Leaders in the Memramcook-Tantramar region are organizing a committee to co-ordinate the fight against provincial plans to cut overnight emergency room services, day surgeries and acute-care beds at Sackville Memorial Hospital.
During a public meeting in Sackville Wednesday night, MLA Megan Mitton announced the formation of a 12-15 member interim committee co-chaired by Fort Folly First Nation Chief Rebecca Knockwood and Sackvilleâs Mayor John Higham.
The interim committee would enlist the expertise of local people who could, for example, collect and analyze data, organize communications and contribute stories about their experiences as patients, relatives of patients or medical professionals.
âNot going to take this lightlyâ
Chief Knockwood said the proposed cuts to the six rural hospitals would affect five First Nations.
âFive chiefs are being very vocal about this and theyâre not going to let this slide,â she added.
âWe had a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with Premier Higgs. Believe it or not, he cancelled last week. I donât know why,â she added as the audience laughed.
âWhat I want to say is, when he comes, like heâs supposed to consult, right? When he comes in April or May, make sure itâs him and [Health] Minister Flemming because he likes to send his cronies because he doesnât want to deal with peopleâŠespecially First Nations,â Knockwood said.
âSo make sure it is the premier who is here because weâre not going to sit back and take this lightly, thatâs for sure.â

âThere are two key things that need to happen,â Mitton told more than 300 people who had gathered in Mount Allison Universityâs Convocation Hall.
âThe first is that we need to respond quickly,â she said, adding that the region needs to be ready to âpush back and offer a different perspectiveâ to Premier Higgs if he keeps his promise to visit the six rural communities affected by the proposed cuts to hospital services in April or May.
She said that became clear last week when the minister of health and the CEOâs of the two regional health authorities, Horizon and VitalitĂ©, appeared before the legislatureâs public accounts committee.
âIt was very clear, they still love this plan and they feel that our communities and the citizens of New Brunswick just donât understand and just arenât willing to listen and that weâre too emotional,â Mitton said.
âI feel that the way theyâve been speaking about us is insulting, that we canât understand complex problems, that we canât be part of the solution,â she added to sustained applause.
Higham says opposition spreading
Mayor Higham told the meeting that sustained pressure caused the government to postpone its hospital cuts less than six days after they were announced and that part of that pressure came from the mayors in the six affected communities who adopted a concerted approach.
âThere was a lot of feeling that, unfortunately, rural areas could be picked off on public policy because theyâre just so small, it doesnât really matter,â he said. âBut when we get them all together, it does matter and it does make a change.â
Higham added that opposition is now coming from other rural areas that feel threatened too.
âWithin a couple of days of this happening, I got a few calls from mayors in smaller towns talking about their health centres; we heard from First Nations talking about their health centres; and, the design of those services in those even smaller places is contingent upon the type of health services that are nearby,â he said.
âSo their fear is that theyâre next and in essence, whatever happens with us is going to destroy their services as well.â
Student perspective
Elise Vaillancourt, vice president of the Mount Allison University Studentsâ Union, told the meeting she was pleased with the groundswell of support for the Sackville hospital and opposition to cuts to its services including the overnight emergency room.
âSince this announcement, weâve heard from a lot of students that theyâre really scared for what happens when their friend gets sick at two in the morning,â she said.

âOur issues that happen on our campus disproportionately happen between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.,â Vaillancourt added.
She said students often donât have cars and canât afford the $80 cab fare to Moncton.
âThatâs completely unacceptable for a population of students who have the highest debt load in the country.â
She pointed out that Mount Allison students contribute to New Brunswickâs economy.
âWeâre really proud to be here and so thank you all for being here supporting students,â Vaillancourt said.
âWeâre happy to support you too and we love this little town.â
Doctors speak up
Sackville family doctor Allison Dysart and his recently retired colleague Ross Thomas both said the hospital cuts wouldnât save the government any money, but would undermine patient care.

Dr. Allison Dysart said, for example, that even though the layoff notices that acute-care bed nurses at the Sackville hospital received earlier this month have been rescinded, at least two of them are now looking for work elsewhere because they feel their jobs here are no longer secure.
âTo me, one of the things that Iâm most upset about is that even though theyâve put forward this terribly planned âplan,â which was anything but a plan, and theyâve taken it back, and yet theyâve still done damage,â Dysart added.
Thomas said the proposed cuts have created what he termed âa huge loss of trustâ in the administration of the Horizon Health Network.
âI think theyâve done more harm to recruitment [of medical staff] in these past two weeks than all the good theyâve done in the past several years,â he added.
âI donât know how to mend that fence, but itâs going to take awhile.â
Bruce Wark worked in broadcasting and journalism education for more than 35 years. He was at CBC Radio for nearly 20 years as senior editor of network programs such as The World at Six and World Report. He currently writes for The New Wark Times where this story first appeared.