Sackville hospital ER to indefinitely close overnight on weekends
Horizon Health Network calls move temporary, result of vacant nursing positions
The Sackville hospital emergency room will close overnight on weekends due to a nursing shortage, a move Horizon Health Network calls a temporary measure without an end date.
Effective Friday, the ER will close Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m and reopen at 8 a.m. Service on other days will remain 24 hours.
During the closures, patients will be directed to other hospitals. Ambulances will be diverted to either Amherst, N.S., or hospitals in Moncton.
"We are hoping to stabilize the staffing levels by the end of the summer," Horizon's vice-president of clinical services, Geri Geldart, said during a news conference Friday.
"But at this time we do not have a firm end date."
Geri Geldart, Horizon Health Network’s vice president of clinical services, says vacancies and the need to give staff time off mean it's no longer possible to maintain 24-hour emergency room service. (CBC)
Three of the nine emergency room nursing positions are vacant.
Geldart said nurses at the hospital have worked extra hours and overtime, and have changed their schedules with little notice. While recruitment efforts are underway, Horizon decided the closures are necessary to give staff time off, she said.
"This, coupled with a number of unfilled vacancies, means it is simply no longer possible for us to maintain 24-hour service in the emergency department."
Nancy Parker, executive director of the Sackville hospital, said the ER would see an average of eight to nine patients between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Ambulances will be diverted to hospitals in either Amherst, N.S., or Moncton during the overnight ER closures. (CBC News)
Horizon officials said they've informed Ambulance New Brunswick as well as officials in Nova Scotia about the closure.
Jean-Pierre Savoie, an Ambulance New Brunswick vice-president, said in a statement that it is notifying paramedics and dispatchers of the change.
Savoie said when ambulances are assigned to calls or redirected to other facilities, others from the region are moved so there are still ambulances in the area.
The closure echoes plans, announced last year and then withdrawn, to close ERs at six rural hospitals overnight, though Health Minister Dorothy Shephard emphasized this closure is temporary.
"We need to respect the fact that there are people who need some time off and we need to work through these challenges," Shephard told reporters at the legislature on Friday.
It's not the first time Sackville has temporarily reduced hours due to staffing shortages.
Geldart told reporters that Horizon believes the predictable closures offer less risk than the alternative.
Horizon officials didn't rule out other closures at similar smaller facilities across the province.
"So it is possible," Geldart said. "At this point we haven't announced any other closures, but it is always a concern given the general nursing shortage that we're facing in New Brunswick."
Shephard told CBC's Shift that other similar closures are likely, but perhaps not as long as in Sackville.
Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau says he's concerned about the impact on the community, but also on the broader stresses placed on health care workers during the pandemic. (Submitted/Shawn Mesheau)
Shawn Mesheau, Sackville's mayor, said he's concerned about the impact on residents of the town and the wider region.
But, Mesheau is also concerned about the impact of the pandemic on health care workers.
"Everyone's in need of a rest, all frontline workers are feeling additional stress," Mesheau said.
With files from Aidan Cox
45 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Methinks Sussex folks are no doubt overjoyed that they did not elect a member of the Green or Red or Orange Team N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Reply to @David Amos: However...
"Horizon officials didn't rule out other closures at similar smaller facilities across the province."
Bryan Jones
So sad. It's bad enough in itself but speaking from experience I had to go to ER to get an x-ray because I had concerns but I'm healthy. Everyone I went to the only option was, go to ER. My doctor who is part-time is only doing telephone surgeries and because of the backlog is not accepting appointments. All the walk-ins I contacted said, we don't do that. So unless I have something which I can self-medicate or put up with, ER is the only option. I finally got my x-ray after sitting in ER for nine hours. The staff were very good but it's not their fault.
Mary Smith
Reply to @Bryan Jones: And this is a huge opportunity to improve health care. Instead of closing rural hospitals we should be leaning into them harder. Have clinics - instead of referring folks to urban hospitals - refer people to rural hospitals if they can to get their x ray, blood work, etc to take the pressure off of the large hospitals. We can treat rural hospitals more like around the clock clinics while still being fully functional hospitals because hospitals being fully functional and there for ALL folks in NB - not just urban - is vital.
