United in a common cause?
Health care top of mind for three Annapolis County candidates
For once, all of the political candidates running for office in Annapolis are in agreement: health care needs to be a priority for the riding in the provincial election.
Ginny Hurlock, the Progressive Conservative candidate, says the issue should be at the forefront of the minds of all voters.
“We have more over-65s in Nova Scotia than we do under14s,” she said. “If it’s not a crisis already, it’s very, very close to that point. And the way that the medical system is currently structured we’ve got insufficient long-term care beds, we’ve got insufficient family doctors for people with chronic and acute illnesses and who have travel miles and miles to get any sort of treatment.”
She also pointed to ER closures as a continuing problem.
“There’s got to be major, major improvements in the way that we address the health care of an aging population,” she said, adding it would be good to see a little more emphasis on preventative health care rather than sickness care.
Her sentiments were echoed by NDP candidate Colin Sproul, who also called out Premier Stephen Mcneil – also the MLA for Annapolis – for his failure to follow through with a 2013 election promise to ensure every Nova Scotian had a doctor.
“The level of care being provided to seniors in this county is totally inappropriate,” Sproul said, citing $5 a day as the amount of money allocated to all three meals in some long-term care facilities. “The quality of food is just atrocious. The people that work in there? Fantastic. They’re providing unbelievably great levels of care for the amount of understaffing that they have. There’s half the number of people working in those wings than there was years ago. It needs to change. Seniors deserve better in Annapolis County. It can’t go on like that.”
Mcneil, who has held the seat for the Liberals since 2003 – capturing more than 75 per cent of the votes in the last election when his party formed government with Mcneil at the helm – also cites health care as a key concern. But, he says, the concerns of residents of Annapolis County are similar to those of residents across the province.
“It’s continuing to build on what’s happening,” he said. “We need to continue to make sure we fulfill those commitments to primary health care, making sure people have access to primary health care in the communities in which they live. From a job point of view we need to continue to provide opportunities in our communities to repatriate some of our own kids or welcome new people into those communities.”