The Musquash Fire Department was kept busy over the weekend.
The department responded to a house fire on Bentley Lane in Lepreau on Saturday afternoon.
A statement from the department said everyone was safely out of the house when they arrived.
An exterior corner of the house sustained significant damage.
Mutual aid was requested from the Eastern Charlotte Fire Department, but they were turned back after Musquash firefighters quickly controlled the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Forest fire season is underway
Sunday afternoon brought the second call of the weekend.
The department responded to a report of an outside fire off Old Saint John Road in Fundy Shores.
Musquash Fire sent 21 firefighters to the scene. Mutual aid was provided by Eastern Charlotte Fire and the Department of Natural Resources.
Crews were on the scene for about four hours before the fire was declared out.
Musquash Fire is reminding people that it’s forest fire season in New Brunswick and to be careful while in the woods.
The provincial Fire Watch is available and shows burn notices and active wildfires. It’s updated daily at 2 p.m.
Fundy Shores has invested more than $10,000 to expand local child-care options.
The municipality has approved funding for the YMCA of Southwestern New Brunswick to support the launch of a licensed summer camp at Fundy Shores Elementary School.
The program will serve children aged five to 12, offering outdoor, creative and active programming, as well as local outings to beaches and trails.
Lisa Mullins-Buchanan, manager of community and program development for Eastern Charlotte County with the YMCA of Southwestern New Brunswick, said the program will consist of one group of 15 children. She said the organization will use funding provided by the municipality to support staffing and transportation costs for weekly trips.
The summer camp will run from June 22 to Sept. 4.
Mayor Denny Cogswell said the investment will help address child-care needs in the community.
“I guess this is kind of a stepping stone right now,” Cogswell said. “We strongly encourage people to sign up for the program, fill all the seats and hopefully it is a success this summer.”
Cogswell said one of the top priorities identified through community engagement was the need for child care.
The municipality set aside the grant money requested by the YMCA to help meet that need, he said.
Cogswell added the program is a starting point to address demand, but if the need continues, the municipality hopes to expand child-care options through the new community complex Fundy Shores is planning.
Fundy Shores is looking to increase access to health care in its municipality with a pilot project.
The municipality has developed the Paramedicine Clinic Pilot, a project that aims to recruit paramedics and other health professionals, including licensed practical nurses and registered nurses, to run a clinic residents can visit for preventive care.
Fundy Shores Mayor George “Denny” Cogswell said the municipality decided to explore the pilot because access to health care was one of the “main things” residents were looking for.
“We felt that paramedics in the province are very well underutilized as health-care professionals, and we thought that would be a good place to start,” he said.
Cogswell said some of the services residents wanted access to included blood work, diabetes management and getting prescriptions filled.
He added that in a rural community like Fundy Shores, which has 2,200 people, health-care providers such as paramedics or registered nurses “could get a lot more health care done.”
“Paramedics right now are doing a lot — they are running an emergency room within an ambulance — so why can’t we take some of that out there and put it into a clinic?” he said.
Cogswell said the project is still in its early stages but noted the municipality has shared the pilot with the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick for feedback, which he said has been positive.
The municipality has also shared the pilot with the Department of Health and is waiting to meet with officials to explore funding options, Cogswell said.
If it can secure funding, Cogswell said the municipality would build a clinic in the new community complex it is developing, which he expects will be completed by 2030.
Paramedics association open to pilot project but highlights hurdles
Chris Hood, executive director of the Paramedics Association of New Brunswick, said that to move health care forward, “we need to think out of the box.”
He believes the pilot project Fundy Shores is exploring is a positive step toward better access to health care for the community. But he said the municipality will need to set up the clinic in a more collaborative way.
“It’s all good to take an X-ray and put a cast on, but then someone needs to deal with the follow-up care,” he said.
Chris Hood, executive director of the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick. PHOTO: CHRIS HOOD/SUBMITTED
Hood also said the municipality may face challenges in recruiting and retaining staff and may have to find a way to “sell” the community as a place for health professionals to practise.
Despite some of the kinks that may need to be worked out, Hood said the association is open to working with the municipality and providing advice as it explores the pilot project.
“We are interested in all kinds of innovation, and we need to think about that more, so I encourage communities to reach out if they are thinking about these types of things,” he said.
