Mayor Pat Fule, along with other representatives from Southern Alberta rural communities, met with Health Minister Jason Copping last week to discuss the future of healthcare in Strathmore, what needs to be improved, and what we can expect going forward.
Fule explained the workshop he attended was one of 32 done by Minister Copping, and he said it was a very positive experience.
"I was really impressed with Minister Copping's attitude and demeanor. He was very receptive, very approachable, he stepped right up and owned that there are a lot of problems in the healthcare system and the province needs to listen. Minister Copping was really forthright and and took ownership of it."
Fule said several of the concerns he raised were also shared by other communities like Airdrie, like the doctor and nurse shortage, as well as Strathmore EMS units being out of town in places like Calgary, rather than being in our community. For these issues, Fule was told that the Alberta Government is taking concrete steps to address these areas of concern, including 50 new ICU beds being built in the province, with 13 of those going to the Calgary zone and six more in the south.
As for the nurse shortage, Fule explained how the government announced a new memorandum of understanding with the Philippines to bring more international nurses, as well as recruiting in the UK and US. $33.5 million is going into expanding education opportunities so that when these nurses do come here, there are bridge programs readily available to get them qualified for Canadian Healthcare. On top of that, Strathmore ambulances have been staying in our community more, and have also increased their services for better community coverage.
One Strathmore specific topic Fule raised was expanding our hospital to offer more services to the community and surrounding areas.
"Strathmore has an amazing hospital in staff. But if we could provide some more services, it could be a way to make our hospital more attractive to to potential residents who want to move here, and be so much more helpful to our own current residents. Perhaps we could have some minor surgeries here. Child deliveries, we used to have deliveries here in Strathmore for babies, but that ended quite a while ago. Maybe have an anesthesiologist."
When Fule brought this up, he says he was told his idea lines up with what Alberta Health wants to do, so the government is interested. However, no funding was offered.
While Fule is optimistic for the future of our healthcare after his meeting with Minister Copping, one concern he has is how the election of Danielle Smith as Alberta's new premier could impact future plans. It's possible she shuffles the cabinet and changes how healthcare is handled, which could potentially derail the positive meeting Fule had.
"Yeah, that's always a worry. My hope is that she she might consider keeping everything intact unless there's real problems in certain ministries. But Minister Copping seems to be on top of things and he seems to be very approachable and sincere as far as admitting that there are problems and that the province needs to listen more and be ready to make some changes. So I'd like to see some stability moving forward."
Fule added there's a spring election coming up as well, and hopes that all premier candidates continue to focus on healthcare and invest in needed improvements.
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Fri, May 3, 10:00 AM
