A provincially-run registry that matches doctor-less patients with family doctors is showing results.
800 New
Brunswickers have been matched with a family doctor or nurse through
Patient Connect NB, and another 300 are being matched right now. 2000
people have signed up for the service in total.
Patient Connect NB was established at the end of May. To register for the service, click here.
With the
announcement the West side icon will be shutting its doors, the CEO of
Simms has said he'll help out of work employees find new jobs — and Ward One Councillor, Bill Farren, believes he'll be true to his word.
Farren
tells CHSJ News he knows Tom Simms will do his best to take care of
those who find themselves unemployed when the Simms Corner factory shuts
its doors this fall.
Farren says that's just in Simms' make-up, calling him a man of the people and a good, true businessman.
In a
release Simms said it was a tough choice to let go of a team of
employees they've worked with for decades. No word on how many people
will be out of a job.
The Simms Company, which will no longer be making its brushes in Saint John, had its beginnings in 1866. That's when Thomas Stockwell Simms, an American civil war veteran, invested his soldier's back pay and bonus in a small brush and broom operation in Portland, Maine. This fledgling enterprise moved in 1872 to Saint John.
David Goss knows more about Saint John history than just about anyone else and tells CHSJ News Simms played a huge role in the lives of many people on the west side. He says you will hardly meet anyone over 60 in that part of the city who hasn't had some connection with the company over the years.
Simms Corner used to be known as Avery's Corner and the company, which employed up to 500 workers at one time, had a building across the road on the former Centracare property which was used to house 60 factory girls if they had nowhere else to live.
Simms travelled all the way to the far east back in the early 1900's to get the best bristles and established a Baptist church in India which is still standing today.
The rules of the game have changed when it comes to winning public support for big industrial projects.
John Herron of the Atlantica Centre for Energy says the old argument of compromising the environment for the sake of jobs and economic growth isn't being accepted as readily anymore.
Shale gas development has run into strident opposition but Herron tells the Tide other jurisdictions have managed to get their publics on board with energy development.
Herron says protests occur when people feel they're not being listened to and there have been intensified protests in Kent County with arrests being made.
Provincial Green
Party leader David Coon says there might be overwhelming support for the
West to East pipeline in Saint John but such is not the case in
Quebec.
He
claims there's alot of concern and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois has
been hedging on where she stands so as not to alienate her populist
base. Coon points out environmental concerns in Quebec have been
heightened because of the train disaster with tankers of oil exploding
at Lac Magentic last month.
He
tells the Tide the pipeline project will increase carbon pollution and
that will have unforseen consequences, pointing out not many people
around here are aware the Bay of Fundy is becoming more acidified
because of climate change and increased carbon pollution. He warns that
acidification could damage the fishery over the long term.
Campbellton is in a
state of shock........The RCMP say two young boys, aged 5 and 7, are
dead after they were strangled by a python that escaped its enclosure at
an exotic pet store.
The
RCMP say the boys were sleeping in an apartment above Reptile Ocean and
it's believed the snake made its way into the apartment through the
ventilation system sometime through the overnight hours.
The
snake was captured and is in the possession of police. The boys were
visiting the apartment of the pet store's owner at the time.
Autopsies will be performed on the two victims today in Saint John.
