MLAs urged to speak out like Boutilier
Written by Caroline Zentner LETHBRIDGE HERALD
Monday, 27 July 2009
Lethbridge West MLA Greg Weadick and other MLAs in the province should be speaking up to defend long-term care, said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.He was in Lethbridge Monday for a public drop-in meeting at The Penny Coffee House to talk about the loss of long-term care beds in the region with the eventual closure of St. Michael’s and Extendicare. Eggen said FOM has seen the same issue erupt in other centres, like Fort McMurray where MLA Guy Boutilier was kicked out of government caucus after he criticized funding delays for a long-term care facility in his constituency.“We just want to get the message out in Lethbridge that, in fact, you already have the facilities there and it’s a question of retaining them,” Eggen said. “It’s a question of Mr. Weadick and (Lethbridge East MLA) Bridget Pastoor to advocate to retain those facilities that have already been bought and paid for.”Boutilier got the cold shoulder from his party for speaking up but Eggen said that shouldn’t deter other MLAs from advocating on behalf of their constituents.“The key is to speak together. There’s quite a number of towns in the same boat with the long-term care facilities so if MLAs can find the wherewithal to speak together then they can’t get rid of them all,” Eggen said. “If you just answer that kind of thing with silence the results are a foregone conclusion. Nothing will happen, St. Michael’s will be closed, you’ll lose the Extendicare and you’ll have a more serious long-term care deficit than you had before.”Weadick said he’s been working hard to make sure his government colleagues understand the need for all types of beds in this region. Long-term care encompasses three levels, assisted living and designated assisted living, enhanced lodge and nursing home beds. Overall, the number of long-term care beds in the area has grown every year and Weadick said that expansion will likely continue.“I can’t honestly tell you what the right number is. I know that we have people still waiting for beds as we speak,” Weadick said. “As long as there’s people waiting we’re going to have to keep working to develop beds and make sure we have enough.”However, the main concern of the FOM is the loss of the so-called nursing home beds.“At this point I believe we still have approximately 600 nursing home beds in this area. What the right number is I’m not the person to ask but I’ll be continuing to carry forward the message that we have to have enough and to work with the health region and the experts that determine how many beds is the right number of all the different kinds,” Weadick said, adding new beds are needed most in dementia care.Whether the region will have the right ratio of beds remains to be seen but elected representatives serve their constituents and the majority of Lethbridge residents want to see public health care improved, not degraded or dismantled, Eggen said. FOM commissioned a poll of 1,500 Albertans in early March and results showed that most people wanted to see a bigger investment in public health.As it stands, the province has both public, 75 per cent, and private, 25 per cent, health care and FOM wants to make sure private health care doesn’t encroach any further on public health. “There’s always people looking covetously at that other 75 because you can make tons of money off of private health. But does it serve the health needs of the population properly? No. Is it economical? No,” Eggen said. “Seniors health is usually where you see more aggressive privatization attempts and that’s all this is. You move out of a long-term care facility that’s covered by the Public Health Act and you move into a private (designated assisted living) facility where you have to pay for services. A few people can definitely afford that but most people can’t. It’s as simple as that.”
Friday, July 31, 2009
Fort McMurray Today
Dave Eggen is the actual Friends of Medicare person. However, it would be great to get "Dave Eggers" the author to jump on board!
Health Services called a 'wall of secrecy'
Posted 1 day ago
ALEX BOUTILIER
Today staff
According to Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggers, Alberta Health Services decision to withhold the names of the hospitals ranked in a recent Fraser Institute report is a symptom of a larger disease.
“We get a Fraser report on schools every year, and that’s public. And you take it for what it is: it might be vaguely interesting or maybe not,” said Eggers. “But for Alberta Health Services to make that choice for us, I think, is another extension of the wall of secrecy and silence that they have been building around their operations since the super board was created. You just can’t get information from these people.”
The report, released by the Fraser Institute last month, measures the performance of 102 acute-care hospitals in Alberta. The hospitals were ranked by a variety of indicators, allowing individuals “to look up a given condition or procedure and compare death rates, volumes of procedures, rates of adverse events, and utilization rates for their hospital to those of other hospitals in Alberta,” according to the Fraser Institutes website.
Alberta Health Services has refused to release the names of the hospitals that correspond to the indicators to the public. Without their permission, the hospitals ranked in the study are labeled simply as one through 102.
While Eggers has some serious doubts about the intentions behind the Fraser Institute’s report, he said Alberta Health Services is not acting in the best interest of the public in attempting to keep the hospital names and ranks under wraps.
“Information is information, and Albertans are smart enough to be able to read something and to gather some knowledge from a report, and they shouldn’t just simply have it censored from our eyes. That’s ridiculous, right?” added Eggers.
Nadeem Esmail, one of the co-authors of the report, said even they don’t know the names of the hospitals listed in the report. “It’s anonymous from the start, so neither us nor the provincial government knows the names of the hospitals in this report,” he said, explaining the names were scrambled into numbers when the Fraser Institute received the data, and then scrambled a second time when the study is released.
The Fraser Institute has released similar reports in Ontario and British Columbia. B.C.’s government opted to allow the Fraser Institute to release the names of all 95 hospitals that comprised its report. Ontario’s government left it up to each individual hospital whether or not it was named in the report. Seventeen of 136 hospitals in Ontario opted to release their names in the report in the most recent report.
“I think it’s quite interesting (Alberta Health Services) made this decision (to withhold the information) in light of the reality that our neighbours in British Columbia have made a very different decision,” said Esmail.
He said releasing the hospitals’ names would allow patients and caregivers to make rational assesments on the quality of care in the province’s hospitals.
“Having this information arms patients and caregivers with more information based on objective and uniform measurements which allows for a fact-based discussion of relative levels of quality and safety,” said Esmail. “It gets us away from the current system where we rely on anecdotes, on word of mouth, or on the occasional news story on health-care mishaps, which can be remarkably misleading and ultimately harmful.”
But Dr. Judy Abbott, vice-president of quality performance and improvement with Alberta Health Services, said there are already objective reports of hospital performance made available to the public.
“There are some specific indicators related to quality and patient safety, things like hospital standardized mortality rate, safer health care initiatives … and we also monitor infection rates,” she said. “And those scorecards usually go forward in the organization on a quarterly basis, so everyone knows how we’re doing.”
Abbott says Alberta Health Services has been moving towards more disclosure and transparency, pointing to president and CEO Dr. Stephen Duckett’s blog and a newsletter. “We’re working very hard to ensure that we have strong communication across our staff and to the public,” she said.
But Eggers remains unconvinced. “They slapped a gag order on all their workers, and now they’re withholding reports — public reports — I mean, the whole thing seems just a bit too much,” he said.
alex.boutilier@fortmcmurraytoday.com
Health Services called a 'wall of secrecy'
Posted 1 day ago
ALEX BOUTILIER
Today staff
According to Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggers, Alberta Health Services decision to withhold the names of the hospitals ranked in a recent Fraser Institute report is a symptom of a larger disease.
“We get a Fraser report on schools every year, and that’s public. And you take it for what it is: it might be vaguely interesting or maybe not,” said Eggers. “But for Alberta Health Services to make that choice for us, I think, is another extension of the wall of secrecy and silence that they have been building around their operations since the super board was created. You just can’t get information from these people.”
The report, released by the Fraser Institute last month, measures the performance of 102 acute-care hospitals in Alberta. The hospitals were ranked by a variety of indicators, allowing individuals “to look up a given condition or procedure and compare death rates, volumes of procedures, rates of adverse events, and utilization rates for their hospital to those of other hospitals in Alberta,” according to the Fraser Institutes website.
Alberta Health Services has refused to release the names of the hospitals that correspond to the indicators to the public. Without their permission, the hospitals ranked in the study are labeled simply as one through 102.
While Eggers has some serious doubts about the intentions behind the Fraser Institute’s report, he said Alberta Health Services is not acting in the best interest of the public in attempting to keep the hospital names and ranks under wraps.
“Information is information, and Albertans are smart enough to be able to read something and to gather some knowledge from a report, and they shouldn’t just simply have it censored from our eyes. That’s ridiculous, right?” added Eggers.
Nadeem Esmail, one of the co-authors of the report, said even they don’t know the names of the hospitals listed in the report. “It’s anonymous from the start, so neither us nor the provincial government knows the names of the hospitals in this report,” he said, explaining the names were scrambled into numbers when the Fraser Institute received the data, and then scrambled a second time when the study is released.
The Fraser Institute has released similar reports in Ontario and British Columbia. B.C.’s government opted to allow the Fraser Institute to release the names of all 95 hospitals that comprised its report. Ontario’s government left it up to each individual hospital whether or not it was named in the report. Seventeen of 136 hospitals in Ontario opted to release their names in the report in the most recent report.
“I think it’s quite interesting (Alberta Health Services) made this decision (to withhold the information) in light of the reality that our neighbours in British Columbia have made a very different decision,” said Esmail.
He said releasing the hospitals’ names would allow patients and caregivers to make rational assesments on the quality of care in the province’s hospitals.
“Having this information arms patients and caregivers with more information based on objective and uniform measurements which allows for a fact-based discussion of relative levels of quality and safety,” said Esmail. “It gets us away from the current system where we rely on anecdotes, on word of mouth, or on the occasional news story on health-care mishaps, which can be remarkably misleading and ultimately harmful.”
But Dr. Judy Abbott, vice-president of quality performance and improvement with Alberta Health Services, said there are already objective reports of hospital performance made available to the public.
“There are some specific indicators related to quality and patient safety, things like hospital standardized mortality rate, safer health care initiatives … and we also monitor infection rates,” she said. “And those scorecards usually go forward in the organization on a quarterly basis, so everyone knows how we’re doing.”
Abbott says Alberta Health Services has been moving towards more disclosure and transparency, pointing to president and CEO Dr. Stephen Duckett’s blog and a newsletter. “We’re working very hard to ensure that we have strong communication across our staff and to the public,” she said.
But Eggers remains unconvinced. “They slapped a gag order on all their workers, and now they’re withholding reports — public reports — I mean, the whole thing seems just a bit too much,” he said.
alex.boutilier@fortmcmurraytoday.com
Medicine Hat News
Friends of Medicare sees jump in membership
In a pretty shaded garden, people gathered on Sunday afternoon for the second annual Friends of Medicare event.Membership in the local chapter has grown from a handful 18 months ago to about 100 today.Nationally the association has seen a four-fold increase in just one year.The recent changes to the Alberta health care system and the establishment of the provincial superboard has helped to swell the numbers and probably sent a strong message to government.“The government and the health board strategy has been to present a wide front of change until they meet resistance from the people,” said David Eggen, executive director for Friends of Medicare who notes the positive impact of people speaking up in protest.Eggan also sees the recent removal from caucus of Guy Boutilier, MLA for Fort McMurray, Wood Buffalo, after speaking out on behalf of his constituents regarding the delay of a medical facility in his riding, as an indication the premier has had to become involved in the health issues we are concerned about.“There has been a singular hiding of information on the part of the superboard,” said Eggan. “But the population know what delisting and cuts means.”Jan Bunney, chair of the local Friends of Medicare chapter says the problems we currently face with insufficient doctors stems from changes that were made years ago and need to be reversed.“Limited enrollment in medical schools means we aren’t providing the doctors that are needed.”Locally the chapter will continue their Medicare Mondays where they gather in local coffee shops on a rotating basis to meet with those who have concerns and provide information.“We are then able to share specifics with leaders,” said Bunney. “It’s been positive to share information with people like Rob Renner.”Friends of Medicare aim to engage Albertans more and encourage the establishment of Pharmacare for all. Bernice Felesky, who attended the event, is particularly concerned about the crippling financial effect on those who require prescription medication which is unaffordable.Eggan would like to see the expansion of public health clinics where a wide variety of medical services can be provided in just one location.“Forty years ago we fought hard to get Medicare for everyone. I will not let it go,” said Eggan.
In a pretty shaded garden, people gathered on Sunday afternoon for the second annual Friends of Medicare event.Membership in the local chapter has grown from a handful 18 months ago to about 100 today.Nationally the association has seen a four-fold increase in just one year.The recent changes to the Alberta health care system and the establishment of the provincial superboard has helped to swell the numbers and probably sent a strong message to government.“The government and the health board strategy has been to present a wide front of change until they meet resistance from the people,” said David Eggen, executive director for Friends of Medicare who notes the positive impact of people speaking up in protest.Eggan also sees the recent removal from caucus of Guy Boutilier, MLA for Fort McMurray, Wood Buffalo, after speaking out on behalf of his constituents regarding the delay of a medical facility in his riding, as an indication the premier has had to become involved in the health issues we are concerned about.“There has been a singular hiding of information on the part of the superboard,” said Eggan. “But the population know what delisting and cuts means.”Jan Bunney, chair of the local Friends of Medicare chapter says the problems we currently face with insufficient doctors stems from changes that were made years ago and need to be reversed.“Limited enrollment in medical schools means we aren’t providing the doctors that are needed.”Locally the chapter will continue their Medicare Mondays where they gather in local coffee shops on a rotating basis to meet with those who have concerns and provide information.“We are then able to share specifics with leaders,” said Bunney. “It’s been positive to share information with people like Rob Renner.”Friends of Medicare aim to engage Albertans more and encourage the establishment of Pharmacare for all. Bernice Felesky, who attended the event, is particularly concerned about the crippling financial effect on those who require prescription medication which is unaffordable.Eggan would like to see the expansion of public health clinics where a wide variety of medical services can be provided in just one location.“Forty years ago we fought hard to get Medicare for everyone. I will not let it go,” said Eggan.
Brooks Newspaper
Friends of Medicare to push for obstetrics service
Sandra StanwayBrooks BulletinHealth issues continue to dominate the political conversations in southern Alberta, especially when it’s an event hosted by Friends of Medicare.On Sunday, Palliser Friends of Medicare hosted a small event in Medicine Hat.Much of their discussions focussed on attacking the government on its health policies rather than simply following along.The Palliser chapter, which was formed about a year ago, is ready to be heard.“Now they have the numbers and now they have the confidence that they can help influence health care policy if they push hard in all ways possible,” said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.For Brooks, a member of the Palliser chapter, the most prominent issue over the past few months has been obstetrics. The issue is that there is no obstetrics care offered in Brooks which is forcing pregnant women to travel for medical care and delivery.“This whole obstetrics issue is something that needs to be addressed more specifically. I hope the people in the city, in the area that would use or count on obstetrics services being available in Brooks might be able to apply some gentle pressure to try to get that service reinstated,” Eggen said.The next step will be for Friends of Medicare to meet with the Brooks-Strathmore MLA.“We are going to speak more emphatically to Mr. (Arno) Doerksen,” he said.The group will also canvass the city and county to get people to join the cause.Through their connections, the group has been able to connect with local groups but they hope to make additional contacts when they arrive in Brooks in September.Friends of Medicare is a provincial organization with numerous chapters.The Palliser region has been busy over the past year including outreach work with seniors and trying to get the government to fulfill its promise of renovations to the Medicine Hat Hospital.Over a year ago the hospital celebrated the province’s go ahead for the work.“It’s more than a year and a half since there was a ribbon cutting ceremony and nothing has happened in the interim,” he said.Palliser-wide the focus is to strengthen and diversify rural hospitals and health centres.“Now that the government is interested in centralizing, downgrading and/or closing regional rural hospitals. We just want to ensure this isn’t done at the expense of rural health and rural development,” he said.“Once you take a hospital out you don’t get it back and it impacts the likelihood that people would move to your town or municipal district,” he said.The group’s mandate is to raise awareness about the value of public health care in Alberta and to advocate for a strengthened and expanded public health system.The work is both proactive and reactive.Proactively they are lobbying the government for a provincial pharmacare plan and more public health clinics while reacting to changes in government policy.Eggen believes that by raising the voices of the Palliser Friends of Medicare members, the government will have to listen.“If they hear from enough voices, enough times, they can’t pretend it (problem) doesn’t exist.”
