N.B. community rallies for return of 24/7 ER services

A petition to improve rural New Brunswick health care has more than 6,000 signatures.

With the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital’s emergency department currently closed three nights a week, residents in the New Brunswick community have growing concerns.

“We’ve already lost three nights a week. That’s too much,” said Linda Renaud. “It’s too much of a distance between another hospital, Moncton, like, where I live it’s 45 minutes. Miramichi is an hour and so if there’s big cases, it’s too long. It’s too long. It’s not acceptable.”

Renaud and Grand-Boutouche Councillor Lise LeBlanc started a petition rallying community members together for 24/7 health care to be restored in their backyard.

In just 10 days, the petition received more than 6,200 signatures.

“The emergency room is a very important component of our hospital,” said Beausolei-Grand-Bouctouche-Kent MLA Benoît Bourque. “It’s a pass-through area where there’s a lot of traffic going through Route 11 between the north and the south of the province, so accidents are prone to happen. There is over 30,000 people living in Kent County.”

Bourque says he will take the petition to the legislature at the beginning of May.

“They’re people, in general, that are quiet, they’re generally reasonable, but they will mobilize if they feel they are poked a little too much and this hospital is a threshold issue,” he said.

Both Bourque and Grand-Bouctouche Mayor Aldéo Saulnier have been told a plan is in place.

“Now we’re in a situation where we need to wait and time will tell,” said Saulnier. “(Tuesday) we had a meeting. They told us the emergency will stay like it is right now up until May 4, so no, we’re not happy about that but it is what it is. If, after May 4, it’s still going to keep going, then we’ll have to push another button, but we’re going to see.”

Overall, he is hopeful a positive change will come for the hospital and encourages people to believe in the system.

“I am concerned, too, as a citizen of Boctouche, not just as mayor but as a citizen, and we’re kind of saying we’re fighting for Kent County really because this hospital belongs to the people of Kent County, represents the people of Kent County and we need to protect it for the people of Kent County,” he said.

In an email to CTV News, Vitalité Health Network said emergency visits are accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday through Wednesday evenings and services resume at 8 a.m.

“Physician recruitment remains a major challenge across the country, particularly in rural areas. We are intensifying our recruitment efforts both in New Brunswick and elsewhere in Canada,” said Vitalité.

“Vitalité Health Network is making every effort to strengthen the medical team and restore 24/7 emergency services starting May 5,” the statement reads.

Bourque says he is hopeful this date will see the return of 24/7 services, but has doubts.

“We were told that when the acute care unit closed it was only a temporary measure and it’s now been close to 15 months, so as you can imagine, once bitten, twice shy,” he said.

Renaud says the community won’t stop until a solution is found for their rural hospital.

“Vitalité serves 22 communities, so we go from Pointe-Spain to Saint-Paul to Saint Antione, Saint Maris, so it covers a big distance. We’re a rural hospital so of course there is a lot of distance between communities,” she said. “We deserve and we have a right to have the same services as if I lived in Moncton or Dieppe or Riverview.”

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