The Norman’s Cove-Long Cove town council and surrounding communities are worried about the future of the W.H. Newhook Community Health Centre in Whitbourne and they want answers.

The clinic’s ER, which serves a broad area including the busy Trans Canada Highway and Vale’s Long Harbour facility, has been through long and repeated periods of diversion due to a shortage of staff.

Norman’s Cove-Long Cove Mayor Donald Haley is echoing questions raised by Whitbourne Mayor Hilda Whalen who wanted to know why the local ER, which is also used as a training facility for MUN medical students, is continually shut down.

He says right now if they have a medical emergency, the go-to places to take a patient are Placentia or Carbonear.

“That’s very, very concerning,” says Haley, because it takes an ambulance out of the region for an hour each way. Haley says council has sent messages to the minister’s office requesting a meeting, “but we’re not getting any answers back.”