12 rural Alberta hospitals lost ER service in May 2024

At the beginning of May, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 9 communities in April, 8 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 May, as well. Sure enough, there were. Here’s what I found.

Smoky Lake

The first closure was announced on the 29th of April, when AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake.

Actually, it was a set of 8 closures, most of which took place in May. Each of them were scheduled to begin at 19:00, run for 13 hours, and end at 08:00 the following morning. The first closure was supposed to be on the 30th and going into the early hours of the first, followed by a closure the next day. They’d pick up again on the 6th and continue for the subsequent 3 days.

About 3 weeks later, on the 13th, AHS announced 7 more closures for this emergency department.

Start	End	Hours
19:00, 13 May	08:00, 14 May	13 hours
19:00, 14 May	08:00, 15 May	13 hours
19:00, 15 May	08:00, 16 May	13 hours
19:00, 16 May	08:00, 17 May	13 hours
19:00, 21 May	08:00, 22 May	13 hours
19:00, 22 May	08:00, 23 May	13 hours
19:00, 23 May	08:00, 24 May	13 hours

10 days later, they declared 2 more closures. The first closure was to begin at 19:00 that evening and last for 22 hours, and the second was a 9-hour closure that was supposed to begin at 08:00 on the 27th.

That’s a combined 208 hours for the entire month of May.

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, and April.

Grimshaw/Berwyn

AHS made a closure announcement at the end of April for the emergency department at the Grimshaw/Berwyn and District Health Centre.

This was technically an extension, however, as this closure has been in place since 1 November 2022.

Every night since then, starting at 21:00, the emergency department has been closed for 12 hours. AHS blames insufficient numbers of nurses in the area.

On 27 January 2023, AHS announced they were extending the overnight closures for another two months, until the end of July. This will be 5 months straight with no overnight ER services, assuming AHS doesn’t issue another extension.

However, on 28 April, 3 months before that extension was to expire, AHS announced they were extending the closure for another month, until the end of this past August.

And with the arrival of 31 August, they released yet another extension, pushing the end of this closure out another 3 months, until the end of November.

As the new deadline approached, however, they realized that they still wouldn’t have enough registered nurses on hand, so they extended the overnight closure once again.

This time, however, there was no end date included in the announcement.

In fact, this new announcement is making the closure begin at 19:00 every night, extending it from 12 hours each night to 14 hours.

Instead, AHS assured residents that “this is a temporary measure”.

Temporary measure? Thousands of residents served by this hospital have been without overnight emergency department service for over a year and a half. That’s a long time to be just temporary.

The community had no emergency department access for 434 hours in May.

EMS were to be rerouted to Peace River (25 km), Fairview (58 km), Manning (83 km), McLennan (100 km), or Spirit River (112 km), as needed.

Grimshaw lost its emergency department in July, August, and September 2022, too, before the extended closure began.

Elk Point

On the last day of April, Alberta Health Services announced 5 24-hour closures for the emergency department at the Elk Point Healthcare Centre, as well as a 9-hour closure.

Start	End	Hours
08:00, 1 May	08:00, 2 May	24 hours
08:00, 8 May	08:00, 9 May	24 hours
08:00, 15 May	08:00, 16 May	24 hours
08:00, 22 May	08:00, 23 May	24 hours
08:00, 29 May	08:00, 30 May	24 hours
08:00, 31 May	17:00, 31 May	9 hours

As the month drew to a close, AHS announced one final closure for Elk Point. They were to close the emergency department in this community at 08:00 on the 30th, and wouldn’t open again until 33 hours later, at 17:00 the following day.

These closures were a result of AHS having insufficient levels of physicians.

This emergency department was closed for a combined 162 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, and January and February of last year.

Lac La Biche

Also on 30 April, AHS announced that they were closing down the emergency department at the Lac La Biche – William J. Cadzow Healthcare Centre.

It was actually an announcement for 4 closures, the first of which was supposed to begin that evening, but I’ve included only the May hours below.

Start	End	Hours
midnight, 1 May	08:00, 1 May	8
16:00, 1 May	08:00, 2 May	16
16:00, 6 May	08:00, 7 May	16
16:00, 8 May	08:00, 9 May	16

However, AHS announced on the 8th that they found coverage for that shift, so only the first 3 closures ended up occurring.

On the 14th, AHS announced two more closures for Lac La Biche. The first was to begin at 16:00 that evening and last for 16 hours, and the second was a 9-hour closure beginning at 08:00 on the 24th.

A little over a week later, AHS closed this emergency department again—for 16 hours beginning at 16:00 on the 23rd—and announced two more closures, both running for 9 hours beginning at 08:00, the first on the 28th and the second on the 29th.

Combined, Lac La Biche was without their emergency department for 99 hours in May.

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, and 3 times this past April. In May 2022, Lac La Biche also lost “obstetrical and surgical services for an undetermined period”.

Coronation

AHS announced yet another closure on the 30th of April. This time 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 26 hours: from 06:00 on 1 May until 08:00 on 2 May.

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 May, that came to 216 combined hours, plus the 26 hours at the start of the month, for a total of 242 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.

Hinton

Alberta Health Services announced on 5 May (even though the release was dated for the 6th) that they were closing the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre overnight.