We should be doing like they want to at Dumont, if triaged low do x or go to x rural hospital instead. If you're in a rural hospital and you need to access MRI and such, you're triaged up to urban hospitals with all that tech. Rural hospitals should be doing more day surgeries and taking the pressure off and then we'd actually be able to tackle the long backlogs of patients waiting for surgeries and the like.
We should take all that we learned with virtual care and utilize doctors in rural areas to be able to, if there's a lull, virtual care into whatever hospital is the busiest and quickly deal with and help empty out the lowered triaged patients.
Closing down rural hospitals doesn't make healthcare better. It pushes problems around and denies large segments of the population access to healthcare. This will just put even more pressure on Moncton. If you don't have a car you're out of luck after 4pm until 8am. There's a large segment of seniors, university students, and many that don't drive or can't drive themselves in x condition to hospital far away, and NB has no transit. More pressure on an ambulance system that was scandalously set up against rural populations to begin with, and will result in people dying.
SarahRose Werner
Reply to @Mary Smith: "instead of referring folks to urban hospitals - refer people to rural hospitals" - People who don't drive or own cars often choose to live in cities because they can get around there. If 811 tried to refer me to a rural hospital for treatment, I would tell 811 to take a hike.
That said, the one time I had an issue that needed looking at right away and my doc's office couldn't see me that day, they recommended the urgent care at St Joe's Hospital uptown over the ER at the Regional. This suggests that we need not only rural hospitals but also smaller secondary urban hospitals. « less
Mary Smith
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: It's easier to try to send some from urban centers down to rural areas, than to mandate that ALL rural folks travel up to urban areas. If you are urban but don't have a car, seek care in urban hospitals. It's a win-win because then x in urban areas will not be in the queue at that hospital.
A lot of folks in Sackville don't have cars either. It honestly makes more sense if any hospital is to close for night hours to be one like Dumont/Moncton City because the ... » more
Lou Bell
Reply to @Mary Smith: Sure Mary , send everyone to the country !
Lou Bell
Reply to @Mary Smith: And you think EVERYONE in the city has a vehicle !! HA ! Ever hear of buses and Taxi's ??
Mary Smith
Reply to @Lou Bell: No, not everyone has cars. That's the point. Those that do, should seek rural hospitals if they're triaged low. That's better than to mandate ALL rural folks to need to go to the city for any medical care at all because you know, not everyone has cars and that's exactly the point. NB has no transit (something your fav guy Higgs opted out of accessing funds for, by the way). If someone cannot afford taxis or a large ambulance bill, they're left with two options: walk the highway or don't seek care and die at home.
Urban hospitals are consistently at or over capacity. If you - or Higgs - had it their way they'd close down all rural hospitals and it'd be a disaster. Do you think rural folks will not go to the urban hospitals? If they find a way there they won't be leaving, they'll be camping out until they're seen because they've been forced to go all that way and have no other option. Do you not understand that rural hospitals take the edge off the urban hospitals? Closing rural areas hurts urban areas because the overflow that were seeking our rural hospitals are now forced to go to urban hospitals, along with all the rural folks that can make the hike. Ambulance times for everyone will be longer because they'll be going out 'to the county' to collect folks that need to be transferred up to 45 minutes away (and that doesn't include the time it takes for the ambulance to get to them). Closing rural hospitals means people will die and the situation at urban hospitals will be made worse. An urban hospital over capacity is going to be worse off now.
Lou, you have a problem that you always push whatever conservatives say to the point of being an ideologue warrior or something. It's strange to think that way. The world is not red and blue.
Mary Smith
Reply to @SarahRose Werner: "People who don't drive or own cars often choose to live in cities because they can get around there. If 811 tried to refer me to a rural hospital for treatment, I would tell 811 to take a hike."
