17 Alberta hospitals lost their ER in Apr 2025

In April, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 17 communities in March, 16 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 last month, as well. Sure enough, there were.

Here’s what I found.

Hinton

AHS announced their first April closure back in March. when they said they were closing the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre 4 times during the first week of April.

Start	End	Hours
00:00, 1 April	07:00, 1 April	7 hours
21:00, 1 April	07:00, 2 April	10 hours
13:00, 2 April	07:00, 3 April	18 hours
13:00, 3 April	07:00, 4 April	18 hours
		53 hours

The first closure actually began on 31 March, but I’m highlighting closure hours specifically in April.

The following week, on the 4th, they announced another 7 closures for this community.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 7 April	07:00, 8 April	10 hours
21:00, 8 April	07:00, 9 April	10 hours
21:00, 9 April	07:00, 10 April	10 hours
21:00, 10 April	07:00, 11 April	10 hours
13:00, 11 April	07:00, 12 April	18 hours
21:00, 12 April	07:00, 13 April	10 hours
21:00, 13 April	07:00, 14 April	10 hours
		78 hours

A week later, AHS posted about 3 more emergency department closures; although technically they said that it would “be without onsite physician coverage”, not that it would be explicitly closed.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 15 April	07:00, 16 April	10 hours
21:00, 16 April	07:00, 17 April	10 hours
21:00, 17 April	07:00, 18 April	10 hours
		30 hours

Three days after these closures wrapped up, AHS announced another set of closures.

Start	End	Hours
21:00, 21 April	07:00, 22 April	10 hours
21:00, 22 April	07:00, 23 April	10 hours
21:00, 23 April	07:00, 24 April	10 hours
21:00, 24 April	07:00, 25 April	10 hours
13:00, 25 April	07:00, 26 April	18 hours
		58 hours

The final closures actually included 3 days in May, but I’m including only the April portion, which ran for 10 hours, from 21:00 on the 28th to 07:00 on the 29th.

The community lost their emergency room for a combined 229 hours in April.

This emergency department also experienced closures in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year, and January of this year.

Barrhead

Also at the end of March, AHS published a closure for the emergency department at the Barrhead Healthcare Centre. It was actually 2 closures, each which were set to being at 17:00 and end at 07:00 the following morning and last. The first was scheduled to start on 31 March and the second on 1 April. The April portion of these closures was a combined 21 hours.

Nurses were on site for assessment and triage purposes in.

On the 2nd, AHS announced that they were closing this emergency department again. They didn’t say when the closure was to begin, only that it would last until 07:00 the following morning. However, the meta data of the webpage said it was originally published at 20:39, so it’s likely this closure lasted for a little over 10 hours.

Nearly 2 weeks later, on the 15th, they announced another loss of physician coverage for this emergency department. It was to begin at 17:00 that evening and end 14 hours later, at 07:00 the following morning.

That was followed by another loss in service just two days later. The 24-hour restriction in service began at 08:00 on the 17th. However, they found coverage for almost the entire last half of the coverage, so it ended up lasting from 08:00 until 20:30 that night.

AHS announced a fifth loss of service on the 22nd. It was supposed to begin at 17:00 that evening and run for 12 hours, ending at 07:00 the following morning.

The emergency department was closed for a combined (but estimated) 79.5 hours in April.

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; and October 2024.

Lac La Biche

The first closure announced in April was for the emergency department at the Lac La Biche – William J. Cadzow Healthcare Centre.

It was actually an announcement for 4 closures.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 2 April	08:00, 3 April	16 hours
16:00, 7 April	08:00, 8 April	16 hours
16:00, 8 April	08:00, 9 April	16 hours
16:00, 9 April	08:00, 10 April	16 hours
		64 hours

That works out to a combined loss of 64 hours for this community’s emergency department in January.

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 also lost their emergency department in June and August 2022; in March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023; January, February, April, May, August, October, November, and December 2024; and January 2025.

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

Sylvan Lake

Also on the 1st, AHS announced that they were closing the Sylvan Lake Advanced Ambulatory Care Service until 15:00 that day. There was no start time mentioned for the closure, but the meta data in the webpage code said the posting was published around 10:00 that morning, so it was likely for 5 hours.

This closure was due to AHS not hiring enough physicians; although AHS called it “gaps in physician coverage”.

Keep in mind that advanced ambulatory care is regularly shut down every night from 22:00 until 07:30 the following morning. Not including the regularly scheduled overnight closures, Sylvan Lake lost its advanced ambulatory care for a combined 18 hours in December.

