EDMONTON — The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the extent to which our individual health is dependent on the health of everyone in our community. Public healthcare is our best defense against this crisis and others like it. However, our ability to endure crises and care for each other has been eroded through decades of austerity budgets, privatization and inadequate planning. Even during “normal times,” the health care system is at capacity.

For decades, Canada has benefited from a single-payer medicare system, which is there for us based on need, not ability to pay. While there is certainly room for improvement – the inclusion of dental, optometry, and pharmacare to the medicare umbrella, for a start – people across the country can rest easy knowing that they can rely on our health care system to care for them when they need it, without worrying about how they are going to pay. However, in the face of a global pandemic, the quality and preparedness of our health care system becomes even more crucial. Globally, we are staring down an outbreak of yet unclear proportions. As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on China, Italy, and Iran, we here in Alberta are bracing for impact. Is our health care system ready for the challenge?

EDMONTON — As the Alberta Legislature resumes its business today, and the government sets out to push through it’s 2020 budget, Friends of Medicare have a message for Premier Kenney and Health Minister Shandro: don’t mess with our health care!

Following the recent report released by the supervised consumption services review committee, the fate of Alberta's SCS and other harm reduction services is more uncertain than ever. The next day, Albertans learned that funding for injectable opioid agonist therapy (iOAT) would not be continued, and that the 63 patients in the program would be given one year to transfer to alternate treatment. Given that clients are only referred to the iOAT program when other treatments fail, the impacts of this funding cut will likely be devastating for the people who depend on it, and their families.

The following was reposted with permission from an Alberta nurse:

Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy call on government to support supervised consumption services

February 26, 2020

EDMONTON — Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy are disheartened by the potential changes coming to supervised consumption services (SCS) in our province, and are standing in solidarity today in support of these life-saving and evidence-based services. Today, more than 25 organizations from across the province and abroad are releasing a joint statement, calling on the government to commit to supporting SCS, and the organizations that provide it.

Sandra Azocar, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare, made the following statement today following the Alberta government's Throne Speech:

The 2020 Throne Speech not only outlines business that the government will bring to the Legislative Assembly in the upcoming session, but also serves to direct the political discourse and narrative intended to shape and influence how we view and respond to the political challenges facing us.