The same goes for rural areas. Seniors don't drive often and there's many in old folks here and Sackville is a retirement community as well as a university town. Many university students don't drive. Sackville is a place where most folks walk everywhere they need to go. Many students don't leave in the Summer, especially this year with covid. To get to Amherst or Moncton you have to take the highway. You can't walk that, especially if you're in medical distress.
The NB Ambulance scandal showed that rural areas were purposefully screwed over, stats squinted at, rural lives put at risk all for bonuses. Rural areas are already dead zones, this will make that worse by far. Ambulances will be busier and wait times for all will be longer now, rural and urban alike. Folks will be more prone to call 911 because they have no other options. The transport now for an Ambulance in Sackville to take them to Amherst or Moncton forces Ambulances all over to scramble to cover areas. This will cause domino effects and we'll see worse care for so many for it.
When I say that they could try to triage urban folks from clinics and hospitals if they're triaged low down to rural areas, I'm not saying to deny them care and tell them to leave if they don't have a car. I'm saying that if you're told that 'hey, you're triaged really low, we're an urban hospital over capacity and your wait will be let's say probably 8 hours, but if you can drive/have someone drive you it will be way less at a rural hospital' then that's a win-win for everyone and one less person in queue.
David Amos
Reply to @Mary Smith: Methinks old folks without cars should at least be grateful that Higgy allows them t have a Medicare Card N'esy Pas?
Trent Connor
How is this possible? Don't we have the best health care in the world (or at least that is what we tell ourselves)?
David Amos
Reply to @Trent Connor: Who is WE? Methinks Health Care in Canada is secured by a Medicare Card like the one I got out of the gate in the sixties that Higgy et al have refused to renew Hence I must sue to get my money back N'esy Pas?
Graeme Scott
Cumberland County Regional is a much larger facility and basically next door in Amherst. Would it not make sense to cut some sort of deal with NS and only have the one 24/7 ER in the area?
Mary Smith
Reply to @Graeme Scott: 1) The highway is sometimes closed from Sackville to Amherst, due to winter storms or high winds.
2) There is no public transit so folks without cars are out of luck. That includes seniors and the large university student population in town.
3) Sackville Hospital takes so much overflow from Moncton and Amherst and all over.
4) The stress on ambulance services will be felt, and we know from the NB scandal that the bonuses paid out for good response times comes on the back of shortchanging and excluding rural areas from the statistics. Rural areas are already dead zones, and with the purposeful essentially attack by the way the ambulances are set up stacked against rural folks, it does not bode well.
5) 45 minutes+/- away from the Moncton Hospital doesn't include the time it takes for an ambulance to come to you. When we had arson fires in Sackville (that's a while other story, and there's been A LOT happening) it took 45 minutes for police to come because there was none stationed in Sackville. This sort of continued turning backs on rural folks is going to cost lives. The ER was open for those folks in the house fire, but the very next day it was closed and they would have been out of luck.
6) We should be using all hospitals better, and instead of closing rural hospitals we should be utilizing virtual care so that if there is a lull in patients (there usually isn't though, and stats are misleading because they only count when a person has signed in, not if the person has been in outpatients for many hours waiting to be seen, or account for those patients admitted in acute care) and use doctors to virtual care into hospitals where it's busy and help clear out patients. Triage from clinics to rural areas to take pressure off larger ones.
Mary Smith
Reply to @Mary Smith: that's a whole* other story*
David Amos
Reply to @Mary Smith: Another story is that I was born in the Sackville Hospital in 1952 and spent a month in a coma there a few years later and even later they mended my broken arm etc etc. Methinks many would agree that even though Health Care was not free back then the service was much better N'esy Pas?
Murray Brown
A 'temporary' measure without an end date... So that essentially means permanently.
Jamie Harper
Reply to @Murray Brown: Hopefully the Higgs government is only "temporary" also...
Lou Bell
Reply to @Jamie Harper: 60 % popularity in latest poll ! You're in the minority . try to keep up !
