Dear Editor,
To have a fair competition, you must have a level playing field. Currently this is an impossibility for rural hospitals and their administrators.
To instill fear by denigrating the workers is inconceivable. Management by fear has never proven to have a positive outcome.
It’s imperative the government accept responsibility for the chaos it’s created. Alberta Health Services was created by the government and ultimately the current government is responsible for “fixing it.” One wonders why Health Minister Adriana LaGrange and her protégé, Chelsae Petrovic (parliamentary secretary for health workforce engagement) haven’t stepped up to the helm?
Premier Danielle Smith owes an apology to all who work in rural health care at any level, from cleaning floors to caring, compassionate medical care.
In 2018, Alberta Health Services was identified as being one of the top five most integrated health systems in the world at the 18th International Congress on Integrated Care in the Netherlands. Alberta was in a unique position to have one health authority that worked collaboratively with its partners to support the health needs of all Albertans.
It brought together acute care, continuing care, home care, public health, addictions/mental health, emergency medical services and cancer care under one umbrella in a single healthcare system. This is the system that Smith inherited.
Perhaps the premier should focus her sights on aspiring to regain that honour. That could be achieved by modifying and improving the award-winning system that was in place instead of totally disrupting it.
Provide all who work for Alberta Health Services a level playing field, not a threat of losing their jobs. Start with funding and staffing. Build out from there. Aspirational support, and collaboration, rather than autocratic-like threats has a much better chance of earning positive results.
J. L. Chalmers
Claresholm