Sandra StanwayBrooks BulletinHealth issues continue to dominate the political conversations in southern Alberta, especially when it’s an event hosted by Friends of Medicare.On Sunday, Palliser Friends of Medicare hosted a small event in Medicine Hat.Much of their discussions focussed on attacking the government on its health policies rather than simply following along.The Palliser chapter, which was formed about a year ago, is ready to be heard.“Now they have the numbers and now they have the confidence that they can help influence health care policy if they push hard in all ways possible,” said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.For Brooks, a member of the Palliser chapter, the most prominent issue over the past few months has been obstetrics. The issue is that there is no obstetrics care offered in Brooks which is forcing pregnant women to travel for medical care and delivery.“This whole obstetrics issue is something that needs to be addressed more specifically. I hope the people in the city, in the area that would use or count on obstetrics services being available in Brooks might be able to apply some gentle pressure to try to get that service reinstated,” Eggen said.The next step will be for Friends of Medicare to meet with the Brooks-Strathmore MLA.“We are going to speak more emphatically to Mr. (Arno) Doerksen,” he said.The group will also canvass the city and county to get people to join the cause.Through their connections, the group has been able to connect with local groups but they hope to make additional contacts when they arrive in Brooks in September.Friends of Medicare is a provincial organization with numerous chapters.The Palliser region has been busy over the past year including outreach work with seniors and trying to get the government to fulfill its promise of renovations to the Medicine Hat Hospital.Over a year ago the hospital celebrated the province’s go ahead for the work.“It’s more than a year and a half since there was a ribbon cutting ceremony and nothing has happened in the interim,” he said.Palliser-wide the focus is to strengthen and diversify rural hospitals and health centres.“Now that the government is interested in centralizing, downgrading and/or closing regional rural hospitals. We just want to ensure this isn’t done at the expense of rural health and rural development,” he said.“Once you take a hospital out you don’t get it back and it impacts the likelihood that people would move to your town or municipal district,” he said.The group’s mandate is to raise awareness about the value of public health care in Alberta and to advocate for a strengthened and expanded public health system.The work is both proactive and reactive.Proactively they are lobbying the government for a provincial pharmacare plan and more public health clinics while reacting to changes in government policy.Eggen believes that by raising the voices of the Palliser Friends of Medicare members, the government will have to listen.“If they hear from enough voices, enough times, they can’t pretend it (problem) doesn’t exist.”
Friday, July 24, 2009
Fame! Fortune! Friends of Medicare!
Jan Bunney - Palliser region Friends of Medicare Chair
Interview by Tenille Tellman
Medicine Hat News: We’ll start with an easy question. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be and why?Jan Bunney: Today I might be blue. But on a normal day, I’d be yellow because I like to highlight stuff. I like to make a point. I like to be out there, in your face. Yellow is bright and cheery, I like to be bright and cheery.News: What is your favourite place to travel?Bunney: I like to travel anywhere, say ‘go’ and I go. My favourite places that I’ve been are Costa Rica — loved that, loved the people, loved the land, love the diversity — the other place I really loved was the Isle of Crete in Greece. Again, a lot of diversity. Incredible people, it doesn’t matter if you speak the same language, there’s all sorts of languages there because people come and travel from all over Europe.News: Dinner or dessert?Bunney: Dessert first, then dinner. News: What is the scariest thing that you’ve ever done?Bunney: Oh boy, that’s a tricky one. Going into a pretend submarine, like the one at West Ed(monton) Mall. It wasn’t at West Ed Mall, but a submarine like that. I have claustrophobia so to go in that was tricky, very tough.News: So a bit of a risk-taker then?Bunney: Oh yeah . . .News: What did you aspire to be as a child?Bunney: I suppose two things on totally opposite ends of the spectrum. If somebody asked what I wanted to be, I probably would have said prime minister of Canada. The other thing that I’d really wanted to be was an airline attendant. I couldn’t do that because of my eye vision. Then I thought I would have liked to have been a pilot, but again, the eyes.News: What is your hidden talent?Bunney: I would like to think that I had a hidden talent to paint; however, I’m thinking it’s really hidden because I’m not very good at it.News: What are you reading right now?Bunney: I just finished a book called the Physik. It was a little bit about the possibility that the Salem Witch Trials were really about real witches, that there actually were witches. It was a fiction story. The other one I’m reading — because I usually read two or three books at a time — is a non-fiction about the fact that societies where the rich and the poor are closer together — that there’s very little difference between rich and poor — are actually better societies for people to live in. They live better, they live healthier, mentally and physically, and they’re happier people.News: What is the colour of paint in your kitchen?Bunney: It’s sort of a gold colour. Did I pick it? No. But it’s a colour I probably would have. My whole house was painted by somebody else but when we moved into it, they’re absolute colours I would have picked. News: Who is the most famous person that you’ve met?Bunney: When I was eight, Tommy Douglas shook my hand. I’ve met people like Lanny McDonald, he was in my studio when I photographed him. I’ve met some authors. I’m going to say John Boyden is his name, read his book called Through Black Spruce. I’ve met people you wouldn’t know, who are very famous to me. People like Dean Collins, he was probably the best photographer in North America during his time. Unfortunately, he had a very early death. Phenomenal photographer, met him and became quite good friends with him actually.News: What is your favourite home-cooked meal?Bunney: Chicken in a sauce with grapes that my husband cooks for me on special occasions.News: Let’s talk a little about your childhood. Where did you grow up?Bunney: I grew up towards Edmonton in a place called Forsberg. It’s a little tiny town. I grew up on a farm, actually.News: What got you into photography and how did you go on to become a business owner, which is what you were really known for in the past?Bunney: I was going to NAIT for radio and television arts and met a photographer because our program was right next to the photography program. Met the photographer, started dating, and he was showing me all the stuff that he would do and I’d go — not to him — but under my breath I’d go ‘I could do that. I could probably do that better than how he does.’ So as time went on, I thought that’s what I want to do. I had tried to be a painter, but not very good at that. I thought it would give me that art-expression part. So I started applying to schools all over Canada, because I didn’t really want to stay at NAIT. I ended up at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs and took my schooling down there.News: Then you branched into a business in Medicine Hat, of all places . . .Bunney: Yeah. After I graduated I came back to Alberta, decided to look for jobs in Toronto. My goal was to be in the commercial end of photography and of course, commercial photography was in Toronto or Vancouver at that time. So as I was driving from Forsberg to Toronto, it was announced that the Eaton’s catalogue department was closing, which put 150 well-trained, highly professional photographers out on the street, looking for work. So when I got to Toronto, there weren’t a lot of jobs around. I started working in a colour lab doing printing, retouching, dry-mounting, finishing — right at the bottom of the barrel where you’d start at a photo lab. Then I got a job but it was more clerical, in a very small commercial firm. I could assist photographers, I’d go out with them on jobs. I decided Toronto wasn’t my thing so I came back to Medicine Hat for the summer because my sister and her husband were teaching in Redcliff. I worked at what was then the Continental Inn, it’s now the Holiday Inn. I saved up enough money so I could go to my girlfriend’s wedding that summer. When I came back from there, I went home to Forsberg and I got a call from a fellow here who had met me. He offered a job doing photography at the TV station and I thought that was easier than going to look for a job, because I was going to go to Vancouver at that point. I took the job, worked at the TV station for three years and I met a fellow here, decided I was going to stay. So, I thought if I’m going to stay, I’d better be doing something other than TV because it was not really where I wanted to be, I wanted to be doing still photography. At the time, Gainsboro Studio was for sale, so I went and talked to the people there and ended up buying the studio and moving it into my own premises that I had on Fourth Street. I did that for almost 27 years. News: So how did you end up transitioning into advocacy and your role with the Palliser Friends of Medicare?Bunney: You know, it’s an odd thing. I guess maybe I thought that it was just me but while I was in business, I felt like I couldn’t speak out in my political beliefs, for fear of losing business. I think that’s a very sad statement on democracy, but it’s real. Since I have been working with Friends of Medicare and advocating for publicly-funded Medicare — which I feel most Albertans want, truly believe in — I find that this is a very deep-seated fear, not just for those who work in health care. A lot of small business owners feel very similar, that if they speak out and say how they really feel about health care and how they feel government is eroding public health care, they feel that they will be penalized. I thought we were going to have fun here, not talk politics? (Laughs). News: That’s the only real serious question. Next one, who is your biggest role model?Bunney: That probably has changed as my life has progressed. When I was younger, I would have to say my father had the biggest influence on me. That would be the political, standing up for what you believe in, speaking out. Early on, he was very influential, and probably now, I feel his influence on me even though he died 10 years ago, almost. One of his passions was Medicare and that is really, truly one of the things that I have continued on. In my interim life, it would probably be my mother because she is very kind, very thoughtful, very motivating in that ‘always treat people how you would like to be treated,’ that kind of idea.News: You seem like you’re a bit of an animal lover.Bunney: I love my puppy dog. I just have one. I grew up with a dog and my mom tells this story of when I was four or five, I was in trouble with my mom, my dad, my sisters. So I’d lay down beside my puppy dog and I’d put my arm around him — he was a bigger dog — and I’d look into his big brown eyes and I’d go ‘oh Tippy, you love me, don’t you?’News: What movie has affected you most?Bunney: There’s one movie called The Way We Were, it’s a 1970’s movie, and it was about a couple that were very much drawn to each other, but he was from a more wealthy, upscale family and she was from more of a working-class family. She would be the person who would be out there on the demonstrations, marching and very much an advocate. No matter how hard they tried, their two lives could never come together. I always have felt a bit of both of those people. I was partly one and partly the other, and have a very hard time bringing those two lives together.News: That’s a good answer. What is your favourite pair of shoes and why?Bunney: My hiking boots. I love wearing high heels but my hiking boots are the things that absolutely fit right, could do anything in them. When I was still working, I would be very dressed up, going some place, and I’d have my hiking boots on because they made my back feel better, my neck and my feet.News: What is the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you?Bunney: I’d have to say one of the most embarrassing things was when I was going to NAIT. I played basketball and there was this real tall, six-foot-six basketball player who I had a wicked crush on. The two teams were on a road trip, we were in Medicine Hat and we were staying at a hotel right on the highway. We were walking across the street to go for lunch and this big ‘souped-up car with these big tail pipes comes along and drives in front of us and I look at that car and I go ‘I just can’t stand people that drive those kind of cars and act like that, that rev their engines.’ We get home to Edmonton, at NAIT, and it’s like 25-below and I’m going to catch the bus and go home. The really handsome basketball player says ‘Jan, would you like a ride home’?’ I go ‘I’d love one, that would be terrific’. He says ‘just wait here, I’ll go get my car’. So here he comes in this ‘souped-up car, jacked-up in the back. He pulls up in front of the doors and guns his engine. I was a little red, but I got a ride home.News: Do you still take a lot of pictures now that you don’t have a studio?Bunney: Not many, no. On holidays I do a bit, but not very many.News: I think you’d have fun stories from that but maybe we should save them for another conversation.Bunney: (Laughs). Probably. Actually my clients were pretty nice to me. They never embarrassed me too badly.
Interview by Tenille Tellman
Medicine Hat News: We’ll start with an easy question. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be and why?Jan Bunney: Today I might be blue. But on a normal day, I’d be yellow because I like to highlight stuff. I like to make a point. I like to be out there, in your face. Yellow is bright and cheery, I like to be bright and cheery.News: What is your favourite place to travel?Bunney: I like to travel anywhere, say ‘go’ and I go. My favourite places that I’ve been are Costa Rica — loved that, loved the people, loved the land, love the diversity — the other place I really loved was the Isle of Crete in Greece. Again, a lot of diversity. Incredible people, it doesn’t matter if you speak the same language, there’s all sorts of languages there because people come and travel from all over Europe.News: Dinner or dessert?Bunney: Dessert first, then dinner. News: What is the scariest thing that you’ve ever done?Bunney: Oh boy, that’s a tricky one. Going into a pretend submarine, like the one at West Ed(monton) Mall. It wasn’t at West Ed Mall, but a submarine like that. I have claustrophobia so to go in that was tricky, very tough.News: So a bit of a risk-taker then?Bunney: Oh yeah . . .News: What did you aspire to be as a child?Bunney: I suppose two things on totally opposite ends of the spectrum. If somebody asked what I wanted to be, I probably would have said prime minister of Canada. The other thing that I’d really wanted to be was an airline attendant. I couldn’t do that because of my eye vision. Then I thought I would have liked to have been a pilot, but again, the eyes.News: What is your hidden talent?Bunney: I would like to think that I had a hidden talent to paint; however, I’m thinking it’s really hidden because I’m not very good at it.News: What are you reading right now?Bunney: I just finished a book called the Physik. It was a little bit about the possibility that the Salem Witch Trials were really about real witches, that there actually were witches. It was a fiction story. The other one I’m reading — because I usually read two or three books at a time — is a non-fiction about the fact that societies where the rich and the poor are closer together — that there’s very little difference between rich and poor — are actually better societies for people to live in. They live better, they live healthier, mentally and physically, and they’re happier people.News: What is the colour of paint in your kitchen?Bunney: It’s sort of a gold colour. Did I pick it? No. But it’s a colour I probably would have. My whole house was painted by somebody else but when we moved into it, they’re absolute colours I would have picked. News: Who is the most famous person that you’ve met?Bunney: When I was eight, Tommy Douglas shook my hand. I’ve met people like Lanny McDonald, he was in my studio when I photographed him. I’ve met some authors. I’m going to say John Boyden is his name, read his book called Through Black Spruce. I’ve met people you wouldn’t know, who are very famous to me. People like Dean Collins, he was probably the best photographer in North America during his time. Unfortunately, he had a very early death. Phenomenal photographer, met him and became quite good friends with him actually.News: What is your favourite home-cooked meal?Bunney: Chicken in a sauce with grapes that my husband cooks for me on special occasions.News: Let’s talk a little about your childhood. Where did you grow up?Bunney: I grew up towards Edmonton in a place called Forsberg. It’s a little tiny town. I grew up on a farm, actually.News: What got you into photography and how did you go on to become a business owner, which is what you were really known for in the past?Bunney: I was going to NAIT for radio and television arts and met a photographer because our program was right next to the photography program. Met the photographer, started dating, and he was showing me all the stuff that he would do and I’d go — not to him — but under my breath I’d go ‘I could do that. I could probably do that better than how he does.’ So as time went on, I thought that’s what I want to do. I had tried to be a painter, but not very good at that. I thought it would give me that art-expression part. So I started applying to schools all over Canada, because I didn’t really want to stay at NAIT. I ended up at Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs and took my schooling down there.News: Then you branched into a business in Medicine Hat, of all places . . .Bunney: Yeah. After I graduated I came back to Alberta, decided to look for jobs in Toronto. My goal was to be in the commercial end of photography and of course, commercial photography was in Toronto or Vancouver at that time. So as I was driving from Forsberg to Toronto, it was announced that the Eaton’s catalogue department was closing, which put 150 well-trained, highly professional photographers out on the street, looking for work. So when I got to Toronto, there weren’t a lot of jobs around. I started working in a colour lab doing printing, retouching, dry-mounting, finishing — right at the bottom of the barrel where you’d start at a photo lab. Then I got a job but it was more clerical, in a very small commercial firm. I could assist photographers, I’d go out with them on jobs. I decided Toronto wasn’t my thing so I came back to Medicine Hat for the summer because my sister and her husband were teaching in Redcliff. I worked at what was then the Continental Inn, it’s now the Holiday Inn. I saved up enough money so I could go to my girlfriend’s wedding that summer. When I came back from there, I went home to Forsberg and I got a call from a fellow here who had met me. He offered a job doing photography at the TV station and I thought that was easier than going to look for a job, because I was going to go to Vancouver at that point. I took the job, worked at the TV station for three years and I met a fellow here, decided I was going to stay. So, I thought if I’m going to stay, I’d better be doing something other than TV because it was not really where I wanted to be, I wanted to be doing still photography. At the time, Gainsboro Studio was for sale, so I went and talked to the people there and ended up buying the studio and moving it into my own premises that I had on Fourth Street. I did that for almost 27 years. News: So how did you end up transitioning into advocacy and your role with the Palliser Friends of Medicare?Bunney: You know, it’s an odd thing. I guess maybe I thought that it was just me but while I was in business, I felt like I couldn’t speak out in my political beliefs, for fear of losing business. I think that’s a very sad statement on democracy, but it’s real. Since I have been working with Friends of Medicare and advocating for publicly-funded Medicare — which I feel most Albertans want, truly believe in — I find that this is a very deep-seated fear, not just for those who work in health care. A lot of small business owners feel very similar, that if they speak out and say how they really feel about health care and how they feel government is eroding public health care, they feel that they will be penalized. I thought we were going to have fun here, not talk politics? (Laughs). News: That’s the only real serious question. Next one, who is your biggest role model?Bunney: That probably has changed as my life has progressed. When I was younger, I would have to say my father had the biggest influence on me. That would be the political, standing up for what you believe in, speaking out. Early on, he was very influential, and probably now, I feel his influence on me even though he died 10 years ago, almost. One of his passions was Medicare and that is really, truly one of the things that I have continued on. In my interim life, it would probably be my mother because she is very kind, very thoughtful, very motivating in that ‘always treat people how you would like to be treated,’ that kind of idea.News: You seem like you’re a bit of an animal lover.Bunney: I love my puppy dog. I just have one. I grew up with a dog and my mom tells this story of when I was four or five, I was in trouble with my mom, my dad, my sisters. So I’d lay down beside my puppy dog and I’d put my arm around him — he was a bigger dog — and I’d look into his big brown eyes and I’d go ‘oh Tippy, you love me, don’t you?’News: What movie has affected you most?Bunney: There’s one movie called The Way We Were, it’s a 1970’s movie, and it was about a couple that were very much drawn to each other, but he was from a more wealthy, upscale family and she was from more of a working-class family. She would be the person who would be out there on the demonstrations, marching and very much an advocate. No matter how hard they tried, their two lives could never come together. I always have felt a bit of both of those people. I was partly one and partly the other, and have a very hard time bringing those two lives together.News: That’s a good answer. What is your favourite pair of shoes and why?Bunney: My hiking boots. I love wearing high heels but my hiking boots are the things that absolutely fit right, could do anything in them. When I was still working, I would be very dressed up, going some place, and I’d have my hiking boots on because they made my back feel better, my neck and my feet.News: What is the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you?Bunney: I’d have to say one of the most embarrassing things was when I was going to NAIT. I played basketball and there was this real tall, six-foot-six basketball player who I had a wicked crush on. The two teams were on a road trip, we were in Medicine Hat and we were staying at a hotel right on the highway. We were walking across the street to go for lunch and this big ‘souped-up car with these big tail pipes comes along and drives in front of us and I look at that car and I go ‘I just can’t stand people that drive those kind of cars and act like that, that rev their engines.’ We get home to Edmonton, at NAIT, and it’s like 25-below and I’m going to catch the bus and go home. The really handsome basketball player says ‘Jan, would you like a ride home’?’ I go ‘I’d love one, that would be terrific’. He says ‘just wait here, I’ll go get my car’. So here he comes in this ‘souped-up car, jacked-up in the back. He pulls up in front of the doors and guns his engine. I was a little red, but I got a ride home.News: Do you still take a lot of pictures now that you don’t have a studio?Bunney: Not many, no. On holidays I do a bit, but not very many.News: I think you’d have fun stories from that but maybe we should save them for another conversation.Bunney: (Laughs). Probably. Actually my clients were pretty nice to me. They never embarrassed me too badly.