David Amos
Reply to @Lou Bell: Dream on
Sign wars: Liberals and Greens compete for votes on Sackville hospital issue
Megan Mitton holding up a yellow sign to counter the red Liberal one. Image from https://www.instagram.com/meganmittonnb/
“Save our hospital. Vote Liberal.” “Elect Megan Mitton. WE already did!”
In the final days of the provincial election campaign, the Liberal and Green candidates have launched a sign war near the TransCanada Highway over the future of the Sackville Memorial Hospital.
The red Liberal sign echoes a message that leader Kevin Vickers brought to town earlier in the campaign when he warned voters that re-electing Green candidate Megan Mitton would threaten the hospital’s future.
“I’m telling you, if you vote Green, you are indirectly voting for the Conservative government and you’re voting to lose your hospital,” Vickers said.
Green leader David Coon in Sackville today
During a campaign stop today in Sackville, Green leader David Coon pointed to his party’s success in getting Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs to cancel cuts to hospital services in six rural communities.
“Thanks to the good work of the communities involved and working with their MLAs like Megan Mitton in Memramcook-Tantramar here, they got Higgs to push pause,” Coon said, adding that in discussions about the provincial budget, Green MLAs persuaded the premier to cancel the cuts permanently.
“He came and spoke directly to Megan Mitton and Kevin Arseneau and said ‘you have my word,'” Coon said, “and then he turned around and went into the the legislative assembly and publicly gave his commitment that they would not be bringing back those proposed changes to rural hospitals.”
Don’t take hospital for granted
However, during a telephone interview today, local Liberal candidate Maxime Bourgeois. expressed skepticism about Higgs’s promise.
“I don’t think that we can take the fact that we still have the hospitals for granted,” he said.
“I think the reforms were postponed, but we are still at risk especially if Higgs gets back into office,” Bourgeois said, adding that the only way to remove the premier would be to elect a Liberal government.
Bourgeois used an additional argument on the hospital issue during the candidates’ debate Wednesday night at Sackville Town Hall.
He said that Green leader David Coon accused Higgs of having a hidden agenda on health reform during a leaders debate on Rogers TV, but then was quoted in a recent article in the Irving-owned Telegraph-Journal as saying that in their 2018 election platforms, the Greens and Conservatives shared much common ground on health care.
“With the Conservatives there was considerable common ground, quite a wide scope among our platforms around restructuring and reforming health care,” the newspaper quoted Coon as saying.
Maxime Bourgeois in Sackville’s Bill Johnstone Park
However, the article went to say that Coon did not support cuts to rural hospitals — a point that Coon repeated today in Sackville as he made it clear once again that Greens had vigorously opposed the hospital cuts.
Bourgeois suggested during the candidates debate, however, that the Green leader’s conflicting statements showed he couldn’t be trusted to defend health care.
“I think it’s fairly scary to see that David Coon is actually considering working with the Conservative government,” he said. “I truly believe that I am the best choice just because, well, one of the reasons is that we don’t want Higgs to cut our health care.”
Meantime, Green organizers are complaining that the Liberals conveyed a similar message in campaign phone calls to at least three Green supporters including Linda Pearse, a music professor at Mt. A. who voted Green for the first time in 2018.
Pearse says a man who identified himself as working for the Bourgeois campaign phoned her Wednesday evening. When she said she planned to vote Green, he referred to the newspaper article and said Coon was aligning himself with Higgs and would support closing hospitals.
“He said he had voted Green himself, but was now voting Liberal,” Pearse said, adding that the caller told her that Megan Mitton was so taken aback by Coon’s comments that she hadn’t responded to them publicly.
“I was surprised at that,” Pearse said, adding she didn’t believe the caller and still plans to vote Green.
“Megan is good at standing up,” she said. “It’s a real shame to see this kind of thing here; it’s something I would expect to see in the States.”
Dylan Wooley-Berry, who is in charge of voter contact and outreach for the Bourgeois campaign, says volunteers were not told to refer to the article in the Telegraph-Journal.
“To be clear, no volunteers have ever been instructed to bring up that article,” he said during a telephone interview.
