Campbellton mayor calls on Vitalit to address doctor shortage

Campbellton mayor Stphanie Anglehart-Paulin has launched an online petition challenging the Vitalit Health Network's management of a shortage of doctors in northern New Brunswick.

The effort follows the announced departure of four doctors in the Restigouche region over the past few months. More than 2,000 people had signed the petition as of Sunday evening.

The mayor points to management and work environment as a source of the shortage.

"There are problems with Vitalit. They point the finger at the community, but it's time they look at themselves in the mirror," Anglehart-Paulin said in an interview with Radio-Canada.

In response, Vitalit President and CEO Gilles Lanteigne said the network plans to implement a recruitment operation to draw new doctors to the area.

"The communities must be welcoming for new doctors," he said in a Friday interview with Radio-Canada.

Anglehart-Paulin is one of thousands of people in the Restigouche region who will shortly find themselves without a family doctor. She said her own doctor had 4,000 patients.

She said she worries about the future of healthcare in the community and accuses the Vitalit health network of not making enough effort to find doctors for the Campbellton Regional Hospital.

Accusations of toxic environment

Anglehart-Paulin said a "toxic environment" that originates from the health network's board of directors makes doctors unwilling to work in the region.

"It's absolutely not the community, it's not the people, it's not the nurses," she told Radio-Canada.

Similar accusations of a "toxic climate" were made on Thursday by the secretary of galit Sant en franais, an organization which advocates for French healthcare services.

The Green Party candidate for Restigouche West, Charles Thriault, said there is a negative climatearound hospitals in northern New Brunswick.

Anglehart-Paulin said if doctors are leaving the region, it's clear proof that the healthcare system is not working in the northern part of the province. She said she was on a committee to address the challenge, shortly before the start of the pandemic.

"There were doctors at the table who gave us very concrete suggestions, but Vitalit never, never, never did anything," she said.