News
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Overdose Awareness Day an Opportunity to Mourn, Change Course and Save Lives
EDMONTON — Each year, August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). It is an opportunity to mourn those we have lost, and to refocus our collective work to end overdose and drug poisoning in our communities. Alberta continues to set records for drug poisoning deaths with 1,630 lives lost in 2022, and we are on track to set records again this year. IOAD is a day to commit to doing better.
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Government must take responsibility for lab privatization failure
Earlier today, the Premier and Health Minister announced that Alberta’s community lab services will go back to being delivered by our public labs across the province, taking services back from DynaLIFE.
EDMONTON - On December 1, following multiple delays, Alberta’s community medical laboratory services were formally transitioned from being publicly delivered by Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL), to being privately delivered by for-profit company, DynaLIFE. In the months since, people in communities across Alberta in need of blood work have continuously reported ongoing delays, or weeks-long waits
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In Memory of Michael Cormican
We were so sorry to hear about the passing of Michael Cormican. He was a dedicated champion for our public health care system, including in his role as the long-standing Chair of Friends of Medicare's Lethbridge Chapter.
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Mental Health and Addictions' Mandate Letter continues failed approach to drug poisoning crisis
Latest EMS call out data and record overdose numbers show Alberta’s approach to the drug poisoning crisis is failing
EDMONTON - This afternoon, Premier Smith released her Mandate Letter to Alberta’s Mental Health and Addictions Minister, Dan Williams. The letter continues to push the government’s so-called “recovery-oriented system of care” while ignoring harm reduction programs, even as a record number of Albertans are dying.
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Premier must say no to allowing thousands of dollars in “membership fees” to access a family doctor
A Calgary clinic recently informed patients they are moving to a costly membership system for primary care. Since it is illegal in Canada to bill directly for a visit to a family doctor, membership fees such as these are designed as a loophole to get around the rules and principles contained in the Canadian Health Act.
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Health Minister Mandate Letter continues privatization agenda, ignores the real issues
EDMONTON — Premier Smith’s mandate letter to our new Minister of Health was released today. It prioritizes ideological pet projects like the Premier’s promised health spending accounts, and pushes restructuring at Alberta Health Services as the solution to our health care challenges. Not meaningfully addressed are the staffing crisis facing our health care system, or the failures of the government’s privatization schemes to deliver as promised.
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Health coalitions call on Prime Minister Trudeau to rein in privatization of health care by premiers
Winnipeg (Treaty No. 1 Territory), July 10, 2023 - As Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers meet, Health Coalitions across Canada are calling on Prime Minister Trudeau to demand an end to the privatization of public health care by premiers.
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Government must act to save lives amid record drug poisoning deaths
Latest overdose numbers show Alberta’s approach to the drug poisoning crisis is failing
In Alberta’s recent provincial election, the UCP campaigned on the success of their so-called “recovery-oriented” approach to the drug poisoning crisis, but it wasn’t until after the campaign was over that the government finally released the long-awaited substance use surveillance data, revealing record-breaking overdose fatality rates in Alberta this spring.
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Organizations Unite to Urge Canadian Blood Services Board to Reverse Pay-for-Plasma Contract
CALGARY — Today representatives from health coalitions, unions, and public health care advocacy organizations across the country have come together to express their deep concerns regarding the decision of Canadian Blood Services (CBS) to enter into an exclusive 15-year contract with Grifols, a multinational pharmaceutical company.
This deal effectively privatizes the majority of plasma collection in Canada, as Grifols has taken over other private clinics and will be expanding quickly. The terms of this contract are secret, but what has been made public clearly violates the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that created CBS, and goes against the recommendations of the Krever Commission and World Health Organization guidance.
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New Cabinet Needs to Take a New Approach to Health Care
EDMONTON -- Earlier this morning, the new UCP cabinet was sworn in. Adriana LaGrange was named Minister of Health, Dan Williams as Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, and Jason Nixon as Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services.
All of these ministers are new to their portfolios. Both former UCP Ministers of Health lost their seats in the election. The same is true for both past Ministers responsible for seniors, who had been failing seniors in care as per recent Auditor General reports, as well as past Ministers responsible for mental health and addictions, including the government’s failing abstinence-only approach to the drug poisoning crisis.