It was a bittersweet celebration for a small-town hospital.
After a raging community effort and fundraising campaign, the Charlotte County Hospital unveiling a brand new, state-of-the-art mammography machine this week.
President of the Charlotte County Hospital Foundation, Steve Backman says this machine is the best piece of mammography equipment in the province amd women will no longer have to travel an hour away to the Saint John Regional Hospital to get tested for breast cancer.
He also addressed the elephant in the room.
Due to New Brunswick’s looming debt, all hospitals in the province are being looked at for possible closure as a way to cut costs in the health portfolio. Liberal MLA for Charlotte-Campobello John Ames has said the coversation about closure has not been made yet, but CCH will be considered, as will all hospitals in the province.
Backman stated, “I am disappointed such a joyous celebration is being overshadowed by rumours of closure. I want to state, that while the idea has been raised, no one, at any level of government has publicly stated this is the case.”
Backman adds that one of the key recommendations in the province’s health needs assessment was to enhance service at CCH, “With this in mind, any reasonable or rational person can easily conclude that downsizing this hospital is counter-productive and just plain wrong.”
Which hospitals will be closing is still a question.
