A Rural Alberta Hospital Emergency - Beaverlodge Hospital Rally 1

What would happen if a rural hospital suddenly found itself without acute care services?

A group of concerned residents from the town of Beaverlodge traveled to Grande Prairie's Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (QEII) on Saturday May 9th to demonstrate how debilitating rural hospital closures are to the efficient delivery of health services in larger centers.

95 residents marched through QEII Emergency to demonstrate why Grande Prairie residents need to be concerned about changes in hospital services 43 km to the west in Beaverlodge.

The Beaverlodge Hospital presently sees between 75-90 patients per day in its emergency ward. If acute care services in Beaverlodge are not maintained these patients will be forced into Grande Prairie where they will inevitably slow the delivery of urban emergency services. We hope that the sight of so many people from beyond the city limits at QEII Emergency will emphasize the importance of rural hospitals.

The fate of the Beaverlodge Hospital, the oldest operating hospital in Alberta, was called into question last June when the Edmonton Journal uncovered details from a rural health care review prepared for the Province. The report called for at least nine rural hospitals, including Beaverlodge, to be converted into specialized care centers offering limited services such as palliative care or rehabilitation.

Almost one year later and the resident's on the west end of Grande Prairie County remain uncertain about whether they will retain a functional hospital. While the Province maintains that the Beaverlodge hospital will not be closed, it has yet to provide assurances that key features such as a acute care services and inpatient care will remain intact. This was a dramatic turn of events from 2007 when the now dissolved Peace Country Health Authority deemed the replacement of the Beaverlodge Hospital as an immediate priority.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Beaverlodge
• Hospital
• Rally
• Liepert
• Stelmach
• Queen
• Elizabeth
• II
• Rural
• hospitals
• emergency
• alberta
• grande
• prairie
• beaverlodge
• hythe
• demmitt
• wembly
• la
• glace
• vision2020

[BaronKitono]

Aye, thats the QEII in GP

[mrteabagg]

that was definitly grande prairie