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Letter: Excellent care at Red Deer hospital

I wish to draw your attention to my experiences at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in December.
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I wish to draw your attention to my experiences at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre in December.

My 10-day journey began at my GP’s office, who sent me directly to emergency on Dec. 8, and finally to Unit 22. We hear so much about negative experiences, but my time there was a real eye-opener. It showed just how hard the caregivers, at all levels, work to give us the care necessary with all the precautions in place. I am thankful for the team on Unit 22 – their professional, cooperative work gave me confidence in the care I received.

I received a phone call from Alberta Health Services a few days ago, requesting I take a survey to provide information on how AHS can improve hospital care. The survey had questions related to all the various departments and their staff, from doctors, nurses, housekeeping, etc.

What my time in RDRH brought to the forefront was the need for our government to step back and take this AHS survey and use it to understand what goes on daily in our hospitals. The survey, and my experiences, make clear that all the workers at the hospital are valuable and contribute to quality care.

The UCP should not fix what is not broken.

We will have a weaker system, and receive a lower standard of care, if our government continues to impose changes that push practitioners from the province and devalue the work of support staff through privatization. A team working together is what I experienced at RDRH; fracturing this system will hurt the care received in our hospitals.

Kevin Hanrahan, Red Deer