MLA firing sets "Spooky" precident
MLA ousting a hot topic
REMO ZACCAGNA - Herald-Tribune staff
The turfing of a Tory MLA from caucus last week for speaking out against the delay in building a long-term care facility in his riding has the mayor of Grande Prairie concerned.
Grande Prairie mayor Dwight Logan said that it may set an unwelcome precedent, particularly when the city has long been promised a $250-million regional hospital with no firm answers on when that facility will be built.
“We expect our elected representatives, whether it’s at the provincial level or the federal level, the municipal level, or even the school board level, to represent the interests of the population,” Logan said. “And if at any point those elected representatives are told that they can’t supply their input, their opposition or support to the relevant level of government that they’re a part of, then that is worrisome.”
Last week, Premier Ed Stelmach informed Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Guy Boutilier he was being removed from caucus for comments he made about delays in building a $35-million, 48-bed long-term care facility in that city.
Boutilier was also removed from his Treasury Board post. He said he will now sit as an independent.
“I guess I have to feel that the precedent that has been set by Fort McMurray is a pretty spooky precedent for every level of government here in the province of Alberta,” Logan said.
Reached for comment, Grande Prairie-Smoky MLA and Minister of Energy Mel Knight refused to give “any comments to the media relative to that issue.”
However, he added: “My business here is to represent my constituents. In no way does anything that has happened in the past period of time diminish my effectiveness relative to representing my constituents.”
Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Wayne Drysdale said he supports Stelmach’s decision, adding that he believes that grievances should be aired in caucus and not in public.
“That’s what our caucus is for, and so you speak your mind in caucus and you have plenty of opportunity to do that and then we’d make a decision in caucus. And it doesn’t always go your way but once caucus makes a decision you support caucus,” he said from Edmonton.
“It’s unfortunate it had to happen, but I don’t know all the details, either,” Drysdale added. “And you have to be a team player, you can’t get everything by yourself if you don’t have the support of all your colleagues.”
Janice Chomik, president of the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce – which has long been lobbying in favour of a regional hospital in the city – said she is not overly concerned by Boutilier’s removal from caucus and its possible effect on other MLAs.
“We expect the communication between our MLAs and our ministers to continue,” she said. “We can’t predict the actions of our MLAs but we don’t see any reason to have any concerns.”
REMO ZACCAGNA - Herald-Tribune staff
The turfing of a Tory MLA from caucus last week for speaking out against the delay in building a long-term care facility in his riding has the mayor of Grande Prairie concerned.
Grande Prairie mayor Dwight Logan said that it may set an unwelcome precedent, particularly when the city has long been promised a $250-million regional hospital with no firm answers on when that facility will be built.
“We expect our elected representatives, whether it’s at the provincial level or the federal level, the municipal level, or even the school board level, to represent the interests of the population,” Logan said. “And if at any point those elected representatives are told that they can’t supply their input, their opposition or support to the relevant level of government that they’re a part of, then that is worrisome.”
Last week, Premier Ed Stelmach informed Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Guy Boutilier he was being removed from caucus for comments he made about delays in building a $35-million, 48-bed long-term care facility in that city.
Boutilier was also removed from his Treasury Board post. He said he will now sit as an independent.
“I guess I have to feel that the precedent that has been set by Fort McMurray is a pretty spooky precedent for every level of government here in the province of Alberta,” Logan said.
Reached for comment, Grande Prairie-Smoky MLA and Minister of Energy Mel Knight refused to give “any comments to the media relative to that issue.”
However, he added: “My business here is to represent my constituents. In no way does anything that has happened in the past period of time diminish my effectiveness relative to representing my constituents.”
Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Wayne Drysdale said he supports Stelmach’s decision, adding that he believes that grievances should be aired in caucus and not in public.
“That’s what our caucus is for, and so you speak your mind in caucus and you have plenty of opportunity to do that and then we’d make a decision in caucus. And it doesn’t always go your way but once caucus makes a decision you support caucus,” he said from Edmonton.
“It’s unfortunate it had to happen, but I don’t know all the details, either,” Drysdale added. “And you have to be a team player, you can’t get everything by yourself if you don’t have the support of all your colleagues.”
Janice Chomik, president of the Grande Prairie & District Chamber of Commerce – which has long been lobbying in favour of a regional hospital in the city – said she is not overly concerned by Boutilier’s removal from caucus and its possible effect on other MLAs.
“We expect the communication between our MLAs and our ministers to continue,” she said. “We can’t predict the actions of our MLAs but we don’t see any reason to have any concerns.”
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Better care at urban hospitals?
Sloppy syringe practices in High Prairie may highlight lax rural standards: doctor
By Cigdem Iltan And Darcy Henton, Edmonton JournalJuly 22, 2009
A northern Alberta hospital's former practice of recycling syringes may be an indication rural hospitals don't provide the same level of care as hospitals in urban settings, says the chief of the Health Quality Council of Alberta.
"This is one of our underlying concerns. If you are willing to do procedures that require constant updating, then you've got to be prepared to assume that additional responsibility," Dr. John Cowell said Tuesday.
Isolation and the "culture of conformity" in the operating room were the main reasons why nurses and physicians at the High Prairie Health Complex reused single-use syringes for patient IV lines in the hospital's endoscopy unit, said a report from the Health Quality Council of Alberta released Tuesday. Last fall, health officials began the process of testing 2,700 former patients for HIV and hepatitis after a senior nurse made the discovery.
"The physicians and the nurses were operating in a semi-isolated fashion. They were marching to the beat of their own drum if you will, as opposed to participating in the general practices of the facility," Cowell said.
The hospital had used single-use syringes to give multiple doses of medication to different people since 1990 in the recovery room and since about April 2004 in the endoscopy suite, despite being told to stop the practice, he said.
"They received a directive saying change your way and they just carried on doing what they've always done," Cowell said.
The physicians' and nurses' practice of sticking to old habits is not limited to High Prairie, and exists at other hospitals, too, especially rural hospitals, he said.
"An endoscopy should not be done in a rural setting if they can't do it at the same level and quality of safety as in an urban setting," Cowell said.
The report recommends closer monitoring of rural health-care centres and annual education reviews at minimum for health professionals.
Rural hospitals are just as capable of delivering adequate health-care services as urban hospitals, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen.
"Certainly there is a narrower scope of procedures that can be done in a smaller place, but ...a rural hospital can be a decided advantage for someone who lives closer to it than in the city," Eggen said. "People shouldn't be steering around rural hospitals just because this story came up."
So far, there is no evidence that reusing syringes at High Prairie caused the spread of HIV and hepatitis in the northern Alberta community, Health Minister Ron Liepert said.
The medical advice his department has received suggests the level of those diseases in that community are not out of line with the norm, he said.
"The real good news is pretty much all of the testing has been completed in High Prairie and although there are instances of individuals that have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis, there has been no ability to link any of those diseases with the issue around the reuse of syringes," he said.
"It's one of those things that you can't ever be 100-per-cent certain, but I am confident that due diligence was done."
Liepert refused to blame doctors or nurses for not following the protocols, but said the lesson learned is there should be better monitoring to ensure that when new standards and policies are prescribed by his department, they are followed.
"Obviously, the review the Health Quality Council has completed found that was not the case and going forward we're going to do a better job of ensuring that the monitoring takes place and that new standards are followed," he said.
Sloppy syringe practices in High Prairie may highlight lax rural standards: doctor
By Cigdem Iltan And Darcy Henton, Edmonton JournalJuly 22, 2009
A northern Alberta hospital's former practice of recycling syringes may be an indication rural hospitals don't provide the same level of care as hospitals in urban settings, says the chief of the Health Quality Council of Alberta.
"This is one of our underlying concerns. If you are willing to do procedures that require constant updating, then you've got to be prepared to assume that additional responsibility," Dr. John Cowell said Tuesday.
Isolation and the "culture of conformity" in the operating room were the main reasons why nurses and physicians at the High Prairie Health Complex reused single-use syringes for patient IV lines in the hospital's endoscopy unit, said a report from the Health Quality Council of Alberta released Tuesday. Last fall, health officials began the process of testing 2,700 former patients for HIV and hepatitis after a senior nurse made the discovery.
"The physicians and the nurses were operating in a semi-isolated fashion. They were marching to the beat of their own drum if you will, as opposed to participating in the general practices of the facility," Cowell said.
The hospital had used single-use syringes to give multiple doses of medication to different people since 1990 in the recovery room and since about April 2004 in the endoscopy suite, despite being told to stop the practice, he said.
"They received a directive saying change your way and they just carried on doing what they've always done," Cowell said.
The physicians' and nurses' practice of sticking to old habits is not limited to High Prairie, and exists at other hospitals, too, especially rural hospitals, he said.
"An endoscopy should not be done in a rural setting if they can't do it at the same level and quality of safety as in an urban setting," Cowell said.
The report recommends closer monitoring of rural health-care centres and annual education reviews at minimum for health professionals.
Rural hospitals are just as capable of delivering adequate health-care services as urban hospitals, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen.
"Certainly there is a narrower scope of procedures that can be done in a smaller place, but ...a rural hospital can be a decided advantage for someone who lives closer to it than in the city," Eggen said. "People shouldn't be steering around rural hospitals just because this story came up."
So far, there is no evidence that reusing syringes at High Prairie caused the spread of HIV and hepatitis in the northern Alberta community, Health Minister Ron Liepert said.
The medical advice his department has received suggests the level of those diseases in that community are not out of line with the norm, he said.
"The real good news is pretty much all of the testing has been completed in High Prairie and although there are instances of individuals that have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis, there has been no ability to link any of those diseases with the issue around the reuse of syringes," he said.
"It's one of those things that you can't ever be 100-per-cent certain, but I am confident that due diligence was done."
Liepert refused to blame doctors or nurses for not following the protocols, but said the lesson learned is there should be better monitoring to ensure that when new standards and policies are prescribed by his department, they are followed.
"Obviously, the review the Health Quality Council has completed found that was not the case and going forward we're going to do a better job of ensuring that the monitoring takes place and that new standards are followed," he said.
Alberta, B.C. merge medical buying power
Westernmost provinces look to reap huge savings on supplies
By Keith Gerein, Edmonton JournalJuly 22, 2009
Alberta and British Columbia are joining financial forces in a bulk-buying agreement touted to reap big savings on medical supplies.
The joint-purchasing deal, which will allow large, discounted orders on all sorts of health items ranging from surgical masks to hospital food to pharmaceutical drugs, is expected save Alberta up to $75 million or more annually.
"It's basically the things you would need to operate a health-care system on a day-to-day basis," Alberta government spokesman Andy Weiler said.
Two provincial health-care systems combining their purchasing power will result in orders worth$750 million to $1 billion a year to a group-purchasing organization, he said.
Alberta won't purchase all of its medical supplies through the new deal, only those items that are subject to discounting, said Jitendra Prasad, in charge of procurement and supply management for Alberta Health Services.
"Depending on the type of commodity, the (price reductions) could be anywhere from six to 12 per cent," he said. "There are certain categories where the larger the volume, the larger the discounting.
"It includes run-of-the-mill catheters, tubes and so on, and we're looking at non-medical items like cleaning supplies and garbage bags, which we spend a lot of money on."
The deal should produce savings between $40 million and $75 million annually, but could go higher if discounts improve, Prasad said.
All savings will be reinvested in the health system.
Prasad said the idea for a bulk-buying arrangement has been discussed for years. The recent creation of Alberta Health Services, which consolidated several different health regions into one provincial authority, finally made it possible to strike a deal, he said.
"With a much more streamlined organization, it was easier for us to sit down with B. C. and come to an agreement," he said. "The decision-making process became simpler. It's probably one of the key benefits to the integration and creation of Alberta Health Services."
David Swann, leader of the provincial Liberals, praised the deal but suggested the government engages in progressive thinking only in times of economic distress.
"I applaud the government for finally getting to the right decision," he said. "When we've been flush with money, we haven't seen this kind of thoughtful approach to spending and investment in the primary-care system."
Swann said the province should now look at expanding the arrangement to other western provinces and potentially the whole country to achieve even better "economies of scale."
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said a joint-purchase agreement is an idea his organization has been pushing for years. While the government is heading in the right direction, it should also do bulk-buying on drugs consumers purchase at the drugstore, he said.
"It would seem reasonable to allow individuals to get in on this purchasing arrangement so we can save money, too."
kgerein@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Westernmost provinces look to reap huge savings on supplies
By Keith Gerein, Edmonton JournalJuly 22, 2009
Alberta and British Columbia are joining financial forces in a bulk-buying agreement touted to reap big savings on medical supplies.
The joint-purchasing deal, which will allow large, discounted orders on all sorts of health items ranging from surgical masks to hospital food to pharmaceutical drugs, is expected save Alberta up to $75 million or more annually.
"It's basically the things you would need to operate a health-care system on a day-to-day basis," Alberta government spokesman Andy Weiler said.
