Physicians vocal during Alberta campaign
Doctors in an Alberta health care region made the campaign trail difficult for Premier Ralph Klein during the recent provincial election. For 3 days physicians in the Mistahia Health Region, afraid that a new mandate for the Klein government would mean hospital closures in the remote rural towns, stopped admitting patients for anything but emergency cases. They wanted to show residents what health cares services might be like if the region did not receive extra funding. Klein called the move by doctors a "war on the sick".
But doctors in the region were simply putting health care front and centre as the month-long campaign wound down. And because the authority's board had been considering closing at least 1 of 3 small rural hospitals within its boundaries, doctors wanted patients to know what impact a closure might have.
The region has 4 hospitals -- 3 small facilities and a large hospital in the oil and logging town of Grande Prairie. When word went out that the authority was considering downgrading the 3 smaller hospitals, public meetings in the towns convinced the regional board that residents didn't want to see their hospitals' roles reduced.
"We thought it was important to let people know what the cuts and funding restrictions would mean to them personally," said Dr. Claudia Strehlke, president of the region's medical staff, of the election action. "We were told we should keep quiet during the election and we said 'if we don't make noise during the election, why would we be heard after?' "
So from March 3-5, local facilities handled only emergency cases. Signs posted on the facilities informed patients of the action. "You may have heard that money is short in our region," said the sign posted during the action. "We may not be able to keep all our hospital beds open. We thought we would have a trial run of what your life would be like without your local hospital beds."
"Ask yourself these days: 'If there is no hospital bed for me in my community, what does that mean for my health? What does that mean for my family?' "
"With prolonged winters and bad roads," said Strehlke, "it's already a long drive to see a doctor. We wanted to let people know what the cuts could mean to them personally."
