EDMONTON — As we head into mid-July, Alberta now has higher measles cases per capita than anywhere else in North America. Dozens of emergency rooms and health care facilities are experiencing closures due to chronic short staffing, while the government’s restructuring and privatization agenda continues to create chaos for health care workers and patients.
“Emergency rooms are closing all over the province due to short staffing, and we continue to hear from Albertans that they’re struggling to access health care when they need it,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “But instead of taking action to end the chaos by improving our public capacity and ending workforce shortages, the government’s sole focus has been drastically restructuring health care administration while signing contract after contract with for-profit health care providers.”
Compounding the issue, Alberta has now crossed over 1,200 confirmed measles cases, making us the worst jurisdiction on the continent. 73 percent of cases in Alberta have been in children. Alberta’s former Chief Medical Officer of Health is warning we are in “dangerous territory” and some suspected measles patients are now being asked to wait outside of hospital emergency rooms in their cars to be triaged so as to limit exposure.
“Alberta now has the worst measles record in all of North America. But rather than declare a public health emergency, or treat it as such with an urgent public health response, we’ve seen weeks of silence from our provincial government,” said Gallaway. “Where is our health minister? Where is the Chief Medical Officer of Health? Allowing measles to run rampant is not only putting Albertans at risk, but it’s adding totally preventable strain onto our health care system at a time when our hospitals are already struggling with closures and capacity issues. We need government leadership on measles, and we need it now.”
Last week, the Alberta Medical Association released survey results which found that 18 percent of Albertans don’t have a family doctor, resulting in more and more people heading to emergency departments for care. Respondents in the same survey report that nearly one in five patients leave emergency room visits without receiving treatment.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Parkland Institute was the latest in a series of recent reports highlighting the retention crisis in Alberta’s health care. The report identifies the government’s ongoing privatization efforts and repeated disruptions caused by the continual restructuring of our health care system as major drivers of burnout, uncertainty and stress among health care workers.
“The chaos we are seeing now is the direct consequence of this government, resulting in a system that’s increasingly difficult to navigate, unprepared for crises, and ultimately unable to retain the valued health care workers we need,” said Gallaway. “As we head into the heart of summer, we need our provincial government to get serious about protecting and strengthening public health care for all. That means putting a halt to the dismantling of our public health care, and finally getting serious about a workforce and capacity plan to ensure Albertans have access to the care they need, when and where they need it.”
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