A business proposal for a new Airdrie health center, which would house both primary and urgent care facilities, has been approved.
In an emailed statement to DiscoverAirdrie, the Office of the Minister of Health stated that, ‘Alberta’s government recognizes there is a need to increase acute care and primary care services in Airdrie to ensure Albertans can access the care they need close to home.’
“To support the health needs in Airdrie, Alberta Health has approved a proposal by One Health Airdrie for an additional health care facility in the community.”
The statement also noted that the facility will be required to operate using a joint leadership model, ‘in which One Health Airdrie is the primary care operator, operating within Alberta’s approved physician compensation parameters.’
“Urgent care services will be provided by a proponent chosen through a competitive process to ensure they align with the refocused health care system. Capital funding for the project will be considered in budget 2025 deliberations.”
Dr. Julian Kyne, who is part of the One Health Associate Medical initiative, also reacted to the news.
“The minister did send me a letter saying they plan to proceed with the project; this is very exciting news,” he said. “I am very excited but also daunted by the task ahead.”
Dr. Kyne also underlined that the initiative that One Health is pursuing is not that of privatized healthcare, though some advocacy groups, such as Friends of Medicare, have sharply criticized the initiative, saying that it lacked transparency.
“Unfortunately, other people got out and started spreading that it is private health care – it absolutely is not.”
Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown also confirmed the news earlier this week.
“I saw a letter from the Minister directly to One Health, and yes, they’ve approved the business plan,” Mayor Brown said.
Mayor Brown added that he believes the next steps will include One Health going to the Alberta Treasury Board.
“… And get the funding for the building. It’s a very exciting thing. It’s been a long time coming.”
Mayor Brown expressed his thanks to Dr. Kyne and Doug Smith, a One Health volunteer, saying that he was grateful that this may be a solution in the interim.
“… Before we’re getting kind of hospital situation. It will be a great initiative if we double our capacity at urgent, emergent care and offer more primary care doctors to our residents.”
Premier’s Smith Visit in Airdrie
Several weeks ago, when Alberta Premier Danielle Smith came to Airdrie, she toured the Airdrie Community Health Centre alongside Dr. Kyne and Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Airdrie-East Angela Pitt, members of the Airdrie Health Foundation, and Mayor Brown. Dr. Kyne said he felt the visit was positive.
“The Premier had come to listen and find out for herself what the situation was with Airdrie, specifically with urgent care,” he added. “… But also because urgent care and primary care are linked, both topics did come up. She took a tour of the facility. She was impressed with how staff and everyone else had been working in fairly tough situations, given how inadequate the urgent care facility is for Airdrie, with its population and understanding of its needs.”
Dr. Kyne said there are several significant challenges doctors face in the province.
“First and foremost, trying to deliver high-quality care to our patients is in the genes for us as physicians, and when we’re faced with situations in which we don’t have enough of a facility, and we are facing diminishing numbers because of retirement and other physicians leaving, it becomes fairly discouraging for physicians.”
He explained that there is a general feeling that the funding model for primary care doctors within the province has also not kept up.
“How do we deliver healthcare better, but also make it so that it is a more reasonable lifestyle for physicians, and that you don’t have the issue with burnout, which is not just a physician thing, it cuts across all healthcare providers.”
Airdrie Health Foundation’s view of the Premier’s visit
While Dr. Kyne said the Premier’s visit was positive, Executive Director of the Airdrie Health Foundation, Michelle Bates, described the visit as ‘neutral to good.’
“I think it was beneficial just to convey what our site holds and where our challenges are, and I think it’s obvious to anyone walking through there; it’s straightforward to see our challenges,” Bates added. “The challenges, the space constraint; there is a renovation going on, so some of these challenges will be addressed, although we still need a bigger site, so not all the challenges will go away.”
Bates said that some of the key priorities the Airdrie Health Foundation has identified concerning healthcare needs in the city are not just about space.
“We believe that funding for existing clinics and programs – we need more funding so those can grow and expand with our growing population, as well as bring in new clinics, such as a diabetes clinic or dialysis.”
She noted that because patients who do attend the Urgent Care Centre are sometimes in such critical condition, their condition is considered emergent, not urgent.
“People [may not] know the difference between urgent care and emergency, but there is quite a difference. Urgent care is for non-life threatening injury or illness, whereas an emergency department encompasses all that. We have a glorified urgent care but a sub-par emergency department.”
Bates reiterated her hope that the current urgent care centre may be redesignated as an emergency centre, though this will mean more funds.
“I don’t have details on cost, but [it] would increase [ing] staff levels, and [adding/increasing] specialties that we would need – respiratory staff, which we don’t have right now; some of the equipment.”
When asked if there were discussions on the One Health proposal, Bates said that Premier Smith did ask Dr. Kyne about it, though she underlined that the health foundation would continue to advocate as it always has.
“Our concerns have always been the same. Regarding the family physician[s], One Health is that primary care piece and will increase that. It’ll be a good thing for Airdrie. The challenge we’re seeing is, what does that urgent care piece look like? And I don’t know, and we still haven’t heard much about what that will look like.”
Timeline of events regarding One Health Proposal
January 2024
The Airdrie Health Foundation was alerted that previously allocated funds for the renovations of the Airdrie Community Health Centre would be put on hold. DiscoverAirdrie confirmed with the government that the funds were indeed put on hold because of a new joint proposal from One Health and QUALICO Communities.
February 2024
Airdrie-East Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Angela Pitt previously confirmed that the paused renovations on the City’s Community Health Centre would resume shortly. Later in the month, a spokesperson for Alberta Health confirmed work on the Airdrie Community Health Centre Site Optimization Project would restart in early March, and the renovations were estimated to be completed in the summer of 2025.
April 2024
In April, the government confirmed to DiscoverAirdrie that it was providing $85,000 to One Health Airdrie through a grant to co-develop a detailed business plan for an integrated primary care and urgent care facility in the area.
July 2024
This July, One Health held a series of engagement sessions with Airdrie residents on the proposal.
August 2024
Airdrie City Council voted to redistrict a parcel of land in the city’s southwest in the Vantage Rise housing development, which will ‘provide additional commercial lands needed for the potential development of a health care centre within the Vantage Rise neighbourhood.’
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