EDMONTON — A document leaked by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees suggests millions of dollars could be saved if Alberta Health Services axed a planned move and maintained geriatric mental health beds at Alberta Hospital.
The document is an Alberta Health Services list of maintenance items — from roof replacement to alarm system upgrades — needed to keep open patient-occupied facilities at Alberta Hospital in Edmonton.
The bill for Building 12, home to the geriatric psychiatry unit, would be $1.4 million.
The union says that’s far cheaper than the $3 million to $5 million it will take to convert Villas Caritas, originally planned as a long-term care facility, to its new purpose.
Bill Dechant of the AUPE says this don’t make sense in a province that’s in a deficit position and has a long waiting list for long-term care.
But Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky says the issue is about moving patients to a community care setting where they have a chance to be integrated into the community.