This isn’t the first time the community has lost ambulatory care; they lost it 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 2023; and January, Februrary, March, April, May, July, and December of 2024.

Smoky Lake

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
16:00, 3 April	08:00, 4 April	16 hours
16:00, 10 April	08:00, 11 April	16 hours
		32 hours

That’s a combined 32 hours for the entire month of April.

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; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, November, and December 2024; and January 2025.

Ponoka

The following day, on the 3rd, AHS announced a closure for the emergency department at the Ponoka Hospital and Care Centre.

It was scheduled to begin at 22:00 that evening and last for 10 hours, ending at 08:00 the following morning.

That brings the combined closure time in April to 10 hours for Ponoka’s emergency department.

As expected, the closures were a result of the AHS not hiring enough physicians to provide adequate coverage in this emergency department.

Ponoka lost its emergency department in August, September, November, and December 2023, as well as in June 2024.

Mayerthorpe

The community of Mayerthorpe experienced their first closure of their emergency department. According to AHS’s announcement, they were closing the emergency department at the Mayerthorpe Healthcare Centre from 08:00 to 17:00 on 4 April.

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

Fort Macleod

On 10 April, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre the following day for 9 hours, beginning at 08:00 on 11 April.

A week and a half later, on the 21st, they declared another closure , beginning at 23:00 that night and lasting for 8 hours, until 07:00 the following morning.

The emergency department was closed for a combined 17 hours last month.

Fort Macleod was also without emergency department services in September and December 2023; April, May, July, August, October, and December 2024; and January 2025.

Rocky Mountain House

Ten days later, on the 14th, AHS announced a closure for the emergency department at the Rocky Mountain House Health Centre. It was to start at noon that day and last until 07:00 the following morning.

Just two days later, AHS posted another emergency department shut down for this community. It was to run 14.5 hours, from 16:30 on the 16th until 07:00 the next day.

Rocky Mountain House lost their emergency department two more times last month, according to a release published by AHS on the 22nd.

Start	End	Duration
noon, 22 April	07:00, 23 April	19 hours
18:00, 27 April	07:00 28 April	13 hours
	Total	32 hours

That brought to 55.5 the total hours that the community lost its emergency department in April.

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, April, May, June, July, and September 2024. They also lost acute care beds in July 2021 and obstetric services in January 2022.

Oyen

On 16 April, AHS said that they were closing the emergency department in the Oyen Big Country Hospital. The closure was to begin at 17:00 the following day and last until 08:00 on the 22nd, for a total of 109 hours.

However, AHS found coverage for the closure as of 18:00 on the 18th, so the closure actually lasted for 25 hours.

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

Picture Butte

AHS issued another closure notice on the 17th, 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 ambulatory clinic for the entire day the following day (the 18th) and again two days later (20th) for the entire day..

Regular clinic hours on weekdays are from 17:00 to 22:00 and on weekends from 10:00 to 15:00. That means that this closure lasted for a combined 10 hours.

This is the sixth 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, July, October, and November of 2024, too, as well as in January 2025. The entire hospital closed down in August 2024 due to a water main break.

Redwater

On the 23rd, the community of Redwater received notice from AHS that they were losing their emergency department twice over the next week.

Start	End	Hours
08:00, 24 April	08:00, 25 April	24 hours
08:00, 28 April	08:00, 29 April	24 hours
		48 hours

According to AHS, these closures were because “there [would] be no physician on site”.

This was the second time since since I began tracking closures in May 2021 that this community has had its emergency department closed. The other time was this past January.

Ongoing closures

Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in April. It doesn’t include communities with extended closures, such as Grimshaw, where AHS closed their emergency department for 12 hours every night in November 2022 and still hasn’t changed it. That was a combined 360 hours in April.

Two Hills has had reduced hours since March 2024. It is closed between 22:00 and 08:00 Mondays through Thursday, as well as each weekend, from 17:00 on Friday to 08:00 on Monday. That amounts to 227 hours in April.

Since September 2024, Elk Point has lost their emergency department for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday. For April, that was 5 Wednesdays, for a combined 125 hours.

As well, the the entire Grande Prairie Public Health Clinic, including the emergency room, was shut down as of 30 April because lead was found in the HVAC system.

Finally, at the end of April 2025, AHS announced that they were opening the emergency department in the Bow Island Health Centre only on the weekend, closing from 07:00 each Monday until 07:00 each Friday. That effected 1 day last month.