Two provincial health-care systems combining their purchasing power will result in orders worth$750 million to $1 billion a year to a group-purchasing organization, he said.
Alberta won't purchase all of its medical supplies through the new deal, only those items that are subject to discounting, said Jitendra Prasad, in charge of procurement and supply management for Alberta Health Services.
"Depending on the type of commodity, the (price reductions) could be anywhere from six to 12 per cent," he said. "There are certain categories where the larger the volume, the larger the discounting.
"It includes run-of-the-mill catheters, tubes and so on, and we're looking at non-medical items like cleaning supplies and garbage bags, which we spend a lot of money on."
The deal should produce savings between $40 million and $75 million annually, but could go higher if discounts improve, Prasad said.
All savings will be reinvested in the health system.
Prasad said the idea for a bulk-buying arrangement has been discussed for years. The recent creation of Alberta Health Services, which consolidated several different health regions into one provincial authority, finally made it possible to strike a deal, he said.
"With a much more streamlined organization, it was easier for us to sit down with B. C. and come to an agreement," he said. "The decision-making process became simpler. It's probably one of the key benefits to the integration and creation of Alberta Health Services."
David Swann, leader of the provincial Liberals, praised the deal but suggested the government engages in progressive thinking only in times of economic distress.
"I applaud the government for finally getting to the right decision," he said. "When we've been flush with money, we haven't seen this kind of thoughtful approach to spending and investment in the primary-care system."
Swann said the province should now look at expanding the arrangement to other western provinces and potentially the whole country to achieve even better "economies of scale."
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said a joint-purchase agreement is an idea his organization has been pushing for years. While the government is heading in the right direction, it should also do bulk-buying on drugs consumers purchase at the drugstore, he said.
"It would seem reasonable to allow individuals to get in on this purchasing arrangement so we can save money, too."
kgerein@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Monday, July 20, 2009
Be Like Guy! He is honest Stelmach is not
EDMONTON — Premier Ed Stelmach says he expelled Guy Boutilier from his Conservative caucus because he was not a team player and tried to blame his colleagues for the government’s decision to defer a long-term care facility in Fort McMurray.
“It’s very easy to blame someone else on the team,” the premier said Monday. “All successful teams, whether it be in government or in sports, always work together and they suffer through difficult circumstances together.”
He said MLAs were advised their constituencies will have to tighten their belts during the recession and everyone has to do their part.
“Although we all sit around the table and make decisions with respect to how we’re going to deal with the economic situation, no one as an individual MLA can take a pass on it and say: ‘Well, you have to suffer through, in your constituency, some of the difficult decisions, but in mine, I’ll just step out of the team and blame my colleagues,’” Stelmach said. “That’s not the way the government operates under my leadership.”
He said MLAs can make passionate cases for the constituencies in caucus, but he expects them to support the decisions of the majority.
Stelmach noted the Conservative caucus held together through tougher times during the Ralph Klein budget-slashing era.
“I reflect upon my experience in the early 90s where we had to make very, very difficult decisions, but that team held through difficult times and I know the team under my leadership will do the same.”
But Boutilier, who has been hailed as a hero by the Friends of Medicare, lashed back Monday, saying the premier made his decision based on faulty information provided by his staff and never gave him a chance to make a case either in person or before his caucus peers.
“I am a team player, but when you ask the coach — the premier — to meet and he says ‘no’ after 12 years together on the team, this gives new meaning to ‘team,’” Boutilier said. “He wouldn’t meet with me.”
Although Boutilier was hopeful the premier might reconsider the decision, Stelmach didn’t have any plan for that to occur.
“I made the decision Friday. It stays the same today and it will into the future,” he said. “It’s one of those unfortunate decisions that you have to make as the leader.”
He said he gave Boutilier more than one chance and the MLA’s comments in e-mails and in newspaper accounts were “self-explanatory.”
When asked why Boutilier wasn’t given a chance to make his case in front of caucus, Stelmach said: “I am speaking on behalf of caucus.”
Boutilier was advised by the premier in a late Friday phone call that he had been removed from his post of Treasury Board and expelled from the caucus for his criticism of his government in recent days and weeks.
The former cabinet minister has argued that he is just representing the view of his constituents — and that he shouldn’t be punished for that.
Dave Eggen of Friends of Medicare said Boutilier’s expulsion sends a “very negative message.”
“We want each MLA to understand that this health-care crisis transcends party politics and really lies at the root of the security and peace of mind of their constituents,” he said. “That’s what Mr. Boutilier did and we’re proud of him.”
Boutilier said he had calls of support from 26 MLAs, but no one was leaping to his defence Monday.
“It’s a team game and the premier felt he had to make that decision and I support him in his decision,” said Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett.
Finance Minister Iris Evans said Stelmach has 100-per-cent support of his caucus.
“Look, if you have been in caucus for 12 years as Guy Boutilier and I have (and) if you have been in local politics as both Guy Boutilier and I have, you know there’s a right and a wrong way to do things,” she said. “I think the premier deserves the respect of all caucus members.”
Evans, who was in cabinet when caucus expelled former cabinet member Lyle Oberg, said she also believed that the premier was right to take the action unilaterally.
“I think it’s the right way, frankly, to have the leader make that decision and make that call,” she added.
But NDP Leader Brian Mason said the expulsion of Boutilier should give voters pause for voting in government members in the future.
“The prevailing political wisdom in many parts of Alberta is that you get more done by going through your local MLA, but it’s pretty clear to me that if there is an issue where the government policy is harming your constituents, you dare not speak publicly about it or you face what Mr. Boutilier did,” he said. “Why would you elect government MLAs if they can’t represent the constituents? There’s a really strong argument here for electing more opposition MLAs to make sure people’s voices are heard.”
dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com
“It’s very easy to blame someone else on the team,” the premier said Monday. “All successful teams, whether it be in government or in sports, always work together and they suffer through difficult circumstances together.”
He said MLAs were advised their constituencies will have to tighten their belts during the recession and everyone has to do their part.
“Although we all sit around the table and make decisions with respect to how we’re going to deal with the economic situation, no one as an individual MLA can take a pass on it and say: ‘Well, you have to suffer through, in your constituency, some of the difficult decisions, but in mine, I’ll just step out of the team and blame my colleagues,’” Stelmach said. “That’s not the way the government operates under my leadership.”
He said MLAs can make passionate cases for the constituencies in caucus, but he expects them to support the decisions of the majority.
Stelmach noted the Conservative caucus held together through tougher times during the Ralph Klein budget-slashing era.
“I reflect upon my experience in the early 90s where we had to make very, very difficult decisions, but that team held through difficult times and I know the team under my leadership will do the same.”
But Boutilier, who has been hailed as a hero by the Friends of Medicare, lashed back Monday, saying the premier made his decision based on faulty information provided by his staff and never gave him a chance to make a case either in person or before his caucus peers.
“I am a team player, but when you ask the coach — the premier — to meet and he says ‘no’ after 12 years together on the team, this gives new meaning to ‘team,’” Boutilier said. “He wouldn’t meet with me.”
Although Boutilier was hopeful the premier might reconsider the decision, Stelmach didn’t have any plan for that to occur.
“I made the decision Friday. It stays the same today and it will into the future,” he said. “It’s one of those unfortunate decisions that you have to make as the leader.”
He said he gave Boutilier more than one chance and the MLA’s comments in e-mails and in newspaper accounts were “self-explanatory.”
When asked why Boutilier wasn’t given a chance to make his case in front of caucus, Stelmach said: “I am speaking on behalf of caucus.”
Boutilier was advised by the premier in a late Friday phone call that he had been removed from his post of Treasury Board and expelled from the caucus for his criticism of his government in recent days and weeks.
The former cabinet minister has argued that he is just representing the view of his constituents — and that he shouldn’t be punished for that.
Dave Eggen of Friends of Medicare said Boutilier’s expulsion sends a “very negative message.”
“We want each MLA to understand that this health-care crisis transcends party politics and really lies at the root of the security and peace of mind of their constituents,” he said. “That’s what Mr. Boutilier did and we’re proud of him.”
Boutilier said he had calls of support from 26 MLAs, but no one was leaping to his defence Monday.
“It’s a team game and the premier felt he had to make that decision and I support him in his decision,” said Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett.
Finance Minister Iris Evans said Stelmach has 100-per-cent support of his caucus.
“Look, if you have been in caucus for 12 years as Guy Boutilier and I have (and) if you have been in local politics as both Guy Boutilier and I have, you know there’s a right and a wrong way to do things,” she said. “I think the premier deserves the respect of all caucus members.”
Evans, who was in cabinet when caucus expelled former cabinet member Lyle Oberg, said she also believed that the premier was right to take the action unilaterally.
“I think it’s the right way, frankly, to have the leader make that decision and make that call,” she added.
But NDP Leader Brian Mason said the expulsion of Boutilier should give voters pause for voting in government members in the future.
“The prevailing political wisdom in many parts of Alberta is that you get more done by going through your local MLA, but it’s pretty clear to me that if there is an issue where the government policy is harming your constituents, you dare not speak publicly about it or you face what Mr. Boutilier did,” he said. “Why would you elect government MLAs if they can’t represent the constituents? There’s a really strong argument here for electing more opposition MLAs to make sure people’s voices are heard.”
dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Medicare groups worry as private physician clinics spread across Alberta
By Shannon Montgomery (CP) – 12 hours ago
CALGARY — Less than one year after a private medical clinic opened in Calgary to angry protests, similar "members only" facilities are spreading across the province.
Critics say they're taking physicians away from the public system, making it even harder for those who can't afford thousands of dollars a year in membership fees to find a family doctor. But those running the clinics say they enable doctors to give their patients the care they deserve while operating fully within Canada's medicare laws.
"It's obviously extra billing and queue jumping," says David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "If this goes on unregulated, it'll spread like wildfire and we can see it, even in a recession, starting to expand here in Alberta."
Last September, protesters gathered as the Copeman Clinic opened in Calgary, saying they couldn't afford up to $3,900 a year in fees.
Several other clinics have since opened or are in the works, including Provital Health and Wellness, which is to open next month in Calgary. Former patients of the family doctors who will work at that clinic received a letter asking them to join. The letter suggests that "with a lower patient-to-doctor ratio our team is capable of spending the time to provide you with better care and concern." Attached is a fee schedule that puts cost for the first year at $3,500 and subsequent years at $3,000.
Copeman, which has several locations in British Columbia, has also said it will open an Edmonton clinic within months, says Eggen. Its website promises a location in Toronto in 2009, with other provinces to follow.
Many people have concerns about the spread of these clinics, says Irfan Dhalla, a Toronto physician with Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
"First and foremost, charging patients fees for access to medically necessary services undermines the key principles of medicare," he says. "And if patients have to pay a fee to gain access to insured health services, then that's illegal."
It's already hard to find a family physician in Canada, he says, and doctors at these clinics will see fewer patients in a day.
"By moving towards this model, it creates a situation where it's even more difficult for people who are looking for family doctors to find them."
An audit by the B.C. Medical Services Commission into the Copeman Health Centre cleared it of any allegations that its membership fees violate the Canada Health Act. Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert has also said it appears the clinics fall within acceptable legal guidelines.
Both Eggen and Dhalla say it's hard to track clinics that charge membership fees, since they don't have to register with the government and can quietly collect fees on the side. A report released last fall by the lobby group the Canadian Health Coalition estimated there were 16 "boutique physician clinics" across the country, although the number has almost certainly risen since then.
Gerard Boychuk, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo who wrote a recent report about Alberta and the Canada Health Act, says it would be difficult to prove that the clinics violate of the act. The part of the law which refers to user fees is very specific, he says.
Alberta was penalized in the 1990s for charging the public system for individual, medically necessary procedures and then charging people fees on top of that. For the membership fee to fall under that umbrella, someone would have to prove that they refused to pay the membership fee and were therefore refused medically necessary treatment.
"It can't be hypothetical, you'd have to have an actual patient," says Boychuk.
Still, the health act has traditionally been a political tool, he says. If private clinics grow dramatically in numbers and people start noticing an effect, the resulting political pressure on provincial and federal governments will likely have an impact.
"That probably matters more than the letter of the Canada Health Act," Boychuk adds.
Eggen says his group will keep watching the clinics and will push the provincial government to take a hard look at whether they're really helping public health care.
"The jury is still totally out on this - it's a matter of whether the government is willing to pursue it or not."
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
By Shannon Montgomery (CP) – 12 hours ago
CALGARY — Less than one year after a private medical clinic opened in Calgary to angry protests, similar "members only" facilities are spreading across the province.
Critics say they're taking physicians away from the public system, making it even harder for those who can't afford thousands of dollars a year in membership fees to find a family doctor. But those running the clinics say they enable doctors to give their patients the care they deserve while operating fully within Canada's medicare laws.
"It's obviously extra billing and queue jumping," says David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "If this goes on unregulated, it'll spread like wildfire and we can see it, even in a recession, starting to expand here in Alberta."
Last September, protesters gathered as the Copeman Clinic opened in Calgary, saying they couldn't afford up to $3,900 a year in fees.
Several other clinics have since opened or are in the works, including Provital Health and Wellness, which is to open next month in Calgary. Former patients of the family doctors who will work at that clinic received a letter asking them to join. The letter suggests that "with a lower patient-to-doctor ratio our team is capable of spending the time to provide you with better care and concern." Attached is a fee schedule that puts cost for the first year at $3,500 and subsequent years at $3,000.
Copeman, which has several locations in British Columbia, has also said it will open an Edmonton clinic within months, says Eggen. Its website promises a location in Toronto in 2009, with other provinces to follow.
Many people have concerns about the spread of these clinics, says Irfan Dhalla, a Toronto physician with Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
"First and foremost, charging patients fees for access to medically necessary services undermines the key principles of medicare," he says. "And if patients have to pay a fee to gain access to insured health services, then that's illegal."
It's already hard to find a family physician in Canada, he says, and doctors at these clinics will see fewer patients in a day.
"By moving towards this model, it creates a situation where it's even more difficult for people who are looking for family doctors to find them."
An audit by the B.C. Medical Services Commission into the Copeman Health Centre cleared it of any allegations that its membership fees violate the Canada Health Act. Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert has also said it appears the clinics fall within acceptable legal guidelines.
Both Eggen and Dhalla say it's hard to track clinics that charge membership fees, since they don't have to register with the government and can quietly collect fees on the side. A report released last fall by the lobby group the Canadian Health Coalition estimated there were 16 "boutique physician clinics" across the country, although the number has almost certainly risen since then.
Gerard Boychuk, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo who wrote a recent report about Alberta and the Canada Health Act, says it would be difficult to prove that the clinics violate of the act. The part of the law which refers to user fees is very specific, he says.
Alberta was penalized in the 1990s for charging the public system for individual, medically necessary procedures and then charging people fees on top of that. For the membership fee to fall under that umbrella, someone would have to prove that they refused to pay the membership fee and were therefore refused medically necessary treatment.
"It can't be hypothetical, you'd have to have an actual patient," says Boychuk.
Still, the health act has traditionally been a political tool, he says. If private clinics grow dramatically in numbers and people start noticing an effect, the resulting political pressure on provincial and federal governments will likely have an impact.
"That probably matters more than the letter of the Canada Health Act," Boychuk adds.
Eggen says his group will keep watching the clinics and will push the provincial government to take a hard look at whether they're really helping public health care.
"The jury is still totally out on this - it's a matter of whether the government is willing to pursue it or not."
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Interesting column on long term care
Premier Ed Stelmach is suddenly doing politics on steroids. Against a flood of public anger, and to the shock of some Tory MLAs, he kicked out a veteran Conservative for challenging him to keep a promise.
It was unilaterally done by Ed and Ed alone. There wasn't even an official statement from his office Saturday, just a blanket e-mail to Tory caucus members.
Many of those MLAs were overheating their BlackBerrys on Saturday. Stelmach's ruling goes to the heart of their dilemma --do they represent their constituents to the government, or act as the government's mouthpiece to the constituents?
Fort McMurray's Guy Boutilier chose to speak for his city by urging immediate construction of a deferred care centre. Along the way, he said Health Minister Ron Liepert is "talking gibberish."
