8 rural Alberta communities lost ER service last month

At the beginning of March, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 6 communities in February, 5 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 March, as well. Sure enough, there were. Here’s what I found.

Smoky Lake

The first closure was actually announced in February, when AHS declared on the 26th that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake.

Actually, it was a set of 4 closures, but most of them occurred in February. The final closer in that announcement, however, had it shutting down for the first 8 hours of March as well.

Less than a week later, on the 4th, AHS announced 4 more closures for this emergency department. Each closure was to begin at 19:00 and last 13 hours. The first was to begin that evening, with the other closures occuring on each of the following 3 days.

Just a week after that, they announced 4 more 13-hour closures, which were each scheduled to start at 19:00, with the first beginning that evening, followed by one each on the next 3 subsequent days.

After another week, they came in with 4 more 13-hours closures. Each closure was to begin at 19:00, again, with the first one occurring that evening and the remaining occurring on each of the three subsequent days.

Finally, on the 25th, AHS announced three additional 13-hour closures, kicking off on at 19:00 that evening, with subsequent closures on each of the following 2 days.

That’s a combined 99 hours for the entire month of March.

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 and February.

Wabasca

Also at the end of February, AHS announced that another community would lose emergency department service: Wabasca.

According to the announcement, the Wabasca Health Care Centre would have no emergency department service for 48 hours, beginning at 08:00 on 1 March. They also planned to cancel inpatient admissions during this period.

AHS indicated that the closure was because they hadn’t hired enough physicians.

This community also lost emergency department service in January, February, March, April, May, June, August, and September of 2022; last March and April; and this past February.

Beaverlodge

The first closure announcement that actually came in March was for the emergency department at the Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital.

The closure was announced on the first and set to begin at 08:00 on 4 March and last for 24 hours.

A couple of weeks later, on the 18th, AHS announced they were shutting down the ER departments again, this time for 9 hours, beginning at 23:00 that evening.

That’s a total of 33 hours that Beaverlodge was without an emergency department in March.

As with the closures highlighted above, these closures were a result of AHS’s inability to hire enough doctors. Nurses were on hand for triage and assessment. Anyone needing emergency services were to be rerouted to the hospital in Grande Prairie.

Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures in May, July, August, November, and December 2022, as well as January, March, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023.

Sylvan Lake

Also on the 1st of March, AHS announced that they were closing the Sylvan Lake Advanced Ambulatory Care Service for 5 hours: between 17:00 and 22:00 on 4 March. According to this announcement, they also planned to close down ambulatory care between 07:30 and 13:00 on the 8th.

On the 4th, however, AHS said they planned to shut down ambulatory care again the following day. This time, the closure would last from 07:30 until 22:00.

Just two days later, AHS announced another closure to ambulatory care, starting at 14:00 on the 7th and tying in with the previously announced closure for the 8th. During this announcement, they also informed the public of two more closures set for the following week: a 5.5-hour closure starting at 07:30 on the 14th and a 11.5-hour closure as of 07:30 on the 15th.

Finally, they announced on the 27th that they planned to close the service once more. The closure was to begin at 07:30 on the 28th and last 14.5 hours.

Keep in mind, that ambulatory care service is available at the Sylvan Lake Community Health Centre between 07:30 and 22:00 under normal circumstances. It is typically not a 24-hour service.

This community lost ambulatory care for a combined 64 hours, not including the regular overnight closures.

These closures were due to AHS not hiring enough physicians.

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 and Februrary.

Milk River

On the 4th AHS announced they were closing the emergency department at the Milk River Health Centre. They didn’t specify what time the closure began, other than it was effective immediately. The meta data in the HTML code of the announcement, however, said that the article was published at 06:22. The closure was to end at 08:00 the following morning. If the closure was effective as of the posting time, then the closure was for about 25.5 hours.

The very next day, they announced a 12-hour closure, beginning at 07:00 on the 6th.

On the 27th, AHS announced that they were closing for 15 hours, as of 17:00 that evening.

Finally. AHS announced just three days from the end of the month that they’d be closing the emergency department as of 08:00 on the 29th, and it would last 9 hours.

It’s difficult to calculate the actual total number of hours this emergency department was closed, given that one announcement didn’t include a specific start time. We do know, however, that it was at least a combined 60 hours.

These closures were due to insufficient staffing levels of physicians.

Nursing staff were on site in both cases to provide care for long-term care residents, and EMS were redirected to Raymond or Lethbridge.

Milk River also lost their ER in February, May, September, October, and December of 2022, as well as January, February, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of last year and January of this year.

Lac La Biche

On the 8th, AHS announced that they were closing down the emergency department at the Lac La Biche – William J. Cadzow Healthcare Centre.

The closure was scheduled to start at 16:00 the following day and was set to last 16 hours.

A week later, on the 15th, they announced four more 16-hour closures, all beginning at 16:00. The first was scheduled for the 17th, the second for the 18th the third for the 9th, and the fourth for the 21st. They also announced a 24-hour closure, which was to begin at 16:00 on the 25th.

Just 4 days later, on the 19th, AHS posted 3 more closures on their website for Lac La Biche. The first two were scheduled to start at 16:00 and last for 16 hours, with the first beginning that evening and the second on the 21st. The third closure was for 24 hours and set to begin at 16:00 on the 25th.

Finally, on the 26th, AHS announced 5 more closures for March:

Start	End	Hours
22:00, 26 Mar	08:00, 27 Mar	10
16:00, 27 Mar	16:00, 28 Mar	24
22:00, 28 Mar	08:00, 29 Mar	10
16:00, 29 Mar	08:00, 30 Mar	16
16:00, 30 Mar	08:00, 31 Mar	16

Combined, Lac La Biche was without their emergency department for 236 hours in March.

Both closures were both 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, and 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 7 times this past February. In May 2022, Lac La Biche also lost “obstetrical and surgical services for an undetermined period”.

Fairview

Also on the 8th, AHS said that the Fairview Health Complex would have no on-site physician coverage in the emergency department for two 24-hour periods.

The first closure was scheduled to begin at 07:00 on the 11th, and the second was to start at 07:00 on the 15th.

Two weeks later, on the 22nd, AHS reported that they’d be closing this emergency department again 3 more times. Each closure was to last 24 hours and start at 07:00. The first closure was to begin on the 25th, followed by the second closure on the 27th. The final closure was scheduled for the 30th, but was to carry over into the first few hours of April, so the March portion of that closure was only 40 hours.

That’s a total of 136 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, as well as twice in January 2022, once this past October, and 3 times this past November and December.

Coronation

AHS announced yet another closure on the 8th of March. This time for the emergency department at the Coronation Hospital and Care Centre.

In the announcement, AHS sais 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.

For March, that came to 160 total 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 and February.

Rocky Mountain House

On the 27th, AHS announced that the ER in Rocky Mountain House would be closed from 16:00 that evening until 07:00 the following morning.

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 and February 2024. They also lost acute care beds in July 2021 and obstetric services in January 2022.