Update from Horizon Health on Sussex Health Centre Emergency Department - Collaborative, Multidisciplinary Model

Last week I participated in a meeting hosted by Horizon Health to outline its vision for the Sussex Health Centre. Doctors, nurse practitioners, mayors and councils from the region, and other health professionals gathered to discuss the critical doctor shortage that is keeping our hospital emergency room from returning to 24/7 operations. I am encouraged by a new blended model concept being piloted in Sussex to help restore emergency services at our hospital around the clock for our community. This has been a very challenging situation for Horizon so I thank everyone who is working together collaboratively to find a good fix for our community.

Horizon has strongly advocated with physicians for pay rates that are competitive for community settings like Sussex. And it is still a very real struggle. I know Sussex is not alone in this shortage so I am incredibly grateful to Horizon, local health care professionals and community leaders for putting their heads together to find the right answer.

https://tinyurl.com/23fybkw7

Ribbon Cut on New Sussex Walking Bridge

The new walking bridge connecting Sussex’s busy recreation hub at the 8th Hussars Sports Centre/Princess Louise Park to the downtown core is so important for the ease of pedestrian traffic, especially those who want to support our wonderful businesses downtown and help grow the local economy.

On Canada Day I joined Sussex Deputy Mayor Tim Wilson, councillors Catherine MacLeod and Fred Brenan, as well as Nutrien’s Doug Doney to cut the ribbon on this new structure.

The province supported this $1.5 million project with $400,000, the federal government through ACOA gave $500,000, the Town of Sussex, NB $464,000 and $10,000 from the Downtown Business Association. Partnerships like these make great things happen in our communities.

The superstructure steel was a main conveyor at the old Cassidy Lake mine site. The conveyor was cut into five pieces for ease of transport in 2010 and transported to the Sussex Works garage. It remained in storage for almost 14 years.

The Town engaged Kings County Mechanical as a subcontractor to Fairville Construction out of Saint John to undertake the necessary work to add the bolted connections to each of the five sections to enable reassembly and installation in March 2024 under the direction of the Town’s structural Engineers R. A. Lawrence Engineering.

Dunbar Construction was the contractor of record under the direction of the Town’s civil engineering consultants CBCL Limited for the construction of the foundation structures, pile driving and placement of the bridge sections as you see today.

Thank you Nutrien for this gift of the structural steel which today would cost $750,000 alone, and congratulations to the town for holding on to this vision for the community for 14 years. I was a newspaper reporter in this community when the steel arrived, and I am thrilled that I could help deliver the funding to make it happen these years later as your MLA. #exploresussex

Canada Day in Sussex

Now that’s the way to celebrate Canada Day, Sussex. From bouncy castles to incredible music at the amphitheatre, the afternoon was full of festivities that will cap off with fireworks tonight at 10:13 pm.

Happy Canada Day everyone.

#explorenb #exploresussex