For this he was slammed by the full power of the premier's office, an awesome force when it's used without restraint. Now the shudder is running right through the caucus.
One concern is the MLAs' inability to vote on the ouster of a 12-year veteran, who was a high-profile minister in Ralph Klein's era.
The last time anything remotely like this happened was on March 22, 2006, after Tory minister Lyle Oberg said MLAs should vote their conscience at a leadership review for then Premier Ralph Klein.
Klein's caucus--not the premier himself--moved to suspend Oberg.
MLAs won't have any such choice with Boutilier, even though he says he asked the premier several times if he could appear before caucus on Tuesday to explain himself.
"The premier just said, 'Pack up your office and get out,' " says Boutilier. "He said I'm not welcome on Tuesday. He said the Speaker would find a seat for me somewhere in the legislature as an independent."
Oberg's challenge to his premier was mild by comparison. He was back in caucus within months.
If that door is open even a crack to Boutilier, he keeps slamming it shut himself with one go-to-hell line after another.
"It's a sad day for democracy," he says.
"I always thought Ed Stelmach supported MLAs speaking out about the views of their constituents. I'm shocked to find he doesn't feel that way.
"There needs to be some reflection within the PC leader's office.
"The spin is very disappointing."
On the issue itself --long-term care in Fort McMurray--very elderly seniors are being kept in "holding cells."
Once Boutilier is installed in his own legislature cell, both the Liberals and Wildrose Alliance hope he'll escape their way.
He says he can't think about that now, but never quite gets around to saying no.
Essentially, this high-speed collision occurred because Boutilier challenged the premier's core strategy on health care.
Stelmach's inner group wants to take politics out of tough health decisions in communities all over the province.
That can't happen, they feel, if individual MLAs keep questioning decisions made by the health super-board.
Their official mission is to convince local voters that projects must be slowed pending a health board review.
Boutilier refused to accept that. He said that by postponing the care centre, the government broke a promise made by the premier himself only last year.
He's even been in touch with advocacy groups and tried to steer protesters to the provincial building in Fort McMurray.
All this was extremely dangerous to the fragile caucus consensus on health care. If Boutilier's view had spread, a geyser of local complaints would have erupted.
And that's how an allegedly mild premier came to kick out an MLA for doing exactly what many Albertans think an MLA should do.
The premier has certainly shown he can be tough. Whether this was smart is another matter entirely.
dbraid@theherald. canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
It was unilaterally done by Ed and Ed alone. There wasn't even an official statement from his office Saturday, just a blanket e-mail to Tory caucus members.
Many of those MLAs were overheating their BlackBerrys on Saturday. Stelmach's ruling goes to the heart of their dilemma --do they represent their constituents to the government, or act as the government's mouthpiece to the constituents?
Fort McMurray's Guy Boutilier chose to speak for his city by urging immediate construction of a deferred care centre. Along the way, he said Health Minister Ron Liepert is "talking gibberish."
For this he was slammed by the full power of the premier's office, an awesome force when it's used without restraint. Now the shudder is running right through the caucus.
One concern is the MLAs' inability to vote on the ouster of a 12-year veteran, who was a high-profile minister in Ralph Klein's era.
The last time anything remotely like this happened was on March 22, 2006, after Tory minister Lyle Oberg said MLAs should vote their conscience at a leadership review for then Premier Ralph Klein.
Klein's caucus--not the premier himself--moved to suspend Oberg.
MLAs won't have any such choice with Boutilier, even though he says he asked the premier several times if he could appear before caucus on Tuesday to explain himself.
"The premier just said, 'Pack up your office and get out,' " says Boutilier. "He said I'm not welcome on Tuesday. He said the Speaker would find a seat for me somewhere in the legislature as an independent."
Oberg's challenge to his premier was mild by comparison. He was back in caucus within months.
If that door is open even a crack to Boutilier, he keeps slamming it shut himself with one go-to-hell line after another.
"It's a sad day for democracy," he says.
"I always thought Ed Stelmach supported MLAs speaking out about the views of their constituents. I'm shocked to find he doesn't feel that way.
"There needs to be some reflection within the PC leader's office.
"The spin is very disappointing."
On the issue itself --long-term care in Fort McMurray--very elderly seniors are being kept in "holding cells."
Once Boutilier is installed in his own legislature cell, both the Liberals and Wildrose Alliance hope he'll escape their way.
He says he can't think about that now, but never quite gets around to saying no.
Essentially, this high-speed collision occurred because Boutilier challenged the premier's core strategy on health care.
Stelmach's inner group wants to take politics out of tough health decisions in communities all over the province.
That can't happen, they feel, if individual MLAs keep questioning decisions made by the health super-board.
Their official mission is to convince local voters that projects must be slowed pending a health board review.
Boutilier refused to accept that. He said that by postponing the care centre, the government broke a promise made by the premier himself only last year.
He's even been in touch with advocacy groups and tried to steer protesters to the provincial building in Fort McMurray.
All this was extremely dangerous to the fragile caucus consensus on health care. If Boutilier's view had spread, a geyser of local complaints would have erupted.
And that's how an allegedly mild premier came to kick out an MLA for doing exactly what many Albertans think an MLA should do.
The premier has certainly shown he can be tough. Whether this was smart is another matter entirely.
dbraid@theherald. canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Health councils hold on
Unofficial coalitions will continue to meet
By Cigdem Iltan And Keith Gerein, Edmonton JournalJuly 19, 2009
Two community health councils in Spirit River and McLennan have refused to dissolve despite the Alberta government's plan to disband such groups.
While the government's plan to replace the province's 59 community health councils with 12 new health advisory councils will reduce bureaucracy, there are good reasons to keep local groups working, said Theresa Sandul, chairwoman of the local health council in Spirit River.
"We felt what we were doing was of value, so regardless of whether we are an officially sanctioned health council, we can still proceed with that type of work," said Sandul, who is also Spirit River's mayor. "Even if we are not officially sanctioned, if the Alberta government comes looking for input, we're here, we're set up. We can say what we feel is of importance in our area."
The community council has recruited rural doctors to the area, and will continue to push for long-term hospital beds in the region as well as a new hospital in Grande Prairie, she said. Now it is free to add lobbying the government to its potential duties, she added.
Sandul and a few members of her community health council plan to apply to serve on Peace County's new health advisory council.
Alberta Health Services has to let the councils continue to meet, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen. "They are recognized as valuable contributors ...they've seen results from those community councils," he said.
Sandul said she has been told by Stephen Duckett, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, that there is no reason for the local councils to stop meeting.
"He said you won't be official, but you don't have to disband. He didn't think that having us continue to run is a problem, so we don't feel we are doing any harm."
Spirit River and McLennan health councils are examples of how community health care is taken seriously in rural Alberta, said provincial NDP Leader Brian Mason.
"It was one of the most delightful pieces of news I've heard in a long time," Mason said. "This is an example of people saying, 'No, you're not going to disband us, you're not going to shut us up.' "
Other communities voiced their desire to also have unofficial coalitions at a health-care meeting in Grande Prairie on Saturday.
ciltan@thejournal.canwest.com
kgerein@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Unofficial coalitions will continue to meet
By Cigdem Iltan And Keith Gerein, Edmonton JournalJuly 19, 2009
Two community health councils in Spirit River and McLennan have refused to dissolve despite the Alberta government's plan to disband such groups.
While the government's plan to replace the province's 59 community health councils with 12 new health advisory councils will reduce bureaucracy, there are good reasons to keep local groups working, said Theresa Sandul, chairwoman of the local health council in Spirit River.
"We felt what we were doing was of value, so regardless of whether we are an officially sanctioned health council, we can still proceed with that type of work," said Sandul, who is also Spirit River's mayor. "Even if we are not officially sanctioned, if the Alberta government comes looking for input, we're here, we're set up. We can say what we feel is of importance in our area."
The community council has recruited rural doctors to the area, and will continue to push for long-term hospital beds in the region as well as a new hospital in Grande Prairie, she said. Now it is free to add lobbying the government to its potential duties, she added.
Sandul and a few members of her community health council plan to apply to serve on Peace County's new health advisory council.
Alberta Health Services has to let the councils continue to meet, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen. "They are recognized as valuable contributors ...they've seen results from those community councils," he said.
Sandul said she has been told by Stephen Duckett, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, that there is no reason for the local councils to stop meeting.
"He said you won't be official, but you don't have to disband. He didn't think that having us continue to run is a problem, so we don't feel we are doing any harm."
Spirit River and McLennan health councils are examples of how community health care is taken seriously in rural Alberta, said provincial NDP Leader Brian Mason.
"It was one of the most delightful pieces of news I've heard in a long time," Mason said. "This is an example of people saying, 'No, you're not going to disband us, you're not going to shut us up.' "
Other communities voiced their desire to also have unofficial coalitions at a health-care meeting in Grande Prairie on Saturday.
ciltan@thejournal.canwest.com
kgerein@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
By Cigdem Iltan, Edmonton JournalJuly 19, 2009
Premier Ed Stelmach's single-handed decision to chuck Guy Boutilier out of caucus isn't the first time the premier has taken such "puzzling" action against the Fort McMurray politician, says a Liberal MLA.
In March 2008, Boutilier--then the International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations minister--was the only cabinet minister not invited back to the table for the premier's second term.
"He was a senior cabinet minister and he represented Fort McMurray.I couldn't understand why he wasn't in cabinet," Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said Saturday.
"This certainly tells the people of this province and other Conservative MLAs they better not stand up and speak out on behalf of constituents or they'll be sitting in the corner."
Earlier this week, Boutilier strongly criticized a government decision to delay building a longterm care facility in Fort McMurray that had been approved months ago.
In one interview, he said seniors were being kept in "holding cells" at Fort McMurray's Northern Lights Health Centre, where there are beds designated for people who require long-term care, and said Health Minister Ron Liepert was "talking gibberish."
MacDonald said the move by Stelmach shows there is a deep crack in the Tory caucus.
"This indicates just how controversial Ed Stelmach's health-care reforms are when he can't sell them to his own caucus," he said.
NDP Leader Brian Mason said Boutilier's removal sends a clear message to the rest of the Tory caucus.
"I think the message is clear:Don't you dare criticize our health care, even if your constituents are demanding it, or you'll get fired," he said.
"It's pretty scary to be living in a province where MLAs can't speak on behalf of their constituents."
Boutilier moved to Fort McMurray from Nova Scotia in the early 1980s as an employee of oilsands giant Syncrude Canada. He quickly become a well-known public figure, thanks to a local TV program he hosted called This Week in Sports.
That led him to politics. In 1986 he was elected to the first of two terms as alderman; in 1992, he became the city's youngest mayor, which was followed by a term as the mayor of the newly created Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Throughout his political career he has fought hard for oilsands development, coining the city motto: "We have the energy."
He was first elected to the legislature in 1997, and since then has been a member of cabinet in three different portfolios: Municipal Affairs (2001-04), Environment (2004-06) and finally to International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations, a position he lost in 2008.
Boutilier's removal from caucus is the latest setback in a series of blows to a campaign for a much-needed long-term care facility, said Fort McMurray community health-care lobbyist Jean Jensen.
Jensen, who turns 80 in September and has congestive heart failure, has lobbied the government for a long-term care facility in the northern Alberta city for 30 years.
"Who is Mr. Stelmach that he can throw this man out for doing what he was elected to do? Is this a dictatorship or what?" Jensen said. "For our MLA to speak out on our behalf and to get canned for it is ridiculous altogether."
Boutilier was punished for simply carrying out his role in the parliamentary system, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen.
"He spoke out in a very reasonable way about a health-care concern in Fort McMurray that happens to be reflected again and again across this province. He had the bravery to speak out on this and not back down and this is the answer he gets," Eggen said.
ciltan@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Premier Ed Stelmach's single-handed decision to chuck Guy Boutilier out of caucus isn't the first time the premier has taken such "puzzling" action against the Fort McMurray politician, says a Liberal MLA.
In March 2008, Boutilier--then the International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations minister--was the only cabinet minister not invited back to the table for the premier's second term.
"He was a senior cabinet minister and he represented Fort McMurray.I couldn't understand why he wasn't in cabinet," Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said Saturday.
"This certainly tells the people of this province and other Conservative MLAs they better not stand up and speak out on behalf of constituents or they'll be sitting in the corner."
Earlier this week, Boutilier strongly criticized a government decision to delay building a longterm care facility in Fort McMurray that had been approved months ago.
In one interview, he said seniors were being kept in "holding cells" at Fort McMurray's Northern Lights Health Centre, where there are beds designated for people who require long-term care, and said Health Minister Ron Liepert was "talking gibberish."
MacDonald said the move by Stelmach shows there is a deep crack in the Tory caucus.
"This indicates just how controversial Ed Stelmach's health-care reforms are when he can't sell them to his own caucus," he said.
NDP Leader Brian Mason said Boutilier's removal sends a clear message to the rest of the Tory caucus.
"I think the message is clear:Don't you dare criticize our health care, even if your constituents are demanding it, or you'll get fired," he said.
"It's pretty scary to be living in a province where MLAs can't speak on behalf of their constituents."
Boutilier moved to Fort McMurray from Nova Scotia in the early 1980s as an employee of oilsands giant Syncrude Canada. He quickly become a well-known public figure, thanks to a local TV program he hosted called This Week in Sports.
That led him to politics. In 1986 he was elected to the first of two terms as alderman; in 1992, he became the city's youngest mayor, which was followed by a term as the mayor of the newly created Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Throughout his political career he has fought hard for oilsands development, coining the city motto: "We have the energy."
He was first elected to the legislature in 1997, and since then has been a member of cabinet in three different portfolios: Municipal Affairs (2001-04), Environment (2004-06) and finally to International, Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Relations, a position he lost in 2008.
Boutilier's removal from caucus is the latest setback in a series of blows to a campaign for a much-needed long-term care facility, said Fort McMurray community health-care lobbyist Jean Jensen.
Jensen, who turns 80 in September and has congestive heart failure, has lobbied the government for a long-term care facility in the northern Alberta city for 30 years.
"Who is Mr. Stelmach that he can throw this man out for doing what he was elected to do? Is this a dictatorship or what?" Jensen said. "For our MLA to speak out on our behalf and to get canned for it is ridiculous altogether."
Boutilier was punished for simply carrying out his role in the parliamentary system, said Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen.
"He spoke out in a very reasonable way about a health-care concern in Fort McMurray that happens to be reflected again and again across this province. He had the bravery to speak out on this and not back down and this is the answer he gets," Eggen said.
ciltan@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Friday, July 17, 2009
Bold critique of Stelmach endangers Alberta Tory MLA
By Don Braid, Calgary HeraldJuly 17, 2009Comments (32)
Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier.
Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald
Very elderly seniors are living in "holding cells," the health minister is "talking gibberish," and Premier Ed Stelmach doesn't want a cabinet minister "who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama."
That's the latest--and maybe the last--from Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier. His remarkable musings about health care have brought him to the verge of ejection from Stelmach's caucus.
Boutilier, a cabinet minister in Ralph Klein's day, has been upset for months about postponement of a long-term care centre for Fort McMurray. Many government MLAs are equally uneasy as local health projects are shelved pending a health board review.
But so far they've dutifully taken the heat in their ridings, while Boutilier is taking the extremely rare step of speaking out critically.
To Stelmach he's becoming a political version of swine flu. If this spreads, the premier will have to quarantine half his caucus.
The blow-up began in April, when Ron Liepert signalled postponement of the care centre Stelmach himself announced in 2008.
Boutilier blasted Liepert after the health minister said "the urgent need wasn't there," implying that the city has a young population.
"That was talking gibberish and it's simply not accurate information," he said in an interview Thursday.
"If it's a very young population, what shall I tell the people over 85 who are in the holding cells? What else can you call them?"
Those "cells" are on the 4th floor of the Northern Lights hospital, home to 31 seniors, including one who's 98.
But provincial officials say that floor is a fully staffed, dedicated long-term care area within the hospital.
"We should have stuck with the strategy we settled on before the last election. This is a mistake, and I told Ron Liepert that in caucus.
"What MLAs are hearing in coffee shops is very different from what the minister is hearing from health officials."
