Happy Valley-Goose Bay mayor calling for Labrador to have own health authority

While Happy Valley-Goose Bay Mayor John Hickey is happy with Labrador Grenfell Health (LGH) taking over the ambulance service in town, he said it’s part of a much bigger problem.
“One of the things that causes me big concern, is what is happening at the administration level at LGH,” he told the Labradorian. “They have an ambulance service that was only providing service for 48 per cent of the time and we were paying for it. Something tells me there is a lot happening that needs to be looked over at LGH. Who is watching the shop?”
Hickey said over the past week he has been talking to the leaders from across Labrador and they agree something needs to be done.
He said they are going to have a public forum at the Lawrence O'Brian Centre and are going to invite all these leaders in, municipal, federal, provincial, the indigenous groups, and they are going to listen
“The key word is listen, to our citizens, to these groups and organizations that depend on these services.
What we are going to be asking for, but I've talked about in the past, is we are looking for a Health board for Labrador. With Labrador representation on it, chaired by a person from Labrador to meet the needs of laboratorians.”
He said with so many needs in Labrador it needs its own health board with its own budget. Labrador has its own issues, Hickey said, with mental health and addictions being huge issues in the communities, not only in Happy Valley-Goose Bay but also across Labrador.
There are great doctors at the hospital and great nursing staff, he said, but there's a problem with LGH. 
“One employee called it a shit show,” he said. “I don't like using that language but what does that say when a long time employee says that to you? What we’re saying is the time has come to look to the future. I am not impressed with paying out money for services we do not get. It's a big red flag for me that all is not well inside administration of LGH. If this is what happening with her ambulance service, what else is happening? What don't we know about?