Red Deer needed a new hospital years ago.
The Conservative government knew this in 1996, when I was a patient on Unit 21. I had nursed at this hospital. It was overcrowded then, day after day.
They were discharging patients early. The government sent in efficiency experts and the man stopped by my room.
He asked the charge nurse who accompanied him, “how long had I been in, what was my surgery”?
He was not a doctor or a medical person. To my disbelief, he stated, “She can be discharged today.”
My orthopedic surgeon made the rounds, and I told him what had transpired. He informed the nurses that he, and only he, would make that decision. I was not released.
The government, at that time, knew of the bed shortages. They have studied this problem for years and wasted thousands on studies. A foolish great expense.
The city and all the towns in central Alberta were growing, the economy was good. Nothing was done and nothing will be done.
How many years does it take? How many more millions will be spent studying.
Joan Standish, Red Deer