LAKELAND — The Cold Lake Healthcare Centre and William J. Cadzow - Lac La Biche Healthcare Centre have been added to the list of Alberta Health Services (AHS) facilitates dealing with staff shortages in the Lakeland region and across the province.
In Cold Lake, five out of 24 acute beds are expected to remain closed until Aug. 31 or until staff shortages can be addressed. In Lac La Biche eight out of 23 acute beds are closed.
Information made publicly available through a new AHS website, which provides details on short-term, temporary bed or service reductions across the province, also shows that 10 of the 42 acute care beds at the St. Paul Healthcare Centre have been closed since June 7, and are anticipated to remain unavailable until the end of August, as well.
According to Diana Rinne, a senior communications advisor for AHS, “The bed reductions are as a result of a temporary staff shortage due to vacancies and annual vacations.”
She adds, “Beds may be reopened sooner than expected should the staffing shortage be resolved. The system is constantly dynamic, and we manage beds on an hourly and daily basis, depending on patient needs, staffing levels, acuity of patients, and may other factors.”
Although staff shortages have been ongoing for many rural healthcare facilities, Rinne says no staff or patient has been relocated or transferred out of the Lac La Biche or Cold Lake Healthcare Centre as a result of the bed closures.
Along with physicians and other nurses, the list of medical staff shortages in North Zone include allied health and mental health professions, social workers and healthcare aides, according to AHS communications.
Even with the ongoing changes, Rinne says, “These facilities are open and ready to provide care to Albertans who need it.”
However, the Elk Point Healthcare Centre emergency department remains temporarily without an on-site physician to cover 24-hour periods on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 8 a.m.
This temporary emergency room reduction has been extended until further notice and is a result of physician vacancies and a lack of locum coverage, but this could change in the near future, Rinne says.
“Two new physicians have been recruited to support Elk Point, and are currently working through the certification process,” she explains.
The Elk Point Emergency department will continue to have 24-hour on-site physician coverage Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Lack of community consultation
With the pandemic and staff shortages, another issue is bubbling to the surface — lack of early community consultations and communication.
Feedback gathered by AHS North Zone during two community engagement sessions in June found that participants from a variety of community groups, organizations and also municipal leaders said they wanted to be brought to the table in discussions, idea generations, and problem solving when it comes to recruitment and retention for northern Alberta.
This sentiment was echoed by Lac La Biche Mayor Omer Moghrabi. He says, AHS failed to notify the County when the community's acute beds were reduced and learned of the changes with the rest of the public.
He agrees that communication between local leaders and AHS have been especially limited over the past year and is currently waiting for a call back from the health organization.
“This pandemic, I got to say, has really limited the ability for us to interact with Alberta Health Services. It would be nice if we can get a clear communication line, but some of that falls on our shoulders,” he added.
Although the mayor has been reassured that Lac La Biche’s operations will moved forward as business as usual, he is concerned about the pressure and conditions for the remaining healthcare workers.
“I think they would be under stress for sure. You've taken out eight beds — that's a substantial amount,” he said. “They've been battling this pandemic for a year and a half. So, I can imagine they are stressed out. Plus, some of our health workers do have holidays and need to take time off.”
Moghrabi adds, without throwing mud, a stronger line of communication needs to be developed to start addressing ongoing issues.
“I don't know for sure what all the factors are, and that's why I really need Alberta Health Services to let us know.”
