CALGARY – Alberta’s health minister will be in Airdrie on Monday to address growing concern over the city’s lack of 24-hour access to emergency care.
Although nearly 60,000 people call Airdrie home, there is no medical care offered once the Airdrie Regional Community Health Centre closes at 10 p.m. Residents can either drive 30 km south to the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary, or 50 km north to the hospital in Didsbury.
The topic was brought up during a heated debate in the Alberta Legislature on Dec. 2, when Airdrie MLA Angela Pitt asked Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman to provide residents with full-time health care.
“Alberta Health Services is cutting front line workers and fired Dr. Kyne, one of Airdrie’s leading health care advocates in our community, and was fired for standing up for our community’s long overdue needs,” alleged Pitt.
Dr. Julian Kyne was working in Airdrie and had been actively pushing to have a 24-hour urgent care facility brought to the city. In 2015, his contract expired and was not renewed.
“Will this minister correct the actions of Alberta Health Services, reinstate Dr. Kyne and provide the people of Airdrie with around the clock health care?” asked Pitt.
“We’ve talked about how inappropriate it is to bring up somebody’s HR situation in this house,” Hoffman replied. “In terms of what’s happened, there was not an individual fired, there was a contract that was not renewed – but I’m not going to get into specific details because it’s not fair to either party.”
Hoffman will be meeting with health officials while in the city on Monday, and will speak to the media at 5 p.m. at the city’s Agriculture Centre.
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