Boutilier figures Liepert is well-meaning but misinformed. "Ron, you don't know what you're talking about. Bring me any health official and I'll debate the issue."
Boutilier also wants a lively provincial debate about health care. That brings us to the surprising subject of President Barack Obama.
"I graduated from Harvard with Obama in 1991," says Boutilier. "I didn't really know him. . . . But we need to elevate discussion in Alberta on public issues such as health care. Obama is doing it now in America. We need more of that in Alberta."
Asked about his earlier demotion from cabinet, Boutilier says, "If the premier doesn't want to have a guy who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama, that's fine."
Despite saying all this, Boutilier seems genuinely shocked by the suggestion that he might be disciplined.
"What would the premier do if this was happening in Vegreville? Would he write a letter saying he's happy with the decision? I don't think so. . . . I'm doing what he wants us to do--representing our communities. I have respect for the process, but I haven't done anything wrong. I have only said this is a bad decision.
"What am I supposed to do--lie?"
At the legislature, Boutilier's record is being quietly dusted off. There are whispers about his spotty caucus attendance, and hints that as a Treasury Board member, he's putting himself in conflict with official policy.
Yes, Guy Boutilier could well get himself kicked out of Toryland; but at least he'll sail out in a blaze of Northern Lights.
dbraid@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Don Braid, Calgary HeraldJuly 17, 2009Comments (32)
Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier.
Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald
Very elderly seniors are living in "holding cells," the health minister is "talking gibberish," and Premier Ed Stelmach doesn't want a cabinet minister "who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama."
That's the latest--and maybe the last--from Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier. His remarkable musings about health care have brought him to the verge of ejection from Stelmach's caucus.
Boutilier, a cabinet minister in Ralph Klein's day, has been upset for months about postponement of a long-term care centre for Fort McMurray. Many government MLAs are equally uneasy as local health projects are shelved pending a health board review.
But so far they've dutifully taken the heat in their ridings, while Boutilier is taking the extremely rare step of speaking out critically.
To Stelmach he's becoming a political version of swine flu. If this spreads, the premier will have to quarantine half his caucus.
The blow-up began in April, when Ron Liepert signalled postponement of the care centre Stelmach himself announced in 2008.
Boutilier blasted Liepert after the health minister said "the urgent need wasn't there," implying that the city has a young population.
"That was talking gibberish and it's simply not accurate information," he said in an interview Thursday.
"If it's a very young population, what shall I tell the people over 85 who are in the holding cells? What else can you call them?"
Those "cells" are on the 4th floor of the Northern Lights hospital, home to 31 seniors, including one who's 98.
But provincial officials say that floor is a fully staffed, dedicated long-term care area within the hospital.
"We should have stuck with the strategy we settled on before the last election. This is a mistake, and I told Ron Liepert that in caucus.
"What MLAs are hearing in coffee shops is very different from what the minister is hearing from health officials."
Boutilier figures Liepert is well-meaning but misinformed. "Ron, you don't know what you're talking about. Bring me any health official and I'll debate the issue."
Boutilier also wants a lively provincial debate about health care. That brings us to the surprising subject of President Barack Obama.
"I graduated from Harvard with Obama in 1991," says Boutilier. "I didn't really know him. . . . But we need to elevate discussion in Alberta on public issues such as health care. Obama is doing it now in America. We need more of that in Alberta."
Asked about his earlier demotion from cabinet, Boutilier says, "If the premier doesn't want to have a guy who graduated from Harvard with Barack Obama, that's fine."
Despite saying all this, Boutilier seems genuinely shocked by the suggestion that he might be disciplined.
"What would the premier do if this was happening in Vegreville? Would he write a letter saying he's happy with the decision? I don't think so. . . . I'm doing what he wants us to do--representing our communities. I have respect for the process, but I haven't done anything wrong. I have only said this is a bad decision.
"What am I supposed to do--lie?"
At the legislature, Boutilier's record is being quietly dusted off. There are whispers about his spotty caucus attendance, and hints that as a Treasury Board member, he's putting himself in conflict with official policy.
Yes, Guy Boutilier could well get himself kicked out of Toryland; but at least he'll sail out in a blaze of Northern Lights.
dbraid@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Heart centre finally accepts first patients
Safety issues delayed state-of-the-art facility
By Jodie Sinnema, Edmonton JournalJuly 17, 2009Be the first to post a comment
showTab("text/html");
function resizeImage() {
var imgBox = document.getElementById('imageBox');
var photo = document.getElementById('storyphoto');
if (imgBox != null && photo != null)
{
if(photo.width >= 460)
{
imgBox.className = 'imagesize460';
}
else
{
if(photo.width >= 300)
{
imgBox.className = 'imagesize310';
}
else
{
imgBox.className = 'imageboxpadding';
}
imgBox.style.width = photo.width + 'px';
}
}
}
function getStoryFontSize() {
var storyfontsize = getCookie('storyfontsize');
var storyfontimage = getCookie('storyfontimage');
// use cookied value, if present
if (storyfontsize != null)
{
setClass('story_content',storyfontsize);
if (storyfontimage != null)
{
setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage);
}
}
else // default it to para14 if no cookie
{
setClass('story_content','para14');
setClass('fontsizecontainer','size02');
}
}
function setStoryFontSize(storyfontsize,storyfontimage) {
setClass('story_content',storyfontsize);
setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage);
setCookie('storyfontsize', storyfontsize, '365', '/', '', '');
setCookie('storyfontimage', storyfontimage, '365', '/', '', '');
}
function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) {
// set time
var today = new Date();
today.setTime( today.getTime() );
if ( expires )
{
expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; //days
}
var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) );
document.cookie = name + "=" + escape( value ) +
( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) +
( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) +
( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
}
function getCookie( check_name ) {
// split this cookie up into name/value pairs
var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' );
var a_temp_cookie = '';
var cookie_name = '';
var cookie_value = '';
var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f
for ( i = 0; i 1 )
{
cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+\s+$/g, '') );
}
// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
return cookie_value;
break;
}
a_temp_cookie = null;
cookie_name = '';
}
if ( !b_cookie_found )
{
return null;
}
}
Judy Korschow's heart is failing, but she's optimistic that as one of the first patients to move into the new Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, her chances of landing a new heart are good.
"This is the right place to be," Korschow said Thursday from her hospital bed on the fifth floor. "This is a long time coming."
The opening was delayed four years by construction delays.
Korschow has been sick from a congenital heart problem for 13 years.
But Dr. Arvind Koshal has been waiting 18 years to open the$230-million, state-of-the-art facility he first dreamed of back in 1991. The money came through, but despite a grand opening last May that included a speech from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the doors stayed shut.
"The delays were disturbing, certainly, because everybody asks you when are you moving in, why aren't you moving in," said Koshal, chief of cardiac surgery.
"For us in the institute, it's been a mixed emotion about the delay, because the delays were primarily based on safety issues, and we don't want to move in when there is a safety issue at hand."
Koshal said there were problems with the circulation system that is critical in keeping the air clean and preventing the spread of infection. The new hospital generator wasn't compatible with the backup generators at the University of Alberta Hospital, which is linked to the heart institute. Fire alarms also caused some grief.
Documents obtained by The Journal through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act previously revealed bickering between the health authority and the construction company over more than 1,000 construction changes. That put in danger the hospital's reputation, staff recruitment and patient safety, since wait times weren't going down, the documents revealed.
But Koshal said he's confident all the heart patients currently at the University hospital will be rolled into the Mazankowski centre within two weeks.
The operating rooms will open some time in August, he said, including a hybrid operating room where surgeons, radiologists and cardiologists all work around the same operating table, ordering CT scans, performing open-heart surgery or catheter procedures. Traditionally, tables can only handle one of these specialties.
"We are quite confident that certainly within a few weeks we will be fully operational in the new facility," Koshal said. A 100-seat auditorium, linked electronically with the operating rooms for learning purposes, won't be complete for several months. "This makes a very important step for cardiac care, not just in Edmonton, not just in Alberta but for the rest of the country because this is a state-of-the-art, world-class facility."
On Thursday, eight cardiac inpatients, including Korschow, were in the heart centre beds and staying overnight. Another 36 are expected to move in today, with a near-full complement of 95 filling the ward in two weeks.
Approximately 600 nurses, doctors and other medical experts are also moving over. Koshal said there are currently enough workers to staff the centre. More may be needed in the future. The top three floors are expected to open in one or two years, complete with a virtual reality laboratory where surgeons will be able to walk into 3-D holographic images of people's hearts to study blood vessels or abnormalities.
The Mazankowski's opening will also free up space in the University hospital.
"People are scrambling to get in there," said Dr. David Johnstone, chief of cardiac surgery for the Mazankowski heart institute. "Everybody else wants our space."
It's expected that space will go toward alleviating the crunch at the Stollery Children's Hospital emergency ward, where a temporary tent was set up to deal with sick kids.
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said the opening announcement came at a time when the government and Alberta Health Services needed good news. In the past several weeks, attention has been focused on the mistaken closure of eight hospital helipads, cuts to MRIs at the Misericordia and Grey Nuns hospitals and a projected $1-billion deficit for the new health authority.
"It's unfortunate that such an expensive marquee facility is mired in this kind of delay," Eggen said. "You can open the doors. Until they open those operating doors, the place isn't actually functioning."
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Safety issues delayed state-of-the-art facility
By Jodie Sinnema, Edmonton JournalJuly 17, 2009Be the first to post a comment
showTab("text/html");
function resizeImage() {
var imgBox = document.getElementById('imageBox');
var photo = document.getElementById('storyphoto');
if (imgBox != null && photo != null)
{
if(photo.width >= 460)
{
imgBox.className = 'imagesize460';
}
else
{
if(photo.width >= 300)
{
imgBox.className = 'imagesize310';
}
else
{
imgBox.className = 'imageboxpadding';
}
imgBox.style.width = photo.width + 'px';
}
}
}
function getStoryFontSize() {
var storyfontsize = getCookie('storyfontsize');
var storyfontimage = getCookie('storyfontimage');
// use cookied value, if present
if (storyfontsize != null)
{
setClass('story_content',storyfontsize);
if (storyfontimage != null)
{
setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage);
}
}
else // default it to para14 if no cookie
{
setClass('story_content','para14');
setClass('fontsizecontainer','size02');
}
}
function setStoryFontSize(storyfontsize,storyfontimage) {
setClass('story_content',storyfontsize);
setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage);
setCookie('storyfontsize', storyfontsize, '365', '/', '', '');
setCookie('storyfontimage', storyfontimage, '365', '/', '', '');
}
function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) {
// set time
var today = new Date();
today.setTime( today.getTime() );
if ( expires )
{
expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; //days
}
var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) );
document.cookie = name + "=" + escape( value ) +
( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) +
( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) +
( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) +
( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" );
}
function getCookie( check_name ) {
// split this cookie up into name/value pairs
var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' );
var a_temp_cookie = '';
var cookie_name = '';
var cookie_value = '';
var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f
for ( i = 0; i 1 )
{
cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+\s+$/g, '') );
}
// note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned
return cookie_value;
break;
}
a_temp_cookie = null;
cookie_name = '';
}
if ( !b_cookie_found )
{
return null;
}
}
Judy Korschow's heart is failing, but she's optimistic that as one of the first patients to move into the new Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, her chances of landing a new heart are good.
"This is the right place to be," Korschow said Thursday from her hospital bed on the fifth floor. "This is a long time coming."
The opening was delayed four years by construction delays.
Korschow has been sick from a congenital heart problem for 13 years.
But Dr. Arvind Koshal has been waiting 18 years to open the$230-million, state-of-the-art facility he first dreamed of back in 1991. The money came through, but despite a grand opening last May that included a speech from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the doors stayed shut.
"The delays were disturbing, certainly, because everybody asks you when are you moving in, why aren't you moving in," said Koshal, chief of cardiac surgery.
"For us in the institute, it's been a mixed emotion about the delay, because the delays were primarily based on safety issues, and we don't want to move in when there is a safety issue at hand."
Koshal said there were problems with the circulation system that is critical in keeping the air clean and preventing the spread of infection. The new hospital generator wasn't compatible with the backup generators at the University of Alberta Hospital, which is linked to the heart institute. Fire alarms also caused some grief.
Documents obtained by The Journal through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act previously revealed bickering between the health authority and the construction company over more than 1,000 construction changes. That put in danger the hospital's reputation, staff recruitment and patient safety, since wait times weren't going down, the documents revealed.
But Koshal said he's confident all the heart patients currently at the University hospital will be rolled into the Mazankowski centre within two weeks.
The operating rooms will open some time in August, he said, including a hybrid operating room where surgeons, radiologists and cardiologists all work around the same operating table, ordering CT scans, performing open-heart surgery or catheter procedures. Traditionally, tables can only handle one of these specialties.
"We are quite confident that certainly within a few weeks we will be fully operational in the new facility," Koshal said. A 100-seat auditorium, linked electronically with the operating rooms for learning purposes, won't be complete for several months. "This makes a very important step for cardiac care, not just in Edmonton, not just in Alberta but for the rest of the country because this is a state-of-the-art, world-class facility."
On Thursday, eight cardiac inpatients, including Korschow, were in the heart centre beds and staying overnight. Another 36 are expected to move in today, with a near-full complement of 95 filling the ward in two weeks.
Approximately 600 nurses, doctors and other medical experts are also moving over. Koshal said there are currently enough workers to staff the centre. More may be needed in the future. The top three floors are expected to open in one or two years, complete with a virtual reality laboratory where surgeons will be able to walk into 3-D holographic images of people's hearts to study blood vessels or abnormalities.
The Mazankowski's opening will also free up space in the University hospital.
"People are scrambling to get in there," said Dr. David Johnstone, chief of cardiac surgery for the Mazankowski heart institute. "Everybody else wants our space."
It's expected that space will go toward alleviating the crunch at the Stollery Children's Hospital emergency ward, where a temporary tent was set up to deal with sick kids.
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said the opening announcement came at a time when the government and Alberta Health Services needed good news. In the past several weeks, attention has been focused on the mistaken closure of eight hospital helipads, cuts to MRIs at the Misericordia and Grey Nuns hospitals and a projected $1-billion deficit for the new health authority.
"It's unfortunate that such an expensive marquee facility is mired in this kind of delay," Eggen said. "You can open the doors. Until they open those operating doors, the place isn't actually functioning."
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Thursday, July 16, 2009
CTV story on Fort McMurray Long Term Care
If I hadn't seen this I would not believe it. Good for Mr. Boutilier.
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090715/EDM_boutilier_090715/20090716?hub=EdmontonHome
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090715/EDM_boutilier_090715/20090716?hub=EdmontonHome
MLA: Postponement of facility 'wrong'
By Jodie Sinnema, Edmonton JournalJuly 16, 2009 3:03 AM
In a strong statement that may indicate cracks in the Tory caucus over health-care funding, Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier is speaking out against his government's decision to postpone a much-needed long-term care facility for his city.
"I personally believe, as I told (Health Minister) Ron Liepert, he made a wrong decision in postponing the long-term care facility in a community of 100,000," said Boutilier, who plans to attend a July 31 rally organized by Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta to highlight the community's frustration about the issue.
In January 2008, as minister of international relations, Boutilier told Fort McMurray residents they would receive a$35-million, 48-bed long-term care facility after waiting more than 20 years. The city currently has 31 long-term care beds in the hospital that were meant to be a temporary solution.
A few months after the infrastructure announcement, Boutilier lost his cabinet post. Now he thinks Liepert is making a mistake by postponing construction during a provincial review of many such projects.
"He's trying to reform health care," Boutilier said in a telephone interview from his home. "Well, part of the reform is not cancelling a long-term care facility and(reversing) the decision that was made a year and a half ago, but it's actually expediting it and going forward even quicker to minimize some of the other costs that the health-care system is facing."
Boutilier said Liepert was fed bad information by bureaucrats when he suggested the northern town is populated with young people and doesn't need more seniors homes.
"That sounds like a familiar theme these days," he said.
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, doesn't believe Boutilier is alone in his feelings.
"These comments are indicative of frustration that MLAs are feeling around the province, especially in the rural areas, not knowing where the future of their health facilities will go," he said. "This is obviously a crack in caucus unity here. These words are quite explicit and very disappointing for people up in Fort McMurray to see what they've lost."
