Facing Reality on Health Care

There was a piece on last night's TV news about a woman who was appalled that her elderly father, who had recently suffered a heart attack was placed in the hall of the Rockyview Hospital because there were no rooms available at that moment.  The officials she talked to were very sympathetic, but told her that was the norm in Alberta's health care system. 

This problem has existed for a considerable length of time.  While hospitals like Calgary's Rockyview General Hospital haven't been at full capacity for a while now, certain areas do back up.  Those back-ups in some wards require patients to be placed in the hallways until space in a room opens up.

My recent stint (albeit short) in that same Rockyview hospital showed me that the hospital staff are working as hard as they can with the resources they have to give excellent care to all patients.  Unfortunately, their facility frequently lets them down!

I can hear it now:  "Let's all blame Rachel Notley and her NDP government for this major screw-up!"  

Hey, not so fast!

It wasn't the NDP government who closed numerous hospitals around the province.
It wasn't the NDP government who blew up one of the biggest hospital complexes in Alberta!
It wasn't the NDP government who played membership roulette with the Alberta Health Services board,  (Remember the famous "cookie monster," Stephen Duckett?)

The NDP inherited this screw-up from the previous government that was in power for more than 40 years.  What disturbs me is that the present government appears oblivious to the problem!  They talk platitudes and promises, but nothing else happens.

If you've read my blog for any length of time you'll know that I have been vocal about the creation of a full hospital in the city of Airdrie.  Yes, it will be expensive, and,
Yes, the province is in a financial crunch right now; but the health system in Airdrie is only going to get worse!

Let's not blame Premier Notley and her NDP government for this current health mess.  Let's make her government start focussing on solutions to these problems before it's too late!

I'm Back!

I'm sure that you know that I'm back home now from the hospital.  My son Rhys has tried to keep everyone informed. 

My surgery was a complete success and I should be back  to normal (or my version of normal) in about three weeks.

I would like to again thank the surgical staff and the staff of Nursing Unit #82 at the Rockyview Hospital in Calgary.  Those folks work so very hard doing what they do so very well!  For a while I felt a little guilty for my constant and unrelenting criticism of Alberta's severely broken health care system.

Then I realized that those hard working, dedicated folks at the Rockyview are not where the problems lie!  Those people are working so very hard to keep the sinking health care ship afloat.  We need to support them, and help them in any way we can to get those higher up in the health care system to realize what's going on and to start moving toward fixing it!

Thank you to all those who sent me their best wishes for a speedy recovery.  Those wishes meant a lot to me!

Shout Out to Alberta Health Services

Over the past three weeks, I have had to visit Alberta Health Services facilities on numerous occasions. 

Here's a shout out to the folks at the Drumheller Hospital Emergency Department and the Airdrie Home Care Clinic for the fantastic job they're doing to keep Albertans safe and healthy. 

I fear that some of the recent criticism of Alberta's health services has rubbed off on these hard working people.  These folks on the front line are going above and beyond to provide Albertans with the best health care possible!  Good on ya!

Our Premier Missed His Chance!

Shortly after the Provincial Budget was tabled in the Legislature yesterday, my son Rhys phoned me and said he thought that Jim Prentice had blown his big chance to put Alberta on a safer financial path.  After going over the details of the budget, I agree with him!

The Alberta Progressive Conservatives had a chance to really set things right in this province, but they wussed out!  They zapped the smokers and the drinkers, which is a usual target when the governments need more cash; the so-called "sin tax."  But then they hit drivers, too!  I think the fuel tax increase will do more harm than good.  Ours is a huge province, with very little public transportation except in the larger cities. 

In my opinion, the fuel tax is just another punishment to Albertans for trying to move around their province for business or pleasure!

The health care surcharge won't even be applied to health care!  What kind of sense is that?  The well-to-do in this province were given a very small increase in their taxes and, from what I can read, the huge rich corporations got off basically scot free!

The ailing Heritage Trust Fund was propped up - instead of being drawn down to almost zero for this definitely "rainy day!"  Alberta's future education and health programs were ignored.  I guess the government expects all those folks moving into booming communities, like Airdrie, to drag their own hospitals, schools, seniors' care centres, and infrastructure in with them.  That, I gotta see!

Diversification was mentioned a few times. We'll have to see what comes of that.

The provincial opposition parties are in total chaos, so the Alberta PCs can't be worried about them, especially with their huge majority.   According to law, the Premier cannot call an election for another year yet. 

So why did he wuss out?  I don't know.

Airdrie Health Survey

Alberta Health Services has initiated an online survey to gauge our health needs in the Airdrie area!  I haven't participated, but I plan to in the near future.  Many of the folks hereabouts are focusing their efforts on the creation of a 24 hour urgent health care facility in Airdrie.  That's a good start!

But while this is an admirable goal, it falls short of what this area around the City of Airdrie really needs - and that is a full fledged hospital!  When I'm talking hospital, I'm not talking about a small hospital such as those we find in Three Hills, Drumheller or Didsbury.  While these are wonderful facilities for the communities they serve, they fall short of what this area needs.  I'm talking about a complete care facility - such as the general hospitals in Red Deer, Medicine Hat or Lethbridge - but one similar to the South Health Campus would be ideal.

I believe that Airdrie is the largest city in Alberta (and perhaps all of Canada) without a hospital!  For any kind of serious health treatment, perhaps more than 100,000 people in the area have to scamper into Calgary, to wait in the already crowded health system and facilities, there!  The good folks of Okotoks and Alderside now have a fantastic hospital facility - the South Health Campus - gradually opening up close to them at the southern edge of Calgary.  We on the north side must be second class Albertans?

We need a similar facility, built somewhere immediately north or immediately south of the City of Airdrie. 

I urge you all to participate in the health survey and let all of those who read the results know that we do not like being treated as second class Albertans!

Airdrie Needs a Hospital!

The City of Airdrie is among the fastest growing communities in Alberta.  But I understand that, with a population approaching sixty thousand, Airdrie is still without plans to have a hospital there!

I think that is ridiculous and disgusting!  Calgary has the new South Health Campus, which is a beautiful facility, but it certainly was never designed to help the folks from up north here - it's just too far away!  We need a similar facility built somewhere right around Airdrie!  NOW!

I've been told that over 1200 babies are born in Calgary hospitals each year to Airdrie parents!   New moms are transported down one of the busiest highways in Canada, to a hospital many kilometers away from their home communities.  New dads have little choice but to either get a hotel room in Calgary, sleep on the hospitals' floors, or commute from Airdrie to visit their new families!

What kind of a system is that?

Those in the Provincial government say that Airdrie's huge and rapid growth was hard to predict.  Well, predict it or not, it's here!  So what is going to be done about it?

I say let's shelve the "Big City Charters," for now and concentrate all resources on addressing this health care crisis in Airdrie.  I'm sure the mayors of Calgary and Edmonton would both agree that this is a much more pressing problem!   Our new Premier, Jim Prentice, must be made aware of this situation.  He's been too quiet on this crisis so far. 

What are we going to do about it?