EDMONTON
Today's announcement from Alberta's Ministry of Health to support the building of twenty-five new supportive living projects raises questions about the course of continuing care in Alberta.
"Albertans voted for an expansion of public seniors health care, and that's what we're hoping to hear more of," said Sandra Azocar, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare.
"Today's announcement suggests continued support for private development of seniors care. We would like to know how many of these twenty-five new projects will be delivered by for-profit providers instead of public."
Research from the Parkland Institute's 2013 report "From Bad to Worse" has shown a reduction in care received per day in for-profit facilities compared with publicly run facilities in Alberta.
"Questions also remain about where this funding is coming from and how the government intends to balance this announcement with promises to deliver 2,000 new public long term care beds."
"Long term care is clearly needed to relieve wait lists and get patients waiting in acute care into appropriate spaces, but we need to deliver public spaces so that we aren't coming up short on the care needs of Alberta's aging population."