On Oct 3rd, 2014 Friends of Medicare will be standing in support of the 157 Shepherd's Care Support workers who were laid off by Shepherd's Care Foundation after this faith-based organization announced that these positions will be handed over to ARAMARK, a $14 billion/yr. multinational for-profit company. These jobs include housekeeping, maintenance, and food services all of which are essential components of quality care for the seniors and vulnerable Albertans who reside in these five facilities.  The residents in the centres that will be impacted reside in Millwoods, Greenfield, Kensington, Vanguard, and Southside Manor.

Friends of Medicare would like to welcome our newly appointed, albeit unelected Minister of Health, Stephen Mandel.   In keeping with his statement of renewal, Premier Prentice most definitely kept his resolve by appointing Mr. Mandel to one of the most important cabinet posts.

A new survey conducted by Nanos Research and released today by the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), of which Friends of Medicare is the Alberta affiliate, suggests that there is a fundamental disconnect between Canadians and a number of health policies of the Harper Government.

Friends of Medicare has forwarded two sets of questions to the three PC leadership candidates. We received a form response from Jim Prentice's team which was basically a repeat of his 'health care policy' which left us with more questions than answers. We received no responses from Ric McIver or Thomas Lukaszuk. Both of these candidates have yet to share their formal policy on health care. Here is the first set of questions we sent to the candidates:

Background

Multi-national American corporation Health Care Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT)announced yesterday the $950 million purchase of Ontario-based multi-nationalHealthLease. The deal will add more than 5,000 beds or units in Alberta and the United States to their health care portfolio. Those beds include a 200-bed facility in High River built in part with public funding to a private company called Continuum Health, which was purchased in April by HealthLease. A report issued last year by the University of Alberta-based Parkland Institute showed that private, for-profit assisted living facilities received high return on investment for shareholders but provided a lower quality of care for those living in them than public facilities did. It showed that the private facilities are understaffed by an average of 90 minutes of care per resident each day.

In 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.

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.

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.

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