Red Deer

Our local chapter serves the residents of Red Deer and surrounding communities in Central Alberta including Lacombe, Ponoka, and Sylvan Lake.

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Feb 21, 2025

EDMONTON — The 2025 provincial budget will be tabled in the legislature next Thursday, February 27th. Heading into the budget, the provincial government continues to roll out their expensive and chaotic restructuring of public health care in Alberta, while doubling-down on their failing privatization strategies.

Mar 12, 2024

Last week, the Alberta government sent out a post-budget update on the Red Deer Hospital project, which included their plans for Phase 2 of the project to include: “construction of an ambulatory care building using a public-private partnership (P3) delivery model.” P3s are well known to be more expensive, while harming public services. Previous attempts to use a P3 model to build labs and hospitals in Alberta have repeatedly been fought against and rejected by patients and health care workers.

Nov 08, 2023

EDMONTON — Following yesterday’s leaked documents, Danielle Smith’s government followed through on announcing a massive restructuring of public health care in Alberta, as well as a new Alberta Health Services Board chaired by a former conservative cabinet minister, Lyle Oberg. None of this was part of the UCP’s platform in this year’s election.

After years of unprecedented pressures on our public health care system, health care workers and patients in this province are seeking certainty when it comes to something as important as our public health care system. They aren’t looking for changes of this scale being directed by politicians, rather than health care experts and community needs.

May 24, 2022

This Op-Ed by FOM's Executive Director, Chris Gallaway, originally appeared in the Red Deer Advocate on May 20, 2022.

Last week, I joined a group of Albertans who were upset by the government’s decision to cut the insulin pump program in the Legislature Gallery to watch Question Period.

Minister Adrianna LaGrange was responding to questions on behalf of the Health Minister that day. At one point she stated “as the MLA for Red Deer-North I’m extremely happy that our government is finally dealing with the issue of capacity within Red Deer.”

It was surprising to hear LaGrange would be proud of anything that’s happening with health care in Red Deer right now.

May 13, 2022

Friends of Medicare to participate in events in five cities calling on the provincial government to put people before profit

 

Feb 03, 2022

Premiers' demand for federal dollars through increased Canada Health Transfer must have strings attached to ensure it goes to improving health care for all

The Council of the Federation, made up of the 13 provincial and territorial premiers, are meeting tomorrow with a focus on their united push for an increase in the Canada Health Transfer that the Federal government provides. Over the past two years, many of the premiers have used the ongoing pandemic as a justification to call for an unconditional increase in health funding. 
 
“Even during this global pandemic our provincial UCP government has repeatedly shown they can’t be trusted to prioritize our public health care system over their ideological push for corporate tax cuts, layoffs, funding cuts and privatization,” said Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare.

Oct 27, 2020

October 27, 2020
EDMONTON

Friends of Medicare stands today in support of Albertans with disabilities
 
Friends of Medicare will be standing today in support of Albertans with disabilities, who are currently supported and cared for under publicly-run Direct Operations at homes and respite centres in Edmonton and Calgary.
 
Approximately 200 guardians of disabled Albertans were given notice on June 10th that the UCP government was “exploring alternative service delivery”—code for privatization—of Edmonton’s Rosecrest home for children, the Hardisty and Balwin respite centers, Edmonton group homes, and Calgary’s Scenic Bow home.

Feb 13, 2020

About 10 central Albertans joined protesters on their way to Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s Calgary constituency on Wednesday.

Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta chartered a bus for Albertans concerned about the UCP government’s cuts and privatization to the provincial health-care system and seniors care.

Jan 21, 2020

Government setting the stage for the closure and possible relocation of existing supervised consumption services
As reported in the media today, Premier Jason Kenney is already setting the stage for what could be the closure or relocation of Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) in Alberta. While the Supervised Consumption Services Review Committee was tasked with reporting to the government by the end of 2019, their report has yet to be publicly released.
 

Jun 03, 2019

Funding delays for new supervised consumption services are unacceptable
On Friday, May 31, the UCP government announced that they will be suspending funding for supervised consumption sites currently under development in Medicine Hat and Red Deer, and a mobile consumption site in Calgary. Jason Luan, Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions, indicated that his party will also be conducting a review of all existing sites, and that they will be “looking at consumption sites in light of the whole strategy – the overall strategy of intervention and treatment. It is a whole scan, from awareness, prevention and intervention to treatment.” The review has halted the development of the three proposed sites, and its results could impact the continued funding of existing sites across the province.
 
It was a serious escalation in opioid-related deaths in Alberta that prompted a harm reduction response in the form of the approval of supervised consumption services, initially in 3 urban centres: Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. The central tenet of harm reduction is the reduction of stigmas and judgments about drug use and addiction, and is based on the understanding that there are people who engage in these behaviors who are not willing or not able to stop doing so. Harm reduction aims to reduce the health risks associated with these behaviors, such as public safety concerns like public drug use and discarded needles, the transmission and spread of blood-borne infections, overdose, and ultimately death.