EDMONTON – Health Minister Stephen Mandel is set to make an announcement Tuesday regarding continuing care in the province.
The Alberta government said Premier Jim Prentice and Mandel will announce “concrete actions to reduce pressure on Alberta’s emergency rooms, and address capacity issues in both acute care and continuing care.”
More details about the 1:30 p.m. announcement are not known, but those who work in the system have plenty of ideas about how it should work.
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Alberta’s continuing care facilities are full and hospitals are overflowing with patients waiting for community beds.
CapitalCare Edmonton feels more transition spaces are needed to relieve the pressure.
“We need some more dedicated spaces in the continuing care system so that people can transition and stabilize,” said Francine Drisner, “they can restore their level or get to that stable level, and then they can go to the right place.”
The next step could be a move to home care, supportive living with LPNs, or long-term care with Registered Nurses.
The Alzheimer Society of Alberta would like to see more resources in all of those areas.
“Many families are looking for a home,” said Arlene Huhn, “one that when someone lives there, they can feel like they’re in their own place.”
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