Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper attended the Jan. 25 Beiseker council meeting where council expressed concerns about the lack of 24-hour health care in Airdrie, and what that medical service gap means for the village and other surrounding municipalities.
Mayor Ray Courtman said a letter was written expressing council’s concerns to the former government but was essentially “brushed off.”
With the new NDP government elected in May 2015, Courtman said he was hopeful things would improve. However council’s letter, which was sent July 14, 2015, received a response from Health Minister Sarah Hoffman in October 2015 that, according to Courtman, was basically the same as the previous government.
“I know it’s outside of your constituency, but it is a Beiseker issue,” Courtman said to Cooper. “If it is our issue, then it is your issue as well.”
Cooper said, to his knowledge, there is no other community in Alberta with a population of almost 60,000 that does not have access to 24-hour health care and that is a definite problem that needs addressing.
Wildrose MLA for Airdrie Angela Pitt has been fairly aggressive on raising the concern of health care in her constituency in the legislature, Cooper said, but added he would be more than happy to add his voice to help raise concern from the perspective of those in his own constituency.
“It’s quite likely I’ll receive the same response from the minister that you received, but I think it’s important they continue to, or begin to, grasp the scope of the challenge,” Cooper said.
Courtman said he has hopes, because of Airdrie’s population and the numerous surrounding communities that would benefit from medical improvements in the city, the provincial government will invest in a “North Health Campus” style hospital in regards to the size and depth of care it can provide.
He noted the letter from the health minister did come back stating it was in the works to raise the number of beds at the Airdrie Regional Health Centre by at least two in the near future.
“It’s a start,” Courtman said. “A very small start, but a start nonetheless.”
Radar speed signs
Council received approval from Alberta Transportation to install permanent radar speed signs along Highway 72 near where the speed reduces to 50 km/h as vehicles approach the Village on the east and west sides.
The signs, which display the speed a vehicle is going, are recommended by Alberta Transportation to be turned off after 30 days of use so drivers do not become accustom to the sign and start ignoring it.
Though the flashing speed will not display during this off period, the radar will still collect data on vehicle speeds, Beiseker Chief Administrative Officer Jo Lambert said.
“The data is important,” she said. “We can go to Alberta transportation and say, ‘look this is what is happening.’”
With the current approval, council agreed to postpone the installation of the signs until the start of spring.
“There’s no sense in doing it in the middle of winter,” Deputy Mayor Al Henuset said.
