News
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Prentice Speaks and Horne Jumps - AHS Reinstates Board of Directors
Even before he becomes the leader of the PC party and Premier of Alberta, Jim Prentice is setting the stage for yet another rerun of how AHS governs our health care system. Prentice has pledged to reinstate the "high-profile board" if elected Premier and yesterday Health Minister Fred Horne announced he will fulfill the promise early by returning AHS to what he called "normal governance."
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PRENTICE HEALTH CARE ANNOUNCEMENT LEAVES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
Friends of Medicare attended a luncheon in Calgary today organized by the Economic Club of Canada, where PC leadership front-runner Jim Prentice announced his health care policy. The policy was short and included little detail.
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NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON'T: PRENTICE DISAPPEARS FROM BOARD OF HOLDINGS COMPANY THAT OWNS $4,495-A-YEAR CONCIERGE CLINIC
Premier-to-be must level with Albertans about his personal financial interest in elitist private health careIn May 2012, Jim Prentice joined the Board of Coril Holdings Ltd. Coril is a Calgary-based private investment company that owns Inliv, a big medical clinic in Calgary which aggressively markets a product called "Total Health Management," at a cost of $4,495 a year.
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Reduction in care at Michener Centre shows government at its worst
On May 26th, 2014 Alberta Human Services advised families of the remaining residents at Michener Centre in Red Deer that starting June 1, 2014, the severely developmentally disabled residents of Michener Center will not be receiving nursing care on weekends and statutory holidays. Staff working with residents will have to access health links, the nearest walk-in clinic, or hospital to assist residents.
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Albertans, Hold Onto Your Tea and Crackers as We Welcome New AHS CEO
Friends of Medicare welcomes new AHS CEO Vicki Kaminski. Kaminski is no stranger to the challenges of working in complex health care systems. In 2009, when she became the head of the very troubled Eastern Health Authority Labrador and Newfoundland (EHALN), it was still reeling from the scandal-related to problems with breast screening from 1997 and 2005. Many credit Kaminski with restoring the public's faith in the Newfoundland and Labrador health care system.
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Provincial Budget Cuts Per Capita Health Care Spending, Acute Care Services
The $18.3 billion going to this year's Ministry of Health operational budget, which includes $10.7 billion going to the Alberta Health Services base operating grant, when considering population and inflation growth, means the government is cutting health care spending per person. The cuts include a $26 million cut to acute care services.
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Slave Lake Residents in Edmonton to Push for Essential Health Care Services
Concerned Citizens of Slave Lake and Friends of Medicare are at the Legislative Assembly today to table a petition which asks AHS to reinstate their four physicians who resigned in December, 2013, citing patient advocacy issues. The resignations served as a catalyst for the community to take a stand on the lack of health care services which faces the Town of Slave Lake and the surrounding areas. Slave Lake had 13 doctors practicing medicine before the 2011 wildfires devastated the town. In the aftermath, five doctors relocated elsewhere. AHS opened the Family Care Clinic (FCC), staffed with seven doctors, four of whom were the doctors who recently resigned.
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Throne Speech Signals Less Health Care for Albertans
Sandra Azocar, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare, made the following statement today following the Alberta government's Throne Speech:
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Bullying of Visitors in Care Facilities Must Stop
Yesterday Albertans wore pink to stand up against bullying, but today's story released by Public Interest Alberta about visitors being banned from seeing loved ones in care facilities revealed some serious examples of how much work there is left to do
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No one is minding the store when it comes to private medical facilities in Alberta
The documents released yesterday by the Alberta Federation of Labour further highlight the Alberta government's failure to protect and expand our public health care system.