Dr. Serge Melanson (Photo: Zoom call)

 The Emergency Departments at the Moncton Hospital and Saint John Regional Hospital are experiencing a critical shortage of nursing staff this weekend.

They are asking that patients with non-life-threatening medical needs not come to The Moncton Hospital and Saint John Regional Hospital Emergency Departments from August 26 to August 28.

Horizon Health Network’s Interim President and CEO Margaret Melanson says, “We certainly have staff who we are trying to allow to take their well-earned vacation period. We do have the music concert in Dieppe and we do have some staff who are ill with COVID. It’s also the fact that we have within our facilities a large number of patients who really do require a nursing home level of care and so our patient flow is also part of the congestion issues we experience that certainly impacts our emergency departments as well.”

Horizon Health Network says they do not have the capacity to triage and care for patients with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Moncton Hospital has been challenged all summer long. We knew we were gonna get into more challenges this weekend because of this concert that’s being held in our community and our staffing was critically short this weekend. My understanding is that we’ve managed to actually encourage a few extra staff to participate this weekend and to work on we certainly have staff who we are trying,” Dr. Serge Melanson,  Department of Emergency Medicine at The Moncton Hospital.

Patients are being asked to seek other means of care, including Telecare 811, or by visiting sowhywait.ca for other health care options,  evisitnb.ca for information about virtual care, or a community hospital ED, such as:

• Horizon’s Sackville Memorial Hospital (40 minutes, from TMH), open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; or
• Horizon’s St. Joseph’s Hospital Urgent Care Centre in Saint John (10 minutes from SJRH), open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; or
• Horizon’s Charlotte County Hospital in St. Stephen (1 hours and 15 minutes from SJRH), open 24/7.

“If people are still struggling to determine if their condition is critical or life-threatening after they have accessed those services, I would encourage them to come and see us,” Dr. Melanson adds.

TMH is the province’s Level 2 designated trauma centre and SJRH is the province’s Level 1 designated trauma centre. These facilities must reserve their resources to care for the individuals who present with critical medical needs, including those who have experienced serious injuries, heart attacks, strokes and difficulty breathing.

“We recognize the seriousness of this situation and the difficulties it may bring to Moncton and Saint John area residents, as well as to our staff and physicians,” said Margaret Melanson. “We are providing on-site support to our staff and physicians who will be providing care to patients with critical injuries or illnesses over the weekend and are thankful for their dedication to their patients.”

The Emergency Department at Sussex Health Centre will also close early this evening, Friday, August 26,  due to a shortage of nursing staff. They will stop seeing patients at 5:30 pm and patients will need to seek care elsewhere.  It will reopen Saturday, August 27 at 7:30 am.