11 Alberta hospitals lost ER service in October

Last month, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 12 communities in September, all of which lost their emergency department.

This is a continuation of similar closures throughout 2021, starting in May of that year. And it’s driven primarily by a lack of physicians in the communities.

I dug through all the news releases that AHS issued last month to find out if there were any closures in October, as well. Sure enough, there were.

Here’s what I found.

Elk Point

The first closure announcement for October, actually came in September. On 25 September, AHS announced that for the foreseeable future, they’d be closing the emergency department in Elk Point for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday.

For October, that meant 5 Wednesdays. The community ended up without an emergency department for a total of 125 hours last month.

The community lost its emergency department several times in 2021, in June, July, August, September, October, and November, as well as August, September, and October 2022; January and February of last year; and May, June, August, and September of this year.

Fairview

The next closure announcement for October actually came two days later, on 27 September, when AHS noted on their website that the Fairview Health Complex would have no on-site physician coverage in the emergency department several times over the next two weeks.

Start	End	Hours
07:00, 30 September	07:00, 1 October	24 hours
07:00, 2 October	07:00, 3 October	24 hours
07:00, 4 October	07:00, 5 October	24 hours
07:00, 7 October	07:00, 9 October	24 hours
07:00, 10 October	07:00, 12 October	24 hours
		120 hours

The October portion of this closure was a combined 103 hours.

On the 11th, they announced two additional closures.

Start	End	Hours
07:00, 15 October	07:00, 17 October	24 hours
07:00, 18 October	07:00, 19 October	24 hours
		48 hours

A week later, they said they were closing Fairview’s emergency department twice more.

Start	End	Hours
07:00, 21 October	07:00, 23 October	48 hours
07:00, 25 October	07:00, 26 October	24 hours
		72 hours

On the 30th, AHS announced the final closure for October. It was actually an announcement for 2 closures, but most of them would occur in November. The October portion of these closures began at 07:00 on the 31st and lasted for 17 hours.

That’s a combined 240 hours without their ER last month.

In all cases, the closures were result of AHS’s being unable “to secure physician coverage”.

Nurses were in the emergency department, however providing triage, assessments, and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments in surrounding communities, as needed.

The Fairview ER was shut down several times in 2021, including in May, June, July, and November; twice in January 2022; once last October, and 3 times last November and December; and 6 times this past February, twice in March, 4 times in April, twice in May, 10 times in June, 9 times in July, 6 times in August, and 8 times in September.

Coronation

Another October closure announced in September was for the emergency department at the Coronation Hospital and Care Centre.

In the announcement, AHS said they planned to shut down the emergency department for 4 hours: from 08:00 until noon on three dates in October: the 4th, the 11th, and the 25th.

This is in addition to another announcement made back in March, when AHS said they planned to shut down emergency department twice a week until further notice. The first closure was to be for 24 hours, beginning at 08:00 every Monday morning, and the second closure was for 28 hours beginning at 08:00 on Thursday mornings.

I have yet to see an announcement saying that they have cancelled this closure yet.

For October, that came to 236 combined hours, plus the three 4-hour closures, for a total of 248 hours.

These closures were due to AHS’s inability to have sufficient staffing levels of physicians, or as they called it: “gaps in physician coverage”.

Nursing staff were on hand for first aid and triage to other facilities in the region.

EMS were to be rerouted to hospitals in Castor (35 km), Hanna (90 km), and Stettler (95 km).

Coronation also lost their emergency department just last April, May, June, July, September, October, November, and December, as well as this past January, February, and March, of course.

Lac La Biche

The first October closure that actually came in October was on the 2nd, when AHS announced they were closing the emergency department at the Lac La Biche – William J. Cadzow Healthcare Centre.

It was actually an announcement for 3 closures.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 2 October	08:00, 3 October	16 hours
16:00, 4 October	08:00, 5 October	16 hours
16:00, 15 October	08:00, 16 October	16 hours
		48 hours

All the closures were a result of the AHS’s “inability to secure physician coverage”.

Nursing staff were on hand for triage and assessments during all closures, but those needing emergency care were referred to emergency departments in other communities in the region.

The community lost their emergency department three times back in June of 2022, once the subsequent August; several times in 2023, including twice in both March and April, three times in May, twice in June, five times in both July and August, once in September, twice in October, four times in November, and seven times in December. AHS also closed it 6 times this past January, 7 times this past February, 3 times this past April, 12 times this past May, and 6 times this past August.

In May 2022, Lac La Biche also lost “obstetrical and surgical services for an undetermined period”.

Smoky Lake

Also on the 2nd, AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake.

Technically, it was 2 closures.

Start	End	Hours
17:00, 3 October	08:00, 4 October	15 hours
17:00, 10 October	08:00, 11 October	15 hours
		30 hours

Two weeks later, AHS announced 3 more closures.

