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SYDNEY, N.S. —

Dr. Jeanne Ferguson describes health care in Cape Breton as having fallen off a cliff.

The geriatric psychiatrist said the deterioration of health care in Cape Breton cannot be overstated.

Jeanne Ferguson

“We have lost vascular surgery, we’ve lost our physical medicine speciality, we’ve lost a huge number of experienced family doctors, we are having tremendous difficulty filling our emergency room spots with emergency physicians,” Ferguson said. “The head of our family medicine just resigned. The head of psychiatry just resigned. Our psychiatrists are down to five psychiatrists as opposed to 14 to 16, and the head of psychiatry will be leaving the end of the month. It is hard to overstate how dire the situation is here.”

Ferguson attended a press conference in Sydney involving Cape Breton Centre NDP MLA Tammy Martin and Michael Nickerson, president of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 727, in an effort to draw attention to their concerns about the state of health care in Cape Breton.

Martin signed a declaration of support for Cape Breton community hospitals, calling on the province to reverse a plan announced last June to close hospitals in New Waterford and North Sydney and invited other MLAs within the CBRM — including Liberal cabinet ministers Geoff MacLellan and Derek Mombourquette — to follow suit.

“I had a patient come in the other day who said he had a heart attack,” Ferguson said. “He said they moved him to a chair because a fellow came in with a worse condition than him, and he said, ‘The nurses cried, the doctor cried and the patient beside me threw up on the floor.’ The conditions are starting to become Third World, not First World, and that’s why I’m here today.”

Ferguson said she doesn’t know what it may take to get the viewpoint across to decision-makers in Halifax, noting doctors have spoken out about the conditions they are encountering.

“Ever since 2016, we’ve been saying, clearly, this is not working,” she said.

She noted that many working in the system looked at the amalgamation of the health authorities as a potentially good thing and could result in positive change. Instead, she said Cape Breton has lost and continues to lose resources.

“We haven’t hit the bottom of the barrel yet, I’m not sure where the bottom is,” Ferguson said.

The province has argued that closing the two community hospitals and redeploying resources to expanded emergency departments at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital and Glace Bay Hospital will allow the system to function better. Ferguson questioned how the expanded ERs could be staffed when existing facilities experience regular closures.

“I don’t think we can overstate what’s happening in Cape Breton ... We don’t have the resources we need to safely care for patients in Cape Breton anymore,” Ferguson said. “Our emergency rooms are overcrowded, our physicians are at an all-time low, we are not able to keep our community emergency rooms open.”

Nickerson said the closure of the two hospitals will result in longer transport times for ambulances, leading to longer periods when ambulances will be away from communities which could lead to longer wait times.

Martin said it’s important to hear the experiences of frontline workers and residents who are afraid to get sick and are worried about family members. She said she hears every day from Nova Scotians seeking long-term care beds and noted accounts of recent incidents where emergency department examinations had to be performed in washrooms.

“The solution is not closing community hospitals. We need to invest in health care,” Martin said. “We are choosing a balanced budget over people’s lives because the investments are not being made where they should be.”

Health Minister Randy Delorey has said he has met with many doctors and other staff when in Cape Breton, including a December visit. Martin said she encourages any frontline staff who have met with Delorey to contact her.

"It is hard to overstate how dire the situation is here.” — Dr. Jeanne Ferguson

Details have been slow to emerge about what the community health centres that will replace hospitals in New Waterford and North Sydney will look like, said Martin, her party’s health critic, except that they will not have ERs or in-patient beds.

McNeil’s government said at the time of the announcement that a functional planning process for the new facilities would take six to nine months.

As for why she held the press conference seven months after the province’s announcement, Martin said it was because she hasn’t seen any improvements, the situation is only getting worse. She described it as no longer being in crisis, instead the system is at a breaking point.

In a phone interview, Delorey said he is listening to Cape Breton doctors and the steps the province has announced it will take in Cape Breton recognize the need to improve the quality of care.

“We know that the status quo, the current environment isn’t working and so we’re investing to improve the situation, we’re investing in new facilities for both New Waterford and North Sydney and we’re investing in improvements and expansions in the facilities in Sydney and Glace Bay,” he said.

He said he will not revisit the decision to close the hospitals in New Waterford and North Sydney and said the changes will provide the necessary infrastructure to provide the right care.

Consolidating and ensuring there are two properly sized, modern ERs in the region will better serve needs and help in recruiting physicians, Delorey said.

Related:

• Doctor suggests Cape Breton University open medical school

• Health care protest held in front of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital



nancy.king@cbpost.com