EDMONTON — Residents from the St. Albert and Sturgeon County region have come together to launch a new Friends of Medicare local chapter, to advocate for the protection and expansion of public health care in their community and beyond.
“A St. Albert-Sturgeon Friends of Medicare chapter is another voice that can help fight for stronger public health care in Alberta. Specifically, we want to help stop two-tier American style health care and we want to make sure seniors have access to long term care that suits their needs,“ said Janet Hammel, co-chair of the St. Albert-Sturgeon Friends of Medicare Chapter.
Friends of Medicare encourages our members and supporters in the St. Albert-Sturgeon region to reach out to get involved in their new chapter to join the fight to protect and strengthen public health care in your community. Albertans elsewhere in the province can find their local chapter on our website.
“We are very excited to start a Friends of Medicare chapter here in St Albert-Sturgeon. We want to help propel this momentum and galvanize our community into action, especially now that our public healthcare system is under threat. Every effort to privatize our health care to make it look more similar to an American style system should be vehemently opposed. And we need every day folks to join in on this fight,” said Alyssa Aco, co-chair of the St. Albert-Sturgeon Friends of Medicare Chapter
The St. Albert-Sturgeon Chapter is the latest group of advocates to launch a Friends of Medicare chapter in their community, joining Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo, Calgary, Red Deer (Central Alberta), Palliser (Medicine Hat), Lethbridge, and Leduc-Beaumont.
“This expansion of Friends of Medicare's collective work reflects the growing frustrations among Albertans over our health care. We’ve been all over the province having urgent conversations at our town hall meetings, and everywhere we go we hear the same concerns: people can’t access the health care services they need. In response, they are stepping up to form new local chapters in their region and to fight to protect public health care,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
-30-