ST. PAUL - Alberta Health needs to focus on retaining the staff they have, in addition to recruiting additional staff, according to residents and health care professionals at a public engagement session held in St. Paul on March 6.
About 20 people participated in the two-hour session, the first hour was a presentation from Alberta Health recapping the work done on the restructuring of the provincial health care system to date.
During the second hour, participants shared feedback in small groups of five to seven with a government facilitator and a note taker at each table. Lakeland This Week was told reporting on the specific conversations at the table, even if the participants were told ahead of time and agreed to their names or comments in the session being shared, was not permitted.
Terry Boettcher, General Manager of Medavie Health Services West, which provides ambulances for communities between Fort Saskatchewan and Lloydminster, attended the session and said he felt the presentation accurately reflected the feedback given in the first round of engagement but there was still quite a bit of anxiety from health care workers around the refocusing.
"I know a lot of people in the health sector have questions about how it's going to impact them and the way that they do their work, and I know that the front line care teams really just want to make sure that they can continue bringing care to patients and their communities," said Boettcher.
Other participants who were reached after the meeting did not wish to comment publicly, some citing concerns about future employment.
Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA Scott Cyr attended the engagement session and spent time at each table. He said he also attended the session held in Cold Lake that morning and was pleased to be at the St. Paul session that afternoon because, “assuming each part of the constituency has the same pressures would be a mistake.”
In an interview after the session, Cyr said despite the differences between St. Paul and Cold Lake, he did see some commonalities around transportation issues.
“Transportation within the municipalities is one of the one of the big barriers for getting the patient to the hospitals,” said Cyr.
In the Town and County of St. Paul, the Action Bus provides accessible transportation for people with disabilities and seniors at a cost of $8 per trip, but rides need to be booked well in advance and there is an additional mileage fee for longer trips. Many people rely on family members or volunteers to drive them for out-of-town appointments.
During the three minutes of public sharing from the tables at the end of the session, the broad issues raised were shifting the focus from recruitment to retention in order to keep knowledge within the community; the infrastructure debt for facilities and equipment; concerns about the declining quality of care; need for local decision making; funding for continuing care; seniors advocacy; and fears of health care privatization.
Only half the tables had the opportunity to share their bullet points with the larger group.
