Barely a few days after being sworn in as mayor of Caraquet, Bernard Thériault sees the issue of health care appear in the Acadian Peninsula, like an old political ghost that is emerging again.
Tracadie Hospital
Photo: Radio-Canada / René Landry
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Radio-Canada has learned that Vitalité Health Network is closing the four intermediate care beds at the Tracadie Hospital due to a lack of nursing staff. It is, we are assured, a temporary measure.
Intermediate care is offered to patients who are more stable than those in intensive care, but still require more intensive care which is difficult to provide in regular care units. This could be, for example, cardiac monitoring or the administration of medication by a special care nurse.
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Bernard Thériault, former Liberal provincial minister, admits that he has learned the hard way that health care and politics are an explosive mix in the region.
I am totally in solidarity with the people of Tracadie.
Gone are the days when the towns of Tracadie and Caraquet each pulled cover on their own?
I would tell you that yes
, quickly decides the new mayor. You know how this issue of health services in the 90s created rifts between regions. I have personally paid the political price and I do not want to find myself in other situations like these.
A mayor of Tracadie protests in the street in Caraquet
Denis Losier, mayor of Tracadie, was present at the rally in Caraquet on February 17, 2020.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Alix Villeneuve
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Bernard Thériault has not forgotten the presence in Caraquet of the mayor of Tracadie, Denis Losier, at a rally against the emergency closure at night, which was then considered by the provincial government.
In view of the fact that political actors in the Tracadie region defended last year the services offered at the Caraquet Hospital because they had an impact on the entire Acadian Peninsula, we will have the same reflex . We must ensure that these changes do not harm all services in the Acadian Peninsula.
, says Bernard Thériault.
Beyond the elevator return
But it goes far beyond the simple return of the elevator.
He believes that elected officials from the Acadian Peninsula must be more vigilant than ever when it comes to health care.
I believe that we will have to continue to look at the future and the defense of health care as a regional perspective.
, he says. In this case, we will keep an eye on it to ensure that we do not eat into services in the Acadian Peninsula.
Too often, in wanting to protect what we are afraid of losing, we do not put enough emphasis on what we should have.
Services for the whole region
If Bernard Thériault was caught in the whirlwind of the bell-tower wars between Caraquet and Tracadie on the issue of hospitals when he was a provincial politician, he changed his tune when he is now a municipal elected official.
But there is something else.
In the last two years, for family reasons, I have been called upon to go very regularly to the Hôpital de Tracadie, where we also receive excellent service.
, he reveals. The people who receive services in Tracadie, such as Caraquet and Lamèque, come from all regions of the Peninsula.
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