Healthcare march set for Saturday
SYDNEY — Jennifer MacDonald couldn't sit silent any longer.
Recent news about people seeking help at Nova Scotia emergency departments and not getting it quickly enough to save their lives has made MacDonald decide it's time to take action.
Although the piano teacher has never organized an event like a rally or protest before, MacDonald decided it was time she did and has organized the March of Concern for Nova Scotia's Healthcare System.
Being held Saturday in Sydney, the aim of the event is to show the provincial government and health care decision-makers that citizens are concerned.
MacDonald's concern started when the paramedics' union started issuing code blues because there were limited or no ambulances available.
It has grown over the past few years and peaked over the last couple of months as news coverage of people dying after extremely long waits in emergency departments, where they weren't examined or their severe illness wasn't detected.
"There was nothing being organized by any organizations. Nothing being organized by any of the oppositions in terms of doing rallies or being out in the public. There was nothing being organized by the unions. It just got to the point people are dying in our ERs and nobody is out on the street about anything about it and we really should be," MacDonald said.
"In hindsight, we should have been out on the streets long ago when they started taking away our emergency departments. But when they take it away from you bit by bit, you know, slowly, sometimes it's hard to see."
MacDonald has her own
emergency department horror story that happened at Cape Breton Regional Hospital 13 years ago.
While in the waiting room, MacDonald had a miscarriage and passed the baby in the bathroom. Her husband told the nurse it was happening but there were no rooms for them to have some privacy.
“It was horrible. I couldn’t grieve. I couldn’t cry,” MacDonald said. “Looking at the system now, I think a lot of people, we’ve lost our trust. (Premier Tim Houston) has been asking us to trust for a year and a half, trust that he’s going to fix our health-care system, and here we are.”
ACTION BEING TAKEN
Cape Breton East MLA Brian Comer told the Cape Breton Post he’s heard from constituents about their concerns regarding health care and has met with Cape Breton Regional Hospital emergency department nurses to discuss theirs.
While an emergency sitting of the legislature hasn’t been called by his government, Comer said he believes the announcement made on Wednesday about strategies to fix emergency care will be effective.
“I think the announcement made (Wednesday) … show there’s a sense of urgency,” Comer said. “These problems are happening not just in Nova Scotia but across the country and they are problems that are systemic and complex.”
Some strategies announced include having patient advocates in the emergency departments, which sources at Cape Breton Regional Hospital said have already been put in place there.
Comer said other strategies he believes will help include having nurse practitioners in emergency departments and the addition of a second air ambulance for transport from Sydney to Halifax.
“(Health-care problems) have been a long outstanding issue,” he said. “With these actions, we are taking a step forward.”
For MacDonald, she doesn’t feel reassured by the province’s announced strategies because right now they are only words.
“The changes I will trust are the changes that I see,” she said.
MARCH NOT POLITICAL
The March of Concern for Nova Scotia’s Healthcare isn’t a political one. Nor is it affiliated with any groups, such as Freedom for Nova Scotia which has adjusted its weekly Civic Centre start time to coincide with the march.
MacDonald said the only agenda is health care and there are no speeches. People are asked to meet at the Civic Centre on the Esplanade at 11 a.m. Saturday because it has a lot of space and is central.
“It’s not a rally. There are no speeches. This is just a march,” said MacDonald.
MacDonald chose to start at 11 a.m., an hour before the Freedom for Nova Scotia group’s usual start time, believing the march participants would be gone before the other group’s protest began.
Since the other group moved their start time to coincide with the march, MacDonald hopes they respect the intention behind the march.
“(The march) is open to anyone but the only agenda is a health-care agenda. It’s not a Trudeau-bashing agenda. It’s a group of people saying we want change now and we want answers now. We want concrete answers and evidence of change. That’s why we’re marching,” she said.
“We’re not a political group. We’re not out to get anybody. We’re just scared and I feel like I need to do something. I feel deeply compelled. I need to not just sit and watch it happen and I know there are other people who feel that way.”
The march will leave the Civic Centre shortly after 11 a.m., go along Esplanade to Pitt Street, up Pitt to Charlotte Street then along Charlotte to Wentworth Park.
More information can be found on the March of Concern for Nova Scotia’s Healthcare System Facebook page.