Sackville residents hold rally to protest loss of hospital services

Susan Kastuk-Ridlington is extremely worried about the future of the Sackville Memorial Hospital.

Kastuk-Ridlington, who has lived in the community since 1982, says the decision to temporarily close acute care beds at the hospital is concerning.

"Rural health is important and it should be part of the system, part of the whole plan not to be taking it away," Kastuk-Ridlington said.

She took part in a noon-hour rally at the hospital on Wednesday to protest the changes. People brought signs, rang noisemakers and listened to several speakers talk about the future of the hospital.

Last week, Eileen MacGibbon, vice-president clinical services with Horizon Health, said the bed conversion was temporary and made necessary because of the "ongoing nursing shortage" at the hospital.

Acute-care beds will be converted to beds for people waiting for long-term care. Sackville patients who require acute care will be transferred to the Moncton Hospital, MacGibbon said. 

The latest move comes after a reduction in emergency department hours during the summer that was originally announced as temporary but has continued through the fall. The ER closes at 4 p.m., seven days a week.

Kastuk-Ridlington says she has personally experienced 13 to 18 hour waits at the hospitals in Moncton, and doesn't think adding to their workload is the answer.

"This community needs a hospital, this community needs an ER and we need some acute beds," she said.

That sentiment was echoed by mayors from surrounding communities who spoke at the rally, worried about accessing medical services.

Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau says he understands the staffing challenges, but solutions must be found. He worries what the town would be like without the hospital.

"We will dissolve. I mean this is the glue and this is what I indicated earlier when I spoke, is that it's the foundation of everything — education, business, environment, our families and our neighbourhoods — and if we don't have this, that's the glue," he said. "And we have to ensure we have this glue so that we can be sustainable as a community."

Mesheau says everyone needs to focus on fixing the situation.

"Ultimately we're going to have to pull the Band-Aid off here and figure out, how do we do this?"

The crowd consisted of residents of Sackville and surrounding communities, and several Mount Allison University students.

Hannah Ehler, the vice president of external affairs at the Mount Allison Students' Union, says students make up half the population of Sackville during the academic year. 

"There are students who might decide not to come if they are unsure of what the health care situation is going to be," she said.

Ehler says students have been making their voices heard since changes were first made to hours at the ER.

"We have been writing letters, we have taken to social media, we have had discussions with folks in government and Horizon Health and we've been very involved and it just feels like we keep pushing and keep making the requests that we know we need in this community and we keep running into a wall," Ehler said.

"And so getting rid of the acute care, I suppose, or transitioning it to Moncton felt like, it felt like there's not a whole lot really left here and it feels like we just keep going backwards."