“All our volunteers are given a call script; they are told that they can change the script to make themselves more comfortable on the phone, so they can speak in their own voice to voters because it sounds more authentic,” Wooley-Berry said.
“So, if it is true that a volunteer did in fact, bring up the article, it was not by direction of the campaign,” he added.
“When I heard that people within our community were alleging we had some sort of organized effort to lie about what David Coon had said in any article, I felt sick,” he said.
“That’s not the type of campaign we’re running.”
4 Responses to Sign wars: Liberals and Greens compete for votes on Sackville hospital issue
Sackville re-elects incumbent councillors, delivers mayoralty victory to Shawn Mesheau
Sackville voters have given overwhelming support to incumbent town councillors and a fairly narrow 209 vote mayoralty victory to Councillor Shawn Mesheau over Acting Mayor Ron Aiken.
The re-election of Councillors Andrew Black, Allison Butcher, Mike Tower, Bruce Phinney and Bill Evans suggests that a majority of voters were satisfied with the work of the outgoing council in spite of controversies over drive-thrus, flood control, an abattoir in the industrial park and turmoil in the fire department.
The three remaining council seats were won by Mt. A. building maintenance manager Matt Estabrooks, who scored an impressive, third-place finish, while motor vehicle officer Ken Hicks and environmental consultant Sabine Dietz came 7th and 8th respectively.
Flood control
The results of the 2021 municipal election could be interpreted as solid support for the previous council’s major project, the $8.3 million flood control project that saw reconstruction of Lorne Street and the digging of a 40,000 cubic metre pond south of St. James.
The town has already applied for a $5.2 million third phase that would include two additional freshwater retention ponds, one in the old quarry near Mount Allison and another behind the community gardens.
Once again, the town’s share of Phase III would be 25% or about $1.3 million with the federal and provincial governments paying the rest.
Phinney’s role
However, the discovery of contaminated soil on the site of the first flood control pond with associated clean-up costs totalling more than $500,000 led to noisy dissent from Councillor Bruce Phinney.
Judging from Phinney’s showing in the 2021 election, slightly ahead of his arch rival Bill Evans, a majority of voters want him to continue in his role of maverick speaking truth to the powers-that-be at town hall.
District Education Council results
Horizon Health Authority results
1 Response to Sackville re-elects incumbent councillors, delivers mayoralty victory to Shawn Mesheau
IndieMediaEastcoast Canadasays:Pondville might be a more appropriate nickname for the town as we are ‘moving forward’ in to this new age of enlightened environmental ascension.
| Sackville | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position to fill | # Positions to fill | # Candidates | Status |
| Mayor | 1 | 2 | (Election) |
| Councillor | 8 | 12 | (Election) |
Address for service: 207 ch Walker Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 3K7
| Sackville | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Sex | Contact Information |
| Mayor (1 to elect) | ||
| Ron Aiken | M | Address for service: 1 Uphill Dr , Sackville, NB , E4L 1L3 Telephone: (506) 536-2292 E-mail:ron.aiken@gmail.com Website:https://facebook.com/ron.aiken.1 |
| Shawn Mesheau | M | Address for service: 173 rue King St, Sackville, NB , E4L 3G3 Telephone: 506-229-3866 E-mail:Mesheauformayor@gmail.com Website:https://www.facebook.com/Shawn-Mesheau-Candidate-For-Mayor-Sackville-NB-259075954720257 |
| Councillor (8 to elect) | ||
| Andrew John Black (inc./sort.) | M | Address for service: 25 Marshview Dr , Sackville, NB , E4L 3B2 Telephone: (506) 224-0125 E-mail:andrewblack2142@gmail.com |
| Allison E. Butcher (inc./sort.) | F | Address for service: 110 ch Walker Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 3K9 E-mail:a.butcher@sackville.com |
