Just two hours after Lac La Biche County Deputy Mayor Charlyn Moore was telling councillors she'd had a conversation with a potential new doctor for the community, Alberta Health Services announced another service disruption at the community's hospital due to a lack of physicians.
The most recent disruptions — the latest in a series of more than a dozen similar events over the last year — were announced by AHS Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 pm, less than four hours before the first disruption.
The disruptions will see the Emergency Department at Lac La Biche's W. J. Cadzow Hospital without an on-site doctor from from 4 p.m. Tuesday, December 12 to 8 am December 13. The second service disruption will run all weekend from 8 p.m. Friday, December 15 to 8 a.m. Sunday, December 17.
Nursing staff will remain on-site in the emergency department providing triage, assessments and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments in surrounding communities, as needed. EMS will remain available to the community and will be re-routed to surrounding healthcare centres.
"We are grateful for the support of surrounding healthcare centres and medical staff and would like to thank the community for its patience and understanding during this time," said AHS spokesperson Lisa Laferriere.
AHS officials are asking residents to call 911 if they have a medical emergency. Residents are also reminded to call Health Link at 811, which is available 24/7 for non-emergency health-related questions.
"This is a temporary measure and AHS is working hard to ensure local residents continue to have access to the care they need during this time," said Laferriere.
Local leaders says they are continuing to work with provincial officials to attract and recruit more physicians to the community. In recent months, two new physicians have been added to a roster of just six local doctors serving the region.
At Tuesday's Lac La Biche County council meeting, Moore, who is also a realtor in the community, said she met virtually last week with "a potential doctor."
She said the person was "absolutely blown away by the opportunities within our county," including the Bold Center, soon-to-be-built aquatic centre and the FCSS programming.
While the need is immediate, as the most recent service disruption has demonstrated, Moore said the process to recruit the potential candidate could take at least six months of work for the local physician recruitment and retention committee.
"I think it's a positive. It looks like it could be good... so we'll work on that," she said.
Across the region over the last two years, health centres in neighbouring communities have experienced similar service disruptions due to a lack of physicians or nursing staff.
The healthcare issue was a topic raised several times at a community meet-and-greet with local MLA and provincial Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean. He said work to recruit more physicians is an ongoing priority project.
