8 rural Alberta hospitals lost ER service last month

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

Smoky Lake

The first closure was announced on the 1st, 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 7 closures. 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 2nd, followed by closures over the next two days. They’d pick up again on the 8th and continue for the subsequent 3 days.

Nearly 3 weeks later, on the 18th, AHS announced 5 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 4 days.

11 days later, they declared 8 more 13-hour closures, which were each scheduled to start at 19:00, with the first beginning that evening. Most of the closures would occur in May, however, so the April portion of the closure lasted for just 18 hours in total.

That’s a combined 174 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; and this past January, February, and March.

Swan Hills

On the 2nd of April, AHS announced that the emergency department at the Swan Hills Healthcare Centre would be closed for 84 hours.

The closure would start at 07:00 that morning and wouldn’t end until 19:00 on the 5th.

The closures were because AHS hadn’t hired enough doctors or nurses for this hospital.

The first 12 hours of the closure on each day was a result of what AHS called “a lack of available physicians and an inability to secure locum coverage”. The second half of the closure each day was due to what they called “an unexpected lack of registered nursing staff and an inability to secure temporary coverage”.

Nurses were on hand in the emergency department between 07:00 and 19:00 each day, however, but only to provide triage, assessment, and referrals.

A couple of weeks later, AHS reported that they’d be closing the emergency department every night for several weeks. Each closure would begin at 19:00—starting with the 15th—and last 12 hours, lasting until 6 May. The April portion of the closure works out to be 185 hours.

However, on the 29th, AHS said that they had found nursing coverage starting that evening. As a result, the overnight closure resulted in 168 hours lost.

This was a combined loss of 252 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 of this year.

Fairview

AHS noted on their website on the 9th 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 the following, and the second was to start at 07:00 on the 12th. However, they ended up finding someone eventually to cover the closure, but only after 17:00 on the 13th. This reduced the closure to 34 hours.

Just days later, on the 15th, AHS reported that they’d be closing this emergency department again for an additional 72 hours, starting at 07:00 the following morning.

Ten day later, on the 25th, they announced a 24-hour closure, this time starting at 07:00 the 26th. In that same announcement, they indicated that the emergency department would also close from 07:00 on the 29th until 07:00 on 7 May. The April portion of that second closure would last only 41 hours.

That’s a total of 171 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 and twice in March.

Lac La Biche

On the 12th, 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 3 closures.

Start	End	Hours
16:00, 14 Apr	08:00, 16 Apr	16
08:00, 17 Apr	08:00, 18 Apr	24
08:00, 22 Apr	07:00, 22 Apr	9