Start	End	Hours
17:00, 17 October	08:00, 18 October	15 hours
17:00, 24 October	08:00, 25 October	15 hours
17:00, 31 October	08:00, 1 November	15 hours
		45 hours

That’s a combined 67 hours for the entire month of October.

Like so many others, these closures were a result of AHS not having staffed a sufficient number of physicians for this hospital.

Nursing staff were on site, however, to conduct triage and assessments. EMS was rerouted to health facilities in surrounding communities.

This isn’t the first time that Smoky Lake has lost its emergency department either. It was also closed in April, August, and September 2022; March, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023; and this past January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September.

Hinton

Another closure announced on the 2nd was for the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre. Like the other announcements made that day, it was for multiple closures.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 2 October	07:00, 3 October	10 hours
21:00, 3 October	07:00, 4 October	10 hours
21:00, 7 October	07:00, 8 October	10 hours
		30 hours

That wasn’t the only closure, however. Just 7 days later, AHS announced 5 more closures.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 9 October	07:00, 10 October	10 hours
21:00, 10 October	07:00, 11 October	10 hours
21:00, 11 October	07:00, 12 October	10 hours
21:00, 12 October	07:00, 13 October	10 hours
21:00, 14 October	07:00, 15 October	10 hours
		50 hours

On the 17th, AHS said they were closing this emergency department once more. This one was also for 10 hours, beginning at 21:00 that evening.

The October portion of those closures came to a combined 80 hours.

EMS were scheduled to be rerouted to Jasper or Edson, if needed, during the closure.

This is the fifth month in which AHS has closed this emergency department since I began tracking Alberta hospital closures in May 2021. The previous closures were in May, July, August, and September.

Barrhead

On the 14th, AHS published a closure for the emergency department at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre. It was set to being at 07:00 the following morning and last for 7 hours; however, the next day, they said they found partial coverage, so that the closure would last for only an hour.

Nurses were on site for assessment and triage purposes and EMS were rerouted to Westlock or Whitecourt, 41 and 99 kilometres away, respectively.

These closures, like the others, were because of the AHS not having enough physicians in the community.

Barrhead lost ER services in November and December of 2021, as well as in January, February, March, June, July and August of 2022.

Fort Macleod

AHS announced on the 16th that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre the following day for 9 hours, beginning at 08:00 and ending at 17:00.

This closure was due to AHS’s inability to hire enough doctors to keep staffing levels sufficient.

EMS were to be redirected to Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, and patients needing emergency care were instructed to go to Cardston, Lethbridge, or Pincher Creek.

Nurses were on site but only to provide care to long-term patients.

Fort Macleod was also without emergency department services in September and December 2023, as well as April, May, July, and August 2024.

Swan Hills

Another emergency room closure was for the Swan Hills Healthcare Centre, which was posted on the 17th.

It was actually for two 12-hour closures, each of which was to begin at 19:00. The first was to begin on the 17th, and the second would begin the following day.

This was a combined loss of 24 hours during the entire month.

Swan Hills also lost ER service in January, February, May, July, and December of 2022; June, August, and November of last year; and January, April, June, August, and September of this year.

Stettler

AHS announced on the 22nd that they were closing the emergency department at the Stettler Hospital and Care Centre twice between then and the end of the month.

Start	End	Hours
08:00, 23 October	08:00, 24 October	24 hours
08:00, 29 October	08:00, 30 October	24 hours
		48 hours

However, on the 29th, they announced that they found partial coverage for the second closure, so it wouldn’t begin until 8 hours later, at 16:00 on the 29th. That would bring the combined closure time during October to 40 hours.

Unsurprisingly, these closures was because of “unexpected gaps in physician coverage”.

Nursing staff were on site for assessments and triage, and EMS were redirected to facilities in Lacombe, Red Deer, and Drumheller.

Stettler had a 24-hour closure in May, June, and August of 2021, as well as a daytime closure in September 2022 and closures in April and December of 2023 and in July 2024.

Beaverlodge

On the 24th, AHS said that they’d be shutting down the emergency department at Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital between 08:00 and 15:00 that day, for a total of 7 hours.

This closure were a result of AHS’s inability to hire enough physicians.

Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures last May, July, August, November, and December, too, as well as this past January, March, May, June, August, and September.

Picture Butte

AHS issued the final closure notice in October on the 29th, this time for the Piyami Health Centre in Picture Butte. Except it wasn’t for the emergency department.

The announcement said that because of not having not hired enough physicians, the hospital would have to close its clinic for 5 hours that day. It’s normally open between 17:00 and 22:00 on weekdays.

This is the fourth time AHS has closed a department in this hospital since I began tracking Alberta hospital closures in May 2021. Their ambulatory clinic closed in June and July, too, and the entire hosptial closed down in August due to a water main break.

Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in October. It doesn’t include communities with extended closures, such as Grimshaw, where AHS closed their emergency department in November 2022 and still hasn’t reopened it, or Two Hills, which has had reduced hours since March, closing between 16:00 on Friday and 08:00 on Monday, and 20:00 and 08:00 on weeknights.

.