Alberta health care is ill: MLA - Sherwood Park News - Alberta, CA

MLA Raj Sherman, parliamentary assistant for Alberta Health and Wellness, spoke at the Sherwood Park District and Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday and discussed the local hospital, as well as the status of Alberta Health Services and the health of Albertans in general.

"You're going to get a hospital," Sherman promised the luncheon's crowd. He said the expected construction start date is this spring and that it will include an emergency department with ambulatory service.

Although more complicated medical needs will continue to be transported to Edmonton, Sherman said the Sherwood Park hospital will be able to handle "the bread and butter stuff," such as broken bones and other less-complicated matters.

Sherman also re-affirmed what Sherwood Park MLA Iris Evans stated in the News two months ago when she said the hospital will also feature primary care, family medicine practices and community programs.

Keeping the topic on Sherwood Park, but outside of the hospital, Sherman called for more senior-oriented care to keep the elderly healthy and out of medical facilities.

The rest of Sherman's half-hour speech focused mostly on improving Alberta Health Services' patient care and doctor availability. He also called on all Albertans to take it upon themselves to live healthier lifestyles.

"In the United States of America, they spend an extra $7,500 per person a year and your outcome is a 60 per cent overweight obesity rate," he said.

"This is the number one reason in the U.S. why major corporations went bankrupt. G.M. and Ford are actually health companies," he said, noting that paying for unhealthy employees is costing the vehicle manufacturers an opportunity to compete better in a global marketplace.

Although contrasting the private health care of the U.S. against Canada's system, he said, Alberta health care also has problems: wait times and the lack of general-practice doctors.

"Our problem is we actually ration health care. We say it's universal health care, but it's not universally available when we need it," Sherman said.

Read more...