NDP will expand major cardiac care here

By Lethbridge Herald on April 29, 2023.

AT THE LEGISLATURE
Shannon Phillips – NDP MLA for Lethbridge West

It is extremely insulting for Danielle Smith to tell expectant parents in Lethbridge to drive to Calgary because the UCP has chased so many frontline healthcare workers away from our hospital that they can’t deliver complex births.

What’s more, Danielle Smith and the UCP are telling folks with serious cardiac conditions they need to drive to Calgary, too. Smith and Nathan Neudorf have refused to build the badly needed cardiac catheterization lab in our hospital for four years.

Lethbridge is the third largest city in Alberta yet we are last on the UCP government’s list when it comes to addressing health care issues here. There is not a single dollar or even a single word about a Lethbirdge cath lab in the UCP’s recent budget. 

Lethbridge can do better, by electing an Alberta NDP government next month.

An Alberta NDP government will invest $20 million into expanding cardiac services at the Chinook Regional Hospital to support new Interventional Cardiac Services and more diagnostic services enabling cardiac catheterization, which allows doctors to see and eliminate deadly heart blockages.

In the last few years, local medical directors, health advocates and even the City have repeatedly requested Alberta Health Services expand cardiac services at the Chinook Regional Hospital, but each time, the UCP ignored that request. 

These services save lives, and I know there are families in Lethbridge who would have been spared the loss of a loved one if we had them. My family is one of them.

An Alberta NDP government is also going to take real action to address the severe shortage of family doctors in Lethbridge. Our Family Health Teams plan will connect a million Albertans with a family doctor, and you can bet one of those 10 news clinics will be right here in Lethbridge.

Family doctors help us manage chronic conditions, minor illness and injury, and generally help keep us out of the hospital. 

The crisis in healthcare we’re living through right now is driven in large part by Danielle Smith and the UCP’s attacks on family doctors. Folks who used to be able to get their problem solved in the doctor’s office are now showing up at the emergency room with problems that were left untreated for months.

Lastly, I’ve heard from many people how angry they are at the UCP for handing our entire lab testing system over to DynaLife, who have turned out to be incapable of processing tests in a timely way. This holds up important treatments, and leaves people waiting and worrying longer. An Alberta NDP government will demand that DynaLife meet Albertans’ expectations if they want to continue to operate community labs.

On all fronts, healthcare in Lethbridge has gotten worse over the past four years. Families are waiting longer or driving further just to get the basic help they need. An Alberta NDP government will end the UCP chaos, connect a million Albertans with a family doctor, and launch the largest healthcare recruitment campaign in our province’s history.

You will get the care you need, when you need it, close to home.