After some pushback, Alberta Health Services is now looking at the possibility of offering urgent care services 24 hours every day at a northwestern Alberta health complex slated to open in 2028.
At a community meeting in late June, residents of Beaverlodge, a town about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, were told the Mountview Health Complex would have urgent care services only 16 hours each day.
The current hospital, which has been serving the town and the region since 1956, has an emergency department that’s open around the clock.
In a Sept. 18 statement to CBC News, AHS said it is “committed to reviewing” a clinical service model that had been presented to the community at the June meeting.
“AHS is currently exploring the feasibility of a 24/7 urgent care facility and will also continue to monitor the health-care usage data from the area alongside sustainability of services that best meet the community’s needs,” the statement said.
Beaverlodge has a population of about 2,400 residents in a geographic area that includes about 10,000 more.
The plan had been for patients needing urgent care in overnight hours to be stabilized by paramedics and then taken to the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, more than 40 kilometres to the east.
Town resident Tallie Nykolyshyn said she fears some patients may die if the new health-care complex has only 16-hour urgent care.
Residents of a small community in Alberta’s Peace region are concerned that plans for a new health-care centre don’t include a 24/7 emergency room. But Albert Health Services says it is now looking at the feasibility of around-the-clock urgent care.
Nykolyshyn, who survived a stroke in 2017, said having a hospital eight minutes from her home has been life-saving in the past. It also allows her some peace of mind.
“If they were to turn around and make us go to Grande Prairie, how are they going to get extra doctors and everything to look after all the extra people that will now be going there?” she said in an interview.
“Beaverlodge [hospital] not only looks after the community, but Huallen, Wembley, Sexsmith — there are people coming from Valleyview to come to Beaverlodge because they can’t get into Grande Prairie.”
Public-private partnership
The Mountview Health Complex is being constructed to replace the aging Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital.
As presented to the community in June, the care model for the Mountview Health Complex includes 32 “restorative care” beds and an “advanced ambulatory care centre,” which would be closed overnight.
AHS will be the main tenant at the new facility, which is being built in a public-private partnership between the Town of Beaverlodge and St. Albert, Alta., developer Landrex Inc.
The health complex is being built on land donated to the town by nurse and philanthropist Doris McFarlane, who died in 2021.
Concerns about hours
Local media reported that the June information session drew a large crowd of people with questions about the planned reduction in service.
Nykolyshyn said she knows from experience that people can’t plan their medical emergencies.
“We live here. This is our life. I mean, like, it affects everyone in this community. [Losing 24-hour urgent care] would be a huge loss,” she said.
“I think Beaverlodge is a centre worth fighting for.”
The United Nurses of Alberta echoes those concerns. The nurses’ union released a statement on Sept. 16 drawing attention to the issue.
“Closing the ER in Beaverlodge will not only impact the nurses who currently work in the hospital but also patients who will need to drive 45 kilometres to Grande Prairie to access emergency services,” UNA president Heather Smith said in the statement.
“This will leave a huge gap in emergency services in this sprawling region of northwest Alberta.”
Registered nurse Anita Dyck, president of UNA Local 51, said people are right to have concerns about losing 24-hour urgent care. She pointed out that the current hospital serves up to 20,000 people.
“I think people are scared about not being able to bring their sick child in in the middle of the night,” said Dyck, who works in Beaverlodge.
“I know myself, I have children, and I have taken my children in to Beaverlodge hospital in the middle of night with croup and with various other problems.
“People are worried about driving [Highway 43] in the night with a sick child or with a sick loved one.”
Further consultation planned
In its statement to CBC, AHS said it will continue to monitor ambulance and emergency service in the region.
Officials will also meet with community stakeholders and physicians as plans for the new centre are finalized, the statement said.
Dyck, meanwhile, said what Beaverlodge residents ultimately want is an assurance that the new facility will provide appropriate care when they need it.
“We’re not asking for some of those bigger emergency department-type things,” she said. “And the community understands that. And it’s not asking for that, either.
“But I think there’s been a lot of frustration like, ‘Am I still going to be able to go there if I have chest pain, or if I’m … quite sick, am I going to be able to go there?'”