Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt has responded to the recently announced temporary closures of the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre (UCC).
The closures will occur for approximately eight weeks and the UCC will remain closed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. the following morning, due to a gap in physician coverage.
“As your local representative, as a resident, and as a mother, I understand how important this issue is to all residents of Airdrie and area,” wrote Pitt in a Facebook post on July 29.
Pitt continued to state the UCC is currently facing two major issues, one being a lack of space and the other being a lack of physicians. The UCC has been advocating the Alberta health minister Jason Copping for many months on these issues, as reported by the Airdrie City View in June.
According to Pitt, a plan is in motion to upgrade the facility's capacity and fix additional space challenges the UCC is struggling with.
“AHS Space Management and Strategic Capital Planning recently conducted a Space Optimization Review of the Centre and recommendations were developed to accommodate immediate space pressures,” wrote the MLA. "I am pleased to report that work has already begun on this.”
Pitt also wrote that more complex recommendations are being developed, but no details regarding the manner of these recommendations were released as of press time.
While these solutions will not fix the current shortage of physicians, Pitt added additional space and storage to the UCC will allow the facility to care for more patients in a more organized manner.
Pitt said medical staffing issues are something the whole country is grappling with, due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. To fix the issue, AHS is attempting to recruit more staff, according to Pitt.
“At the end of June 2022, there were 11,069 physicians registered in Alberta,” Pitt wrote.
She added there has been an increase of over 70 workers in the medical field in Airdrie in June 2022 as compared to last year. Airdrie has13 physicians and there are currently three additional doctors undergoing training who are expected to begin work at the UCC in approximately four weeks, according to the MLA.
While the UCC is purposed for non-life threatening medical emergencies, the centre still offers immediate care to Airdrie residents. Those seeking serious and life-threatening medical emergencies must travel to Calgary to receive care during the closures, Pitt noted in the Facebook post.
“I will continue to engage with and listen to you so I can advocate for what our community needs most,” she wrote.
