David Shepherd, MLA for Edmonton City Centre and NDP rural health critic, speaks to a group in Medicine Hat.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
David Shepherd, MLA for Edmonton City Centre and NDP rural health critic, made a brief stop Saturday in Medicine Hat to talk with a group of concerned residents, stating in his greeting that it’s unfortunate he and other members of the NDP don’t get a chance to travel to this part of the province very often.
“A lot of the risky ideology and bad decisions made under Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith had a very dire impact for access to health care in rural areas,” started Shepherd. “I’ve really appreciated how folks have stepped up in our rural communities, have helped educate us and raised the visibility to help us understand the opportunities and possibilities that exist for us in rural communities.”
The aspect of grouping Medicine Hat into the term rural community rather than small urban centre brought about considerable dialogue and a request to alter the terminology when discussing cities outside of Calgary and Edmonton.
Challenges still exist in health care across Alberta, said Shepherd, with emergency rooms being closed regularly, shortages of nurses, physicians and other health-care professionals, and he says the province is nowhere near recovering what has been lost due to poor UCP decisions.
The plan being presented by the UCP for the reorganization, or dismantling, of Alberta Health Services (AHS) has Shepherd deeply concerned. He went on saying Danielle Smith has a history of being anti-science and indulging in conspiracy theories. “For her, this was a personal mission, she wanted to take revenge on Alberta Health Services. She thought they’d overstepped their bounds, that they should have been held back, and should have been constrained and not been able to interfere in anybody’s lives.”
The NDP knew a reorganization was coming but didn’t know what it would look like or how bad it would be. Following the restructuring, AHS will only have control over hospitals and acute care, Shepherd explained, with everything else split into three systems: primary care, mental health and addictions, continuing and long term care.
“We all know health care doesn’t come in neat little boxes. Health care is an integrated system, it’s in many senses a living, breathing entity,” said Shepherd.
Before giving a brief history of AHS, Shepherd outlined how he says decisions made since Jason Kenney became premier have caused the current crisis, particularly in rural areas.
“It took (Jason Copping) over a year to undo the damage that had been done,” stated Shepherd. “The agreement they signed in September of last year was basically just undoing everything they had done, it was a deal they could’ve signed on Feb. 1, 2020, and the AMA (Alberta Medical Association) would have been ecstatic.”
He called DynaLife privatization a disaster and discussed how that should be a lesson with regard to future privatizations the UCP wants to push through. Shepherd says if there are not enough frontline workers for one system, there can’t be enough for two to run side by side.
“Now they are going to try and restructure the entire system around frontline health-care workers while they are still struggling. Let’s be clear, we’ve not seen a single dollar more go to the actual people on the front lines,” said Shepherd, who added the restructuring will ensure nobody can ever stand up to the government again. “The reviews are coming in and they look pretty stark. I have yet to see a single frontline health-care worker say this looks like a good idea.”
The predication is the new system will make it more difficult to access care and the new systems will be fully controlled by the Ministry of Health and not stand alone as AHS did. When asked if the restructuring can be halted, Shepherd cited the UCP’s majority government and Smith’s “pet project,” adding it’s highly unlikely.
