Benoit Bourque: "Temporary" measures could have dire consequences

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As one of the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) representing Kent County, I have read with great interest the Brunswick News editorials over the past three weeks about the changes at the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital announced by Vitalité Health Network (VHN). I feel compelled to add my insight as I have been highly involved with the issue over the past month and for many years prior.

The editorial rightly noted that this is a sensitive issue and that changes in healthcare are not easy. As a former Minister of Health with the primary responsibility of implementing Extra Mural services under the management of Medavie in 2017 and 2018, I know it well.

Firstly, I want to remind readers both the CEO of VHN, Dr. France DesRosiers, and the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr. Eric Beaulieu, have publicly stated both entities have no intention nor is it part of their vision to cut the services that have been offered at the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital over the past years, including acute care and emergency care on a 24-hour basis, permanently. However, we have seen the Higgs government make temporary measures permanent too many times across the province. The obstetrics department at the Campbellton Regional Hospital was closed “temporarily.” This “temporary” measure has been ongoing for more than four years and VHN has not yet addressed the root cause of the issue.

I am in full agreement with bringing reforms to healthcare and this includes the delivery of health care services in Kent County. However, I feel the idea of closing the hospital without properly offering an alternative is not the right approach.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago with my now colleague MLA Richard Losier while he was the general manager of both the Dr. Georges-L-Dumont and the Stella-Maris-de-Kent hospitals. I remember him telling me that indeed there is a way to shut down a rural hospital but only by rendering it obsolete. Meaning you must put in place various healthcare services (primary and acute care, clinical services, ambulatory services, etc.) and once they are fully operational, the hospital may be shut down with little impact on the people in the community. That is clearly not the reality of the current situation.

Should the temporary shutdown of acute care at the Stella-Maris-de-Kent Hospital become more permanent, we would have no alternative care services in the community. A retraction of services in the absence of short-term and long-term substitutes would leave a wide gap in healthcare services in the region and result in second-class access to healthcare for the people I represent. I understand the need to make tough calls during tough times given the staffing challenges faced at hospitals across the province but I urge VHN to restore the acute care beds at this hospital immediately.

VHN can maintain the acute care department at Stella-Maris-de-Kent by providing greater support to their healthcare workers through giving them easier access to patient transfers, providing retention bonuses, and improving access to specialists. In my recent conversations with stakeholders, they suggested hiring full-time hospitalists and/or creating some type of shared resources agreement between health authorities. I brought this idea forward during recent Public Accounts Committee hearings to the Department of Health and they seemed open to pursuing this type of solution. I urge VHN to enter meaningful discussions with the Department of Health and Horizon Health Network to restore acute care at Stella Maris.

This “temporary” measure becoming permanent would have dire consequences; it would also solidify the Higgs government’s opinion the people of Kent County and other rural communities are not deserving of first-class healthcare. People in Kent Country need a solution now. VHN and the government must find a way to fix this.

Benoit Bourque is MLA for Kent South