No News is Good News for Health Authority

In a press release, the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) announced temporary closure of emergency services at the North Cumberland Hospital in Pugwash. The problem is, the press release was not issued to Pugwash media until after the closures had passed.

The closures began last Friday (December 15) and continued to yesterday.

Six Rivers News noticed a CBC reference to closures affecting Northern Nova Scotia and went looking.

The press release originated from Ann Keddy, Senior Communications Advisor, Corporate Affairs in Amherst. We cannot confirm where Keddy sent the information, but the bad news did not reach Pugwash.

Similar closures affected Springhill and Parrsboro.

As a result of our request, we learned more bad news is in store for the people served by the North Cumberland Hospital. The emergency department will also be closed Thursday, December 28 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, and Thursday, January 4 for the same time period.

Direct communication is not a hallmark of the Health Authority. We note a meeting last January when the then Health Minister, Leo Glavine, visited Amherst to quell concerns about cutbacks at the Cumberland Regional Health Centre, when neither the minister nor his aids would answer directly.

In fact, our coverage of that meeting said the Health Authority’s Lindsay Peach intercepted a number of questions for the minister but her offerings were equally vague.

In more recent months, the Pugwash Village Commission asked for an update on the proposed new hospital for Pugwash. Commissioners felt the response from the Health Authority was less than enlightening and verged on Orwellian ‘double speak’.

The Health Authority may not want to talk to the people they were hired to serve, but Six Rivers News will not take no for an answer.