I am writing this letter in the hopes of reaching your readers and making them aware of what is happening at Alberta Hospital Edmonton.
The plan that is being talked about is saying that hundreds of beds that at this time house mentally ill patients will be closed. No one is saying where these patients will go.
When these patients first went to Alberta Hospital, they were diagnosed as mentally ill and they are still mentally ill and still need 24-hour supervision. The nurses and staff who care for them have become their friends, their family, not just their care workers.
No one knows what effect a move will have on these patients or how they will react to being separated and amongst strangers. If they are separated individually, they will all need two or three care workers for a 24-hour shift. Do you really think that this is going to be cheaper than two or three workers taking care of a whole ward? Are the patients going to feel lost? Will we come across them wondering the streets killing time until supper time? Is this what Albertans want to do? There has to be another alternative!
Of course Minister Ron Liepart and Dr. Stephen Duckett could leave the province. The have already ruined our health care; what’s up their sleeves next?
We have to try to stop the closure of hundreds of beds at Alberta Hospital before they move on to something else!
Hilda Farmer
Red Deer