| Keith Bradford Carter | M | Address for service: 154 ch Queens Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 2B6 |
| Alice Cotton | F | Address for service: 17 rue Pleasant St, Sackville, NB , E4L 4E7 Telephone: (506) 588-0343 E-mail:venez.jaser@gmail.com |
| Sabine Dietz | F | Address for service: 28 ch High Marsh Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 1K2 Telephone: 506-317-0398 E-mail:sbdietz@gmail.com |
| Matt Estabrooks | M | Address for service: 1 ch Pond Shore Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 1L1 E-mail:chrismatt@bellaliant.net Website:https://facebook.com/matt.estabrooks.568 |
| Bill Evans (inc./sort.) | M | Address for service: 5 rue Squire St, Sackville, NB , E4L 4K8 |
| Joshua Goguen | M | Address for service: 12 rue Richardson St, Sackville, NB , E4L 4H6 Telephone: 506-536-2656 E-mail:joshgoguen@bellaliant.net |
| Kenneth A. Hicks | M | Address for service: 339 ch Queens Rd, Sackville, NB , E4L 2B9 Telephone: (506) 232-6349 E-mail:votekenhicks@gmail.com |
| Matthew R. Noiles | M | Address for service: 102 rue Bridge St, Sackville, NB , E4L 3P3 E-mail:mattnoiles@hotmail.com |
| Bruce I. Phinney (inc./sort.) | M | Address for service: 4 av Hillcrest Ave Unit(e) 2, Sackville, NB , E4L 3X8 |
| Michael J. Tower (inc./sort.) | M | |
# Seats to elect / No. de sièges à élire : 1
| Candidate / Candidat(e) | Votes | Incumbent / Sortant(e) | Sex / Sexe | Elected / Élu(e) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawn MESHEAU | 1067 | M | E | |
| Ron AIKEN | 858 | M |
# Seats to elect / No. de sièges à élire : 8
| Candidate / Candidat(e) | Votes | Incumbent / Sortant(e) | Sex / Sexe | Elected / Élu(e) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew John BLACK | 1349 | inc./sort. | M | E |
| Allison E. BUTCHER | 1338 | inc./sort. | F | E |
| Matt ESTABROOKS | 1294 | M | E | |
| Michael J. TOWER | 1107 | inc./sort. | M | E |
| Bruce I. PHINNEY | 1016 | inc./sort. | M | E |
| Bill EVANS | 1003 | inc./sort. | M | E |
| Kenneth A. HICKS | 955 | M | E | |
| Sabine DIETZ | 923 | F | E | |
| Alice COTTON | 914 | F | ||
| Joshua GOGUEN | 817 | M | ||
| Matthew R. NOILES | 583 | M | ||
| Keith Bradford CARTER | 530 | M |
I find it concerning that all these two candidates have to offer is that they themselves have either saved or will save our hospital as we know it. This isn’t the case, and for someone to vote for either of them to do that only is short sighted. Megan ran for council saying she supported small business and turned her back on our family owned business so I don’t trust her or coon anymore than Higgs, or the libs. Vote for prosperity for all, greens will say one thing and do another. Like abstain from voting as directed by the tyrant coon.
Point 1). Communities save hospitals not political parties. Point 2). I was hoping that Covid would show the parties that working together was the best direction for New Brunswick.We should be voting for a better New Brunswick not a party. Point 3). Think hard on who would save the Sackville hospital or would spend $30 million over and over on renovations to the Memramcook institute for no gain . A lot of Memramcook residents use our hospital as wait times are long in Moncton.
Yes, communities are very important when it comes to saving….and keeping hospitals, but you also need someone in the room, and at the table in Fredericton. CBC polls now indicate a majority government for Higgs after tomorrow night. Send the PC candidate to Fredericton this time, to help fight our battle on the inside.
It’s highly likely that this election’s outcome will be Blue, the next could be Red…or Green. In that case (when it comes to our hospital), vote accordingly.
Peter
A vote for the Green Party is a vote for real change as opposed to the tweedledum back and forth between liberals and tories. People are beginning to wake up to climate change, defense of rural way of life, and these have come from Megan Mitton and the Green Party. Working with a minority government as proven by the last two years is not ideal, but it is better than having the majority given over to two parties that in my opinion do not care about the common good.