Listen to Tantramar Report for the following stories:

Horizon Health hires a former administrator to help restore service at the Sackville hospital

Horizon Health has hired a recently retired executive director and former nurse to help retain and recruit health care workers at the Sackville Memorial Hospital. Nancy Parker has taken on the interim, part-time role at the hospital.

Members of the Rural Health Action Committee are confident that Parker is a solid choice for the job, according to co-chair John Higham. Tantramar Report spoke with Higham on Tuesday to find out more.

Mayor Shawn Mesheau on forced amalgamation

Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau at a council meeting Monday, Nov. 8. Screenshot taken by CHMA.

Just before Tantramar Report closed up shop for 2021, we spoke with Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau to get his reaction to news from the provincial government, announcing they had ignored a proposed alternative to forced amalgamation of Sackville, Dorchester, and surrounding areas.

As we embark on the year that will see the town of Sackville dissolved and reformed as a larger entity, the so-called "Entity 40"— we revisit that conversation on Tantramar Report.

Mount A hires new chaplain

Mount Allison University has hired a new chaplain. Reverend Ellie Hummel will be joining Mount Allison as multi-faith chaplain and spiritual care coordinator starting on March 7th. Hummel is an ordained minister with the United Church of Canada. She previously worked as chaplain and coordinator of the multi-faith and spiritual centre at Concordia University in Montreal, and before that oversaw congregations in rural Saskatchewan. For more, check out the web story here.

Struts and Black Duck close until further notice

Struts Gallery has announced it will remain closed to the public until further notice. The gallery was scheduled to reopen Tuesday after a holiday break, but has announced that “for everyone’s safety” it will remain closed for the time being. Equipment rentals are still available, and members can contact the gallery for arrangements.

Another Sackville institution will remain closed until the current wave of Omicron subsides. The Black Duck Cafe co-owner Alan Barbour says he’s hoping the popular cafe can reopen in February. Barbour says that neighbouring Quality Grocery is open and will remain open.

COVID-19 update: overwhelming number of hospitalizations expected

There are now 6,112 known active cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, but that number is believed to be larger due to the inability to test and contact trace amidst the rapid spread of Omicron.

The province reported 746 new cases on Tuesday. In Zone 1, there were 166 new cases identified through lab-based PCR tests.

Three more people died from COVID-19 in the province, and the number of people in hospital has grown to 56. 16 of those people are in intensive care.

571 health-care staff were isolating at home due to COVID-19 on Tuesday. Of these, 460 are from the Horizon Health Network, 70 are Vitalité Health Network staff and 41 are from Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick.

Since Omicron first appeared in New Brunswick on Dec. 13, it has quickly taken over as the dominant variant in the province. And while the hospitalization rate of Omicron appears to be much lower than the previously dominant Delta variant, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard says, “the sheer volume of cases is the concern.”

“If we hit a rate of 1,000 cases a day, we could see more than 160 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across New Brunswick by mid January,” Shephard said at a news conference on New Years’ Eve. “That would very quickly overwhelm our health care providers. It would jeopardize the ability to deliver critical health services.”

The province has cancelled non-urgent and elective surgeries, procedures and lab services, and hospitals across the province are providing urgent and emergency services only.

As of midnight last night, the province has limited eligibility for PCR testing to those it deems to be at highest risk for being hospitalized by COVID-19. That list includes health care workers, and those working in residential institutions, as well as people over 50 who have symptoms.

It’s not clear whether that will mean a reduction in PCR testing or not. Currently, the province is averaging about 2,100 lab-based PCR tests per day, which is higher than usual, but still slightly lower than testing levels reached in late September, when average daily testing peaked at about 2,700 tests per day.

Everyone not eligible for PCR testing is being asked to rely on the use of rapid tests to determine whether they have contracted COVID-19. The province says it will be asking people to report those results via an online form, but has not yet released details.

Supply issue led to distribution site cancellation

The cancellation of a rapid test pick up site in Sackville on Tuesday was due to a supply issue, according to a department of health spokesperson.

Four sites in the province that host a rapid test distribution van every Tuesday had their visit cancelled this week. That makes two weeks in a row that Sackville, Minto, Baie-Sainte-Anne and St. Stephen were not visited by Horizon’s mobile distribution van, with the previous visit cancelled due to the holidays. The department of health gave no details on plans for next week’s pick up site.

UPDATE: New Brunswick public health implemented a new testing policy today requiring people to register in advance for an appointment to pick up rapid test kits.

Kits are available today (with appointments, as per new rules) at the Port Elgin mobile pick up site, on Shemogue Road at Memorial Park, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Kits are also available (with appointments, as per new rules) at the Moncton pick up site at 548 Mountain Rd. from 1-6 p.m.