to be able to project manage, juggle, you know, and be strategic. And, there’s going to be some… like all large projects that we’re trying to move through the corporation, there’s some bumps in the road. So you need to have a thick skin. But you’ve really got to love what you do and believe in the benefit of community development. No matter what the naysayers say, we’ve got a plan. We’ve got good plans and we’ve got really good people here as part of our team, so, you know, I would encourage anyone who thinks they have those qualifications to submit a resume and look to join us and help out the entire town.”
That was CAO Jamie Burke, talking about the role of Senior Manager of Corporate Projects for Sackville.
The town is currently accepting applications for the job until this Friday at 4:30pm.
Air Canada cuts regional routes
Air Canada announced yesterday that it is suspending service on 30 domestic routes and closing eight stations at regional airports.
The airline said the cuts are indefinite, and come as a result of the collapse in demand for air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Routes that have been cut include:
- Fredericton to Halifax and Ottawa;
- Moncton to Halifax and Ottawa;
- Saint John to Halifax;
- and Bathurst to Montreal.
Air Canada will also close stations at some regional airports, including Bathurst.
The airline said travel restrictions and border closures imposed by governments have decreased its prospects for recovery.
Air Canada reported a net loss of $1.05 billion in the first quarter.
How Amherst is getting into the electricity business
The town of Amherst is on its way to becoming an electricity producer.
Last month, workers installed an array of solar panels on the roof of the Amherst Stadium.
About one third of the roof is now covered, and the panels will generate an estimated 123,000 kilowatt hours each year.
Nova Scotia Power would normally generate about 77 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent to make that much power.
Mayor David Kogon says the move is part of a larger set of green initiatives being taken on by the town of Amherst.
Click to listen:
“We’re trying to be more climate friendly. We in Amherst declared a climate emergency this past year. Well, in 2019. And so this is a step in that direction.“
The energy generated from the array, along with two others to be installed on the fire and police stations, will be sold to Nova Scotia Power under 20 year power purchase agreements.
The project is part of a pilot created by the Nova Scotia department of energy, which required the privatized Nova Scotia Power to sign power purchase agreements with First Nations communities, municipalities and not-for-profit groups.
The power purchasing agreements guarantee a price for electricity for 20 years, making it possible for groups to raise the capital to install solar panels on their buildings, even on a very small scale.
Nova Scotia Power will pay Amherst between 22 and 25 cents per kilowatt hour generated at three different solar panel arrays.
That’s higher than the going rate for electricity in Nova Scotia, about 15 cents per kilowatt hour for residential customers.
Mayor David Kogon says that the project will not just pay for itself, but provide a small amount of revenue to Amherst.
Click to listen:
“A more immediate, almost, benefit is there’s going to be a financial gain. Because of the support for the project, we get the solar energy capability installed with some cost, but because of our high energy utilization, Amherst spends approximately $860,000 a year on energy. So if we can initiate some solar production, we’re looking at, it’s a 20 year project, we’re looking at a savings in the neighbourhood of $118,000. So we’re doing something that’s environmentally friendly, but also going to save us money. It’s kind of a kind of a win win.”
Over 200 applications came in for the program, but only about 80 building projects were approved, with three in Amherst.
The Amherst stadium is the first project to be installed, and is expected to start generating power by October.
CHMA Daily News is hosted Mahalia Thompson-Onichino, and produced by Erica Butler, with contributions from Bruce Wark, Geoff de Gannes, and James Anderson.
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