Finance Minister Iris Evans, the MLA for Sherwood Park, has repeatedly insisted the promised but stalled $88-million hospital there will go forward, although many residents have their doubts.
"Many of (the MLAs) find themselves in conflicts," said Noel Somerville, chairman of the seniors task force for Public Interest Alberta. "They're trying to reassure their constituents."
Jean Jensen, 80, with congestive heart failure who lives in Fort McMurray, isn't reassured despite Boutilier's support.
"I have nowhere to go and no one to look after me," Jensen said. She said she knows people who spent more than a year in an acute-care bed in Fort McMurray's hospital waiting for placement in long-term care facilities that don't exist.
"This is not right. It's not giving people any dignity or respect," Jensen said.
The government has frozen the number of long-term care beds in the province at 14,500 while it develops a plan to "encourage more investment by the non-profit or private sector," according to its continuing care strategy document released in December.
"The purpose of the review is to assess what the needs are for that community," said Kathleen Range, spokeswoman for Alberta Health and Wellness.
Jensen and Boutilier say they know the need.
"It is a dire need and it's very unfortunate that seniors are facing the brunt of...not the recession, I think it's poor decision-making," Jensen said. "We have got to show these politicians that we mean business."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
By Jodie Sinnema, Edmonton JournalJuly 16, 2009 3:03 AM
In a strong statement that may indicate cracks in the Tory caucus over health-care funding, Fort McMurray MLA Guy Boutilier is speaking out against his government's decision to postpone a much-needed long-term care facility for his city.
"I personally believe, as I told (Health Minister) Ron Liepert, he made a wrong decision in postponing the long-term care facility in a community of 100,000," said Boutilier, who plans to attend a July 31 rally organized by Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta to highlight the community's frustration about the issue.
In January 2008, as minister of international relations, Boutilier told Fort McMurray residents they would receive a$35-million, 48-bed long-term care facility after waiting more than 20 years. The city currently has 31 long-term care beds in the hospital that were meant to be a temporary solution.
A few months after the infrastructure announcement, Boutilier lost his cabinet post. Now he thinks Liepert is making a mistake by postponing construction during a provincial review of many such projects.
"He's trying to reform health care," Boutilier said in a telephone interview from his home. "Well, part of the reform is not cancelling a long-term care facility and(reversing) the decision that was made a year and a half ago, but it's actually expediting it and going forward even quicker to minimize some of the other costs that the health-care system is facing."
Boutilier said Liepert was fed bad information by bureaucrats when he suggested the northern town is populated with young people and doesn't need more seniors homes.
"That sounds like a familiar theme these days," he said.
David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, doesn't believe Boutilier is alone in his feelings.
"These comments are indicative of frustration that MLAs are feeling around the province, especially in the rural areas, not knowing where the future of their health facilities will go," he said. "This is obviously a crack in caucus unity here. These words are quite explicit and very disappointing for people up in Fort McMurray to see what they've lost."
Finance Minister Iris Evans, the MLA for Sherwood Park, has repeatedly insisted the promised but stalled $88-million hospital there will go forward, although many residents have their doubts.
"Many of (the MLAs) find themselves in conflicts," said Noel Somerville, chairman of the seniors task force for Public Interest Alberta. "They're trying to reassure their constituents."
Jean Jensen, 80, with congestive heart failure who lives in Fort McMurray, isn't reassured despite Boutilier's support.
"I have nowhere to go and no one to look after me," Jensen said. She said she knows people who spent more than a year in an acute-care bed in Fort McMurray's hospital waiting for placement in long-term care facilities that don't exist.
"This is not right. It's not giving people any dignity or respect," Jensen said.
The government has frozen the number of long-term care beds in the province at 14,500 while it develops a plan to "encourage more investment by the non-profit or private sector," according to its continuing care strategy document released in December.
"The purpose of the review is to assess what the needs are for that community," said Kathleen Range, spokeswoman for Alberta Health and Wellness.
Jensen and Boutilier say they know the need.
"It is a dire need and it's very unfortunate that seniors are facing the brunt of...not the recession, I think it's poor decision-making," Jensen said. "We have got to show these politicians that we mean business."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Lack of long-term care a crisis for Alberta seniors: lobby groups
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:47 PM MT
David Eggen, standing, executive director of Friends of Medicare, and Noel Sommerville with Public Interest Alberta, talk with reporters in Edmonton on Wednesday. (CBC)Seniors in Alberta are facing a crisis when it comes to provision of long-term care, two health lobby groups said Wednesday.
The provincial government's decision to cancel the construction of nursing homes in the province is responsible for the crisis, said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
"Long-term care is an ongoing disaster in this province that's just not being dealt with," Eggen said. "We have many people being put up in hospital beds when they should be put up in long-term facilities."
The province planned to build a 48-bed facility in Fort McMurray, Eggen said, but then cancelled the project in December, saying the money for it was not available.
The chairman of the Seniors Task Force for Public Interest Alberta said the group has received complaints from people across the province.
"We are getting calls from around the province from frail and angry seniors and their families about the lack of long-term care facilities in this province," Noel Sommerville said.
One of the seniors who's complaining is Jean Jensen, 80, of Fort McMurray.
"I mean it really grieves me that these people are 87, 88 years old, and there's no place for them," Jensen said. "They don't have a place to go. I mean, this is tragic."
The lobby groups say nursing home projects were cancelled in a number of Albertan communities, including Hinton, Jasper, Lethbridge and Pincher Creek.
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:47 PM MT
David Eggen, standing, executive director of Friends of Medicare, and Noel Sommerville with Public Interest Alberta, talk with reporters in Edmonton on Wednesday. (CBC)Seniors in Alberta are facing a crisis when it comes to provision of long-term care, two health lobby groups said Wednesday.
The provincial government's decision to cancel the construction of nursing homes in the province is responsible for the crisis, said David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare.
"Long-term care is an ongoing disaster in this province that's just not being dealt with," Eggen said. "We have many people being put up in hospital beds when they should be put up in long-term facilities."
The province planned to build a 48-bed facility in Fort McMurray, Eggen said, but then cancelled the project in December, saying the money for it was not available.
The chairman of the Seniors Task Force for Public Interest Alberta said the group has received complaints from people across the province.
"We are getting calls from around the province from frail and angry seniors and their families about the lack of long-term care facilities in this province," Noel Sommerville said.
One of the seniors who's complaining is Jean Jensen, 80, of Fort McMurray.
"I mean it really grieves me that these people are 87, 88 years old, and there's no place for them," Jensen said. "They don't have a place to go. I mean, this is tragic."
The lobby groups say nursing home projects were cancelled in a number of Albertan communities, including Hinton, Jasper, Lethbridge and Pincher Creek.
Grandma’ Jensen to lead Fort Mac rally for long-term care
By Jodie Sinnema, edmontonjournal.comJuly 15, 2009 12:05 PM
EDMONTON — A senior’s advocate with congestive heart failure will be leading a rally to urge the government to live up to its promises to build a long-term care facility for seniors in Fort McMurray.
“I have nowhere to go and no one to look after me,” said Jean Jensen, an 80-year-old who lives in a lodge setting in the northern city. She said she knows people who spent more than one year in acute-care beds in hospitals waiting for placement in long-term care facilities that don’t exist in the community. Currently, the hospital has 30 long-term care beds and one respite bed, but Jensen said 15 to 20 seniors are typically blocking hospital beds while they wait for ones in the community.
“This is not right. It’s not giving people any dignity or respect,” Jensen said, backed by Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta. She’s angry at the government’s about-face after it promised Fort McMurray $35 million to build a 48-bed long-term care facility. Those plans are now off after the government said it won’t be building any more such facilities, focusing instead on home care and assisted living facilities, where residents are charged fees for certain things such as help getting dressed.
Jensen said she has little confidence that area-MLA Guy Boutilier will be able to pressure the government to reinvest in long-term care in Fort McMurray. In April, Boutilier lashed out against his government for reviewing the project and suggesting the area may no longer need such a facility.
“When I hear that this is under review, it sounds like … gibberish because there is nothing more to review,” Boutilier told the Fort McMurray Today newspaper. “I don’t think there is absolutely anything else to review other than the fact that a city our size … must not be ignored, and I am firm on this.”
In a recent e-mail to “Grandma” Jensen, Boutilier said the issue is still top of mind, even though he was “kicked” out of cabinet during a shuffle.
“I am using every bit of energy I have in fighting for our seniors, and grandma Jean u know that,” he wrote in a July 6 e-mail.
The rally will take place in Fort McMurray on July 31.
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
By Jodie Sinnema, edmontonjournal.comJuly 15, 2009 12:05 PM
EDMONTON — A senior’s advocate with congestive heart failure will be leading a rally to urge the government to live up to its promises to build a long-term care facility for seniors in Fort McMurray.
“I have nowhere to go and no one to look after me,” said Jean Jensen, an 80-year-old who lives in a lodge setting in the northern city. She said she knows people who spent more than one year in acute-care beds in hospitals waiting for placement in long-term care facilities that don’t exist in the community. Currently, the hospital has 30 long-term care beds and one respite bed, but Jensen said 15 to 20 seniors are typically blocking hospital beds while they wait for ones in the community.
“This is not right. It’s not giving people any dignity or respect,” Jensen said, backed by Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta. She’s angry at the government’s about-face after it promised Fort McMurray $35 million to build a 48-bed long-term care facility. Those plans are now off after the government said it won’t be building any more such facilities, focusing instead on home care and assisted living facilities, where residents are charged fees for certain things such as help getting dressed.
Jensen said she has little confidence that area-MLA Guy Boutilier will be able to pressure the government to reinvest in long-term care in Fort McMurray. In April, Boutilier lashed out against his government for reviewing the project and suggesting the area may no longer need such a facility.
“When I hear that this is under review, it sounds like … gibberish because there is nothing more to review,” Boutilier told the Fort McMurray Today newspaper. “I don’t think there is absolutely anything else to review other than the fact that a city our size … must not be ignored, and I am firm on this.”
In a recent e-mail to “Grandma” Jensen, Boutilier said the issue is still top of mind, even though he was “kicked” out of cabinet during a shuffle.
“I am using every bit of energy I have in fighting for our seniors, and grandma Jean u know that,” he wrote in a July 6 e-mail.
The rally will take place in Fort McMurray on July 31.
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Critic wants on council
Friends of Medicare boss puts name forward for health advisory position
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen will apply to be a member of one of the province's new health advisory councils.
"I applied to be a member of the Alberta Health Services board and didn't make it there, so, yes, I'll apply for this," Eggen told Sun Media.
The former NDP MLA who heads the public health-care lobby group said his organization will encourage its supporters provincewide to put their names forward for the new advisory councils.
The Alberta Health Services (AHS) superboard on June 30 officially disbanded 59 previous citizen advisory councils that had been set up to give feedback to the numerous health regions that were merged into one entity.
AHS is seeking applications for 12 health advisory councils that will be made up of 10-15 volunteer members each.
"We value community input and are committed to engaging community members," said Alberta Health Services board chairman Ken Hughes. "This feedback will assist in our future decision-making as we work to provide quality services that best meet the needs of our communities."
Health Minister Ron Liepert said anyone who cares about quality health care should apply to the councils.
"These councils strengthen opportunities to provide advice, share community feedback and recommend ways to address health-care needs," said Liepert. "I would encourage Albertans to come forward and get involved."
Eggen said he expects AHS to be flooded with applications.
He said his group, which charges $10 for memberships, "has grown by a factor of four to 4,000 or 5,000 members," in large part because of uncertainty surrounding future health-care delivery in Alberta.
"We certainly thank Mr. Liepert for helping us grow our membership," said Eggen, whose group has expressed fears the government is eroding health care and moving to more private delivery.
AHS is struggling with a $1.1-billion deficit and has a mandate to improve accessibility to health care while keeping a lid on increased spending.
Those interested in serving on the councils must fill out an expression of interest form by Aug. 14 from the www.albertahealthservices.ca website.
The Alberta Health Services board is expected to announce the appointments by the end of October.
KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Critic wants on council
Friends of Medicare boss puts name forward for health advisory position
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
Friends of Medicare executive director David Eggen will apply to be a member of one of the province's new health advisory councils.
"I applied to be a member of the Alberta Health Services board and didn't make it there, so, yes, I'll apply for this," Eggen told Sun Media.
The former NDP MLA who heads the public health-care lobby group said his organization will encourage its supporters provincewide to put their names forward for the new advisory councils.
The Alberta Health Services (AHS) superboard on June 30 officially disbanded 59 previous citizen advisory councils that had been set up to give feedback to the numerous health regions that were merged into one entity.
AHS is seeking applications for 12 health advisory councils that will be made up of 10-15 volunteer members each.
"We value community input and are committed to engaging community members," said Alberta Health Services board chairman Ken Hughes. "This feedback will assist in our future decision-making as we work to provide quality services that best meet the needs of our communities."
Health Minister Ron Liepert said anyone who cares about quality health care should apply to the councils.
"These councils strengthen opportunities to provide advice, share community feedback and recommend ways to address health-care needs," said Liepert. "I would encourage Albertans to come forward and get involved."
Eggen said he expects AHS to be flooded with applications.
He said his group, which charges $10 for memberships, "has grown by a factor of four to 4,000 or 5,000 members," in large part because of uncertainty surrounding future health-care delivery in Alberta.
"We certainly thank Mr. Liepert for helping us grow our membership," said Eggen, whose group has expressed fears the government is eroding health care and moving to more private delivery.
AHS is struggling with a $1.1-billion deficit and has a mandate to improve accessibility to health care while keeping a lid on increased spending.
Those interested in serving on the councils must fill out an expression of interest form by Aug. 14 from the www.albertahealthservices.ca website.
The Alberta Health Services board is expected to announce the appointments by the end of October.
KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Critics are questioning a move by the Alberta Health superboard to dismiss the head of the provincial health laboratory as it struggles to cope with a heavy caseload during an emerging swine flu pandemic.
Dr. Jutta Preiksaitis, medical director of the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health and an internationally renowned expert in infectious disease control, was advised last week that her contract would not be renewed.
Preiksaitis, who recently won an award from the American Transplant Society, has been researching infectious diseases for 26 years.
Alberta Health Services spokesman Mark Kastner would not say why the contract was not renewed, except that it was a human-resources issue and not a cost-cutting measure.
"We haven't eliminated the position," he said.
"There will continue to be a medical director and they will continue to have a similar role."
Preiksaitis is the fifth public health doctor to leave the provincial health service in recent months.
Liberal MLA Kevin Taft said Preiksaitis has been a champion for the provincial laboratory for more than two decades.
"It bodes ill for the health-care system," he said.
"If there is a serious outbreak of H1N1 virus, she is exactly the person you want on the job--not driven out of the province."
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an associate professor of medicine in the University of Alberta's infectious diseases division, also questioned why Alberta Health Services would make the move when the province is facing an emerging swine-flu pandemic.
"To be quite honest, I am somewhat mystified," she said.
" I think there could probably have been some better timing for a change, or some dialogue as to what the perceived problems were."
She said Preiksaitis was "a very forward-thinking and responsible lab director and we appreciated how she improved care for patients."
Salinger said she was impressed with how well-prepared the provincial laboratory was for the deluge of testing for the H1N1 virus.
"I thought that under her leadership things seemed to be going very well," she said.
Salinger said she was "shocked and dismayed" by the decision not to renew the lab boss's contract.
"Of course, we would all be concerned when someone who we perceive as an ally in making diagnoses in difficult situations has been let go," she said. "She was also interested in expanding our repertoire and our diagnostic abilities and she's a very good virologist--and there are not a lot of good virologists around."
Dr. Geoffrey Taylor, director of the University of Alberta's infectious diseases division, said he was surprised by the move, but pleased that Preiksaitis will continue to do research in his department.
"She's an internationally recognized virologist and at an academic level is highly respected," he said. "The infectious diseases community, the specialists involved in treating people with serious infections in northern Alberta, have always had the utmost respect for Dr. Preiksaitis's leadership at the provincial lab and also for her expertise in virology.
