Raj Sherman is uniquely qualified to talk about the health care crisis in Alberta, as the former junior health minister, the former head of Emergency Room Physicians for Alberta, and a current emergency room physician at the Royal Alexander Hospital, says Shayne Saskiw.
That is why Saskiw, the Wildrose Alliance candidate for the area, will be hosting a free town hall meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at the St. Paul Royal Canadian Legion, which will feature a talk from Sherman. Although Sherman is an independent MLA and not a member of the Wildrose Alliance, Saskiw said that they have similarities in their views.
“Myself and a lot of Albertans respected the fact that he . . . stood up for seniors and the Alberta health care system and as a result, he was punted out of the PC caucus. We don’t think he should have been kicked out; he was simply doing his job and listening to his constituents and speaking up for them,” said Saskiw.
Sherman was a member of the Progressive Conservative party before he publicly criticized the premier, cabinet and the medical superboard last November for the handling of hospital care, which resulted in his departure from caucus.
Saskiw and Sherman plan to tour St. Therese Health Centre in the afternoon and meet with hospital administrators and doctors before the town hall in the evening. Saskiw has attended a similar meeting with Sherman in Lac La Biche and said, “He does get out of that arcane public versus private debate and does come up with some solutions.”
Sherman said he is undertaking the non-partisan independent tour to keep the health care issue in the public’s eyes and to hear people’s issues and problems, and hopefully come up with solutions to problems, such as emergency room waits in city hospitals and lack of access to family doctors in rural areas.
“If you know what the problem is, then you know what the solutions are,” he said. For instance, one of the problems faced by hospitals is that they have become long-term care units for the elderly, which he noted was an inefficient system. Coming up with the answers to problems such as this was a “societal” and “humanitarian” issue, not a political issue, he said. “Let’s leave politics out of it.”
Sherman said he encouraged people to come out with their questions and promised to provide “no-holds barred” honest answers about the good things that government has done and the things that have to be done yet, adding with a laugh, “I challenge (local MLA) Ray Danyluk to come out as well.”
