Alberta Health Services (AHS) announced last month the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre would be closed on weekend nights starting July 22 for approximately eight weeks. This last-resort measure taken by AHS was caused by a gap in physician coverage.
The local health-care facility admitted its final patients of the day at 8 p.m. and resumed serving the community at 7 a.m. the following morning, meaning those in need of emergent care at night during this summer's weekends would have to travel to surrounding areas, such as Calgary, to receive treatment.
Recently, AHS stated in a press release that the centre would resume 24-hour care, as four new physicians have been recruited for the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre medical team. Additionally, AHS allocated $1 million for the facility to create three new spaces and support staff wages.
Although we are thrilled to see the centre open again, the possibility of such closures occurring again still looms. The problem of a lack of readily available health care is not unique to Airdrie, but is an issue many Albertan communities are grappling with as doctors leave the province to pursue career opportunities elsewhere.
In an interview last month, NDP health critic David Shepard suggested the lack of physicians being felt all across Alberta is caused by a poor relationship between the current Alberta government and those working within the health-care sector.
Shepard said the first step to fixing this relationship is removing the legislation that allows the government to unilaterally discard employment contracts. The Alberta government exercised this right in 2020 when they scraped the current health-care worker contracts and adjusted payment to the workers without consultation.
Fixing this relationship might not be an easy task but it is a necessary one. Those providing health care are essential to protecting the lives of everyone in Alberta. Despite political differences, everyone needs health care throughout the course of their lives. Putting politics aside and mending this relationship should be a top priority for everyone in the province.