She continues to be a member of our division and we're very happy she will continue and provide that expertise."
Preiksaitis could not be reached for comment.
David Eggen, executive director of the Friends of Medicare, said the decision to replace the lab boss has all the earmarks of cuts in a bid to reduce the projected $1-billion deficit.
"Almost everything that Alberta Health Services is doing now is cuts, and if they try to frame it in any other way, it is misleading," he said.
Dr. Jutta Preiksaitis, medical director of the Provincial Laboratory for Public Health and an internationally renowned expert in infectious disease control, was advised last week that her contract would not be renewed.
Preiksaitis, who recently won an award from the American Transplant Society, has been researching infectious diseases for 26 years.
Alberta Health Services spokesman Mark Kastner would not say why the contract was not renewed, except that it was a human-resources issue and not a cost-cutting measure.
"We haven't eliminated the position," he said.
"There will continue to be a medical director and they will continue to have a similar role."
Preiksaitis is the fifth public health doctor to leave the provincial health service in recent months.
Liberal MLA Kevin Taft said Preiksaitis has been a champion for the provincial laboratory for more than two decades.
"It bodes ill for the health-care system," he said.
"If there is a serious outbreak of H1N1 virus, she is exactly the person you want on the job--not driven out of the province."
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an associate professor of medicine in the University of Alberta's infectious diseases division, also questioned why Alberta Health Services would make the move when the province is facing an emerging swine-flu pandemic.
"To be quite honest, I am somewhat mystified," she said.
" I think there could probably have been some better timing for a change, or some dialogue as to what the perceived problems were."
She said Preiksaitis was "a very forward-thinking and responsible lab director and we appreciated how she improved care for patients."
Salinger said she was impressed with how well-prepared the provincial laboratory was for the deluge of testing for the H1N1 virus.
"I thought that under her leadership things seemed to be going very well," she said.
Salinger said she was "shocked and dismayed" by the decision not to renew the lab boss's contract.
"Of course, we would all be concerned when someone who we perceive as an ally in making diagnoses in difficult situations has been let go," she said. "She was also interested in expanding our repertoire and our diagnostic abilities and she's a very good virologist--and there are not a lot of good virologists around."
Dr. Geoffrey Taylor, director of the University of Alberta's infectious diseases division, said he was surprised by the move, but pleased that Preiksaitis will continue to do research in his department.
"She's an internationally recognized virologist and at an academic level is highly respected," he said. "The infectious diseases community, the specialists involved in treating people with serious infections in northern Alberta, have always had the utmost respect for Dr. Preiksaitis's leadership at the provincial lab and also for her expertise in virology.
She continues to be a member of our division and we're very happy she will continue and provide that expertise."
Preiksaitis could not be reached for comment.
David Eggen, executive director of the Friends of Medicare, said the decision to replace the lab boss has all the earmarks of cuts in a bid to reduce the projected $1-billion deficit.
"Almost everything that Alberta Health Services is doing now is cuts, and if they try to frame it in any other way, it is misleading," he said.
The province's health superboard is being dishonest by insisting that Albertans won't notice a reduction in services, despite a projected $1-billion deficit facing the health system this year, critics say.
"I think(CEO)Mr.(Stephen)Duckett is being disingenuous, straining his credibility to suggest that his centralization and efficiencies will find $1 billion," David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said after the board of Alberta Health Services approved a $10.9-billion budget, up 13.2 per cent from last year. "You wouldn't be able to find those so-called efficiencies without making cuts to essential services. In essence, that's eight per cent of the budget and equates to one in 10 workers."
"This is a ten-fold increase in the health deficit from the year before since restructuring," Liberal Leader David Swann said, referring to the much smaller $100-million deficit accrued by the former health regions. "Albertans are going to pay very dearly for this mismanagement. It's clearly going to increase the complication rate, the wait times, the loss of life in the system if they do make those kinds of cuts."
But Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services, said cuts to programs, front-line staff or health services will be "the last resort," insisting he will work to find $1 billion in other efficiencies. That includes $250 million this year by combining the payroll departments of the former health regions and cutting 100 management positions, which has already taken place.
That annual savings is expected to grow to $650 million next year and each year after, with$420 million of that coming as a direct result of integrating the former health regions into one. The system will also focus on getting seniors out of expensive hospital beds into long-term or designated care facilities.
The board has to find another$343 million to cover a deficit carried forward from last fiscal year.
"What the board has charged me to do is to look for savings that don't impact adversely on health care, don't impact adversely on health-care access, don't impact adversely on health-care quality but do impact positively on sustainability," Duckett said during a news conference at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary. "We've got to look at everything. I'm not going to single out nurses. I'm not going to single out doctors. I'm not going to single out administrative staff. What we've got to do is look at every opportunity for savings, improving efficiencies, improving how we do things." Part of that will be determining why Alberta spends more than the national average on health care, but doesn't have better outcomes, such as longer life expectancy. Duckett will present his results, with strategies on how to reduce the spending difference, to the board in December.
In the meantime, he said spending at hospitals will continue to be limited into the fall, with costs for each fiscal quarter not to exceed what was spent in the last fiscal quarter of 2008-09. That policy has forced the Royal Alexandra Hospital to cancel elective surgeries because of cost overruns. Duckett wouldn't say if other hospitals could also be squeezed, since the situation changes daily. "Every hospital, every facility in the province is being treated equally and we are constantly monitoring against their first quarter spent," Duckett said.
Health Minister Ron Liepert expressed confidence in the board he created to replace the health authorities a year ago. He said government officials will sit down with Alberta Health Services to work out a debt-reduction plan that could include borrowing money to cover the shortfall. "I think we need to give the board and the new CEO and his management team a year or two to start to work through some of these issues," Liepert said, adding that Duckett, an economist who was recruited from Australia, only assumed the job three months ago. "You don't make these changes overnight," Liepert said. "No one ever said there was going to be cost-savings right out of the gate....This is a long-term attempt to get a hold of health-care costs in this province and ensure that while we're getting a hold of health care costs that we're working toward improved patient care and accessibility."
Swann questioned the government plan, given that audited financial statements show severance packages for the bosses of the former health regions cost the system$18 million, with millions more spent on supplemental executive hiring plans. That while the premier has granted raises for himself and MLAs, Swann said.
"This is a government out of control and out of touch with Albertans and their priorities," Swann said. "This government has grossly mismanaged this most cherished service for Albertans. This whole unnecessary experiment over the past year is not only providing poorer services and longer wait times, it is actually sinking us into the deepest deficit in our history."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
"I think(CEO)Mr.(Stephen)Duckett is being disingenuous, straining his credibility to suggest that his centralization and efficiencies will find $1 billion," David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare, said after the board of Alberta Health Services approved a $10.9-billion budget, up 13.2 per cent from last year. "You wouldn't be able to find those so-called efficiencies without making cuts to essential services. In essence, that's eight per cent of the budget and equates to one in 10 workers."
"This is a ten-fold increase in the health deficit from the year before since restructuring," Liberal Leader David Swann said, referring to the much smaller $100-million deficit accrued by the former health regions. "Albertans are going to pay very dearly for this mismanagement. It's clearly going to increase the complication rate, the wait times, the loss of life in the system if they do make those kinds of cuts."
But Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services, said cuts to programs, front-line staff or health services will be "the last resort," insisting he will work to find $1 billion in other efficiencies. That includes $250 million this year by combining the payroll departments of the former health regions and cutting 100 management positions, which has already taken place.
That annual savings is expected to grow to $650 million next year and each year after, with$420 million of that coming as a direct result of integrating the former health regions into one. The system will also focus on getting seniors out of expensive hospital beds into long-term or designated care facilities.
The board has to find another$343 million to cover a deficit carried forward from last fiscal year.
"What the board has charged me to do is to look for savings that don't impact adversely on health care, don't impact adversely on health-care access, don't impact adversely on health-care quality but do impact positively on sustainability," Duckett said during a news conference at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary. "We've got to look at everything. I'm not going to single out nurses. I'm not going to single out doctors. I'm not going to single out administrative staff. What we've got to do is look at every opportunity for savings, improving efficiencies, improving how we do things." Part of that will be determining why Alberta spends more than the national average on health care, but doesn't have better outcomes, such as longer life expectancy. Duckett will present his results, with strategies on how to reduce the spending difference, to the board in December.
In the meantime, he said spending at hospitals will continue to be limited into the fall, with costs for each fiscal quarter not to exceed what was spent in the last fiscal quarter of 2008-09. That policy has forced the Royal Alexandra Hospital to cancel elective surgeries because of cost overruns. Duckett wouldn't say if other hospitals could also be squeezed, since the situation changes daily. "Every hospital, every facility in the province is being treated equally and we are constantly monitoring against their first quarter spent," Duckett said.
Health Minister Ron Liepert expressed confidence in the board he created to replace the health authorities a year ago. He said government officials will sit down with Alberta Health Services to work out a debt-reduction plan that could include borrowing money to cover the shortfall. "I think we need to give the board and the new CEO and his management team a year or two to start to work through some of these issues," Liepert said, adding that Duckett, an economist who was recruited from Australia, only assumed the job three months ago. "You don't make these changes overnight," Liepert said. "No one ever said there was going to be cost-savings right out of the gate....This is a long-term attempt to get a hold of health-care costs in this province and ensure that while we're getting a hold of health care costs that we're working toward improved patient care and accessibility."
Swann questioned the government plan, given that audited financial statements show severance packages for the bosses of the former health regions cost the system$18 million, with millions more spent on supplemental executive hiring plans. That while the premier has granted raises for himself and MLAs, Swann said.
"This is a government out of control and out of touch with Albertans and their priorities," Swann said. "This government has grossly mismanaged this most cherished service for Albertans. This whole unnecessary experiment over the past year is not only providing poorer services and longer wait times, it is actually sinking us into the deepest deficit in our history."
jsinnema@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Premier's vow of no tax hikes spurs fear of deep cuts
Economist forecasts deficit of more than $7 billion
By Darcy Henton, Edmonton JournalJuly 9, 2009
Premier Ed Stelmach's declaration that there will be no tax hikes during his reign has some people bracing for brutal cuts to programs and services if the faltering economy does not quickly turn around.
While the premier suggested most provincial government departments can stand a "haircut," some groups fear the governments could be forced to axe programs or cut or freeze wages to balance the books.
Economist Jack Mintz said the financial picture is likely going to be worse than the forecasted$4.7-billion deficit. That's because natural gas prices are two dollars less than the budget estimate. For every 10 cents the price falls below the estimate, $126 million is lost.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at a deficit of more than $7 billion," he said. "There's more downside than upside risk."
Mintz, who teaches at the University of Calgary, said this year's deficit alone could eat up nearly half of the province's savings.
Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said the government will have to conjure up some magic to balance the budget without tax hikes. The Liberals tried unsuccessfully to introduce amendments that would have cut nearly $50 million from the budget.
"The government is not going to find $2 billion under a mattress somewhere," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "If they want to balance their budget with cuts alone, there will be deep cuts and they will have a huge impact. "
McGowan said such cuts may balance the books in the short term, but will cripple programs for years.
"It's bad news for those who represent public-sector workers and it's bad news for all Albertans. A return to Klein-style cuts is not in anyone's best interests."
Alberta Treasury Board president Lloyd Snelgrove predicted earlier this week that if tax increases were off the table, there would have to be a cut of at least 15 per cent to health care, education and social programs, and infrastructure spending would have to be cut 30 per cent. But Snelgrove was much more optimistic
Wednesday after the premier made his declaration there would be no tax increases.
"We have to really sharpen our pencils," Snelgrove said. "We need to go back. We'll be sending targets out to the different departments sooner than later."
He said the government was "spending a little too much," but it now had to be careful it didn't cut too deeply. "We don't want to swing the pendulum past the point where we do damage to what in many cases are very good systems."
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says cuts can be made without destroying programs.
"This is the biggest spending government in Canada, next to Newfoundland, on a per-capita basis," said Alberta director Scott Hennig.
"I don't think other provinces live in constant chaos just because they don't spend as much as we do."
Grant MacEwan political studies expert Chaldeans Mensah said Stelmach is taking a big risk with his vow not to increase personal or corporate taxes. In the short term, the promise will shore up the premier's support among fiscal Conservatives, with a leadership review looming this fall, Mensah said.
"In a sense, he has boxed himself into a corner and he has to be hopeful that economic conditions improve," Mensah said. "This will be a very telling moment for Ed Stelmach. He has set the stage for what will be a clear basis for judging him and making a very definitive judgment on his performance."
NDP MLA Rachel Notley called the vow "a blatant political ploy."
She added that Stelmach's decision to reverse the liquor taxes in the April budget that would have brought in $180 million was "incredibly irresponsible and thoughtless."
David Eggen, executive director of the Friends of Medicare, said Stelmach is "playing a dangerous game" and every cut he makes to social programs will be measured against his decision to reverse the tax on liquor. "He is lowering alcohol taxes when seniors will be paying more for prescriptions next year," he said. "It seems like he doesn't have his priorities straight."
dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com
Economist forecasts deficit of more than $7 billion
By Darcy Henton, Edmonton JournalJuly 9, 2009
Premier Ed Stelmach's declaration that there will be no tax hikes during his reign has some people bracing for brutal cuts to programs and services if the faltering economy does not quickly turn around.
While the premier suggested most provincial government departments can stand a "haircut," some groups fear the governments could be forced to axe programs or cut or freeze wages to balance the books.
Economist Jack Mintz said the financial picture is likely going to be worse than the forecasted$4.7-billion deficit. That's because natural gas prices are two dollars less than the budget estimate. For every 10 cents the price falls below the estimate, $126 million is lost.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at a deficit of more than $7 billion," he said. "There's more downside than upside risk."
Mintz, who teaches at the University of Calgary, said this year's deficit alone could eat up nearly half of the province's savings.
Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald said the government will have to conjure up some magic to balance the budget without tax hikes. The Liberals tried unsuccessfully to introduce amendments that would have cut nearly $50 million from the budget.
"The government is not going to find $2 billion under a mattress somewhere," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "If they want to balance their budget with cuts alone, there will be deep cuts and they will have a huge impact. "
McGowan said such cuts may balance the books in the short term, but will cripple programs for years.
"It's bad news for those who represent public-sector workers and it's bad news for all Albertans. A return to Klein-style cuts is not in anyone's best interests."
Alberta Treasury Board president Lloyd Snelgrove predicted earlier this week that if tax increases were off the table, there would have to be a cut of at least 15 per cent to health care, education and social programs, and infrastructure spending would have to be cut 30 per cent. But Snelgrove was much more optimistic
Wednesday after the premier made his declaration there would be no tax increases.
"We have to really sharpen our pencils," Snelgrove said. "We need to go back. We'll be sending targets out to the different departments sooner than later."
He said the government was "spending a little too much," but it now had to be careful it didn't cut too deeply. "We don't want to swing the pendulum past the point where we do damage to what in many cases are very good systems."
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says cuts can be made without destroying programs.
"This is the biggest spending government in Canada, next to Newfoundland, on a per-capita basis," said Alberta director Scott Hennig.
"I don't think other provinces live in constant chaos just because they don't spend as much as we do."
Grant MacEwan political studies expert Chaldeans Mensah said Stelmach is taking a big risk with his vow not to increase personal or corporate taxes. In the short term, the promise will shore up the premier's support among fiscal Conservatives, with a leadership review looming this fall, Mensah said.
"In a sense, he has boxed himself into a corner and he has to be hopeful that economic conditions improve," Mensah said. "This will be a very telling moment for Ed Stelmach. He has set the stage for what will be a clear basis for judging him and making a very definitive judgment on his performance."
NDP MLA Rachel Notley called the vow "a blatant political ploy."
She added that Stelmach's decision to reverse the liquor taxes in the April budget that would have brought in $180 million was "incredibly irresponsible and thoughtless."
David Eggen, executive director of the Friends of Medicare, said Stelmach is "playing a dangerous game" and every cut he makes to social programs will be measured against his decision to reverse the tax on liquor. "He is lowering alcohol taxes when seniors will be paying more for prescriptions next year," he said. "It seems like he doesn't have his priorities straight."
dhenton@thejournal.canwest.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