They claimed it was “a sudden and unexpected gap in staff coverage”, which is what happens when you don’t have enough health care workers on hand to cover things like holidays and sick days.

The media release didn’t include a start time for the closure, only that it would end at 07:00 the following morning. According to meta data in the webpage’s source code, the released was published at 02:11 on the 6th, but it’s not clear when the closure actually came into effect. As such, I can’t report on the total number of hours Hinton residents were without an emergency department in their community.

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

This is the first time AHS has closed this emergency department since I began tracking Alberta hospital closures in May 2021.

Fairview

AHS noted on their website on the 8th that the Fairview Health Complex would have no on-site physician coverage in the emergency department for 48-hours, starting at 07:00 the following morning.

Just days later, on the 10th, AHS reported that they’d be closing this emergency department twice more. The first closure was to begin at 07:00 on the 13th and last for 48 hours, and the second would last for 24 hours, starting at 07:00 on the 17th.

That’s a total of 120 hours without their ER last month.

In both 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, and 4 times in April.

Tofield

On 13 May, AHS announced they were closing the emergency department at Tofield Health Centre twice in May.

Both closures were to last for 4 hours, with the first starting at 13:00 on the 17th and the second starting a week later, at 13:00 on the 24th.

The community lost overnight emergency department service for several months in 2022 and 2o23.

Sylvan Lake

Three days later, on the 16th, AHS announced that they were closing the Sylvan Lake Advanced Ambulatory Care Service for 7.5 hours: between 07:30 and 15:00 on the 17th.

On the 21st, AHS announced they were shutting down advanced ambulatory care again. This time, they announced two closures:

Start	End	Duration
14:00, 23 May	22:00, 23 May	8 hours
07:30, 25 May	15:00, 25 May	7.5 hours

A week later, on the 28th, AHS announced another closure. Actually, it was 5 closures, but only 2 were for May. Both closure would begin at 07:30 and run for 7.5 hours, ending at 15:00. The first was scheduled for the 30th and the second for the following day.

Like so many others, these closures were all due to AHS not hiring enough physicians.

AHS closed down advanced ambulatory care in this community for a combined 38 hours last month.

This isn’t the first time the community has lost ambulatory care; they lost it for 7 days in August and over the Christmas holidays in 2021; in January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2022; in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year; and this past January, Februrary, March, and April.

This marks 28 months in a row that Sylvan Lake has lost ambulatory care service, not including the regularly scheduled overnight closures.

Rocky Mountain House

On the 21st, AHS announced that the ER in Rocky Mountain House would be closed twice that week.

The first closure was to begin at 18:00 that evening and run for 13 hours, ending at 07:00 the following morning. The second closure was to run during the same period but beginning on the 22nd.

Like so many others, this closure were due to a “gap in physician coverage”.

The community lost their emergency department for brief periods in May 2021; June, July, August, and October 2023; and January, February, and April 2024. They also lost acute care beds in July 2021 and obstetric services in January 2022.

Fort Macleod

On the 22nd, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Fort Macleod Health Centre for 24 hours.

They planned to close the emergency department as of 08:00 the following morning and opening at 08:00 on the 24th.

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 2024.

Drayton Valley

On 27 May, Drayton Valley found out that they were losing their emergency department, when AHS announced they planned to close it for 8 hours, starting at midnight that night.

This closure, like so many others over the past two years, was because of insufficient physician coverage.

Nurses were to be on hand for triage and assessment purposes, but they were also available for emergency first aid, if needed.

EMS calls were rerouted to facilities in Devon, Leduc, Rimbey, and Stony Plain.

AHS had closed this emergency department three times before, back in September 2022 and July 2023, as well as in April 2024.

Boyle

AHS published an announcement on the 29th saying that they were closing the emergency department at the Boyle Healthcare Centre for 3 hours.

The closure was scheduled to run from 17:00 that evening, lasting until 20:00.

Unsurprisingly, this closure was a result of an insufficient number of physicians on staff at this hospital. Nurses were on had for traige and assessment.

Boyle’s emergency department was also closed in June 2021; April and June of 2022; and August and December 2023.

Now, this is in addition to a closure announced in July 2022, when AHS said they were extending a closure of the entire hospital until 1 September. During this closure, the hospital would only be open between 9:00 and 20:00 every day.

However, at the end of August 2022, AHS reported that they were extending this closure until the end of September. This new September announcement extended the closure until the end of October.

At the end of October 2022, however, AHS issued yet another extension, this time until the end of November. But once December hit, AHS announced another extension—this time until 3 January 2023, but then changed their mind on the 29th, extending the closure until the end of January.

As January 2023 drew to a close, AHS announced that they were extending the closure for yet another month. Then they announced another extension at the end of February, but this time, they didn’t provide an end date for the closure.

I haven’t been able to find an announcement indicating a return to regular operating hours, so it looks like the hospital has been without overnight service for nearly 2 years. In fact, the closure announcement I mentioned early on in this section indicated that this emergency department “continues to be closed nightly from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m.”

AHS blamed the continued overnight closure on “high vacancies among nursing staff” as well as their inability to find people to cover those shortages.