GUYSBOROUGH: A group of concerned citizens throughout the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) have established their very own grassroots healthcare committee.
The municipality’s two hospitals; the Guysborough Memorial Hospital and Eastern Memorial Hospital in Canso have faced continuous doctor and nurse shortages, along with recruitment issues which have led to the temporary closures of their emergency rooms.
A representative of the committee, said concerned citizens have formed the healthcare committee to take action, together.
They group suggests they don’t necessarily want to be adversarial in nature.
“It’s got to be a supportive one,” they said. “Sometimes you can get more bees with honey, but at the same time, you can’t sit back and do nothing either – you can’t let people kind of just dictate to you what’s going on sometimes.”
The group is advising a different viewpoint is needed.
They say it’s crucial for provincial health officials to understand rural areas are different than urban areas.
“The [Nova Scotia] Health Authority can’t really treat every place in the province the same,” they said. “There’s different needs and different resources out there – Guysborough is not the same as Halifax.”
The committee’s first meeting took place at the Chedabucto Lifestyle Complex and via Zoom on August 6.