Growing Concern Over Emergency Room Closure in Plaster Rock, N.B.

While this small rural community in western New Brunswick continues to attract new doctors to the community (as reported here), the only doctor remaining in the village is calling on the local health authority to reconsider its decision, last month, to close the hospital emergency room. The Tobique Valley Hospital, in Plaster Rock, N.B., was closed in June as a result of three physicians leaving the area; thereby, leaving the community understaffed for a fully functioning hospital. Residents are now required to travel 40 kms to neighbouring Grand Falls to get any emergency care. The required travel may well have contributed to the death of an elderly member of the Plaster Rock community on Wednesday of this week. Dr. Barry Wecker, the only remaining physician, had this to say to the CBC:

"This is a concern we've all had. It's something we predicted would happen. It was just a matter of time ... I feel that this lady could have been saved, and a life could have been saved, had we had our emergency department available with an ambulance that could have had her there in 10 minutes."

Wecker agrees that funding and personnel shortages often result in difficult decisions, but, " ...there are several other options that could have been arranged to fill this temporary gap." He went further to emphasize that the specialized equipment, training, and services provided by emergency facilities must be considered when making choices about health care options. The CEO of the River Valley Health Corp stated, "As much as we'd like to keep emergency rooms everywhere, it simply can't be done." He also indicated that the RVHC was actively pursuing efforts to attract physicians to the area, but did not indicate whether this was in addition, or in response, to Plaster Rock Mayor Judy St. Peter's initial offer of free land. In this country of "nationalized" health care, it boggles the mind that first-response services are inevitably the first to be cut-back. To date, there has been little (if any) reporting on how these reductions have effected the administrators and top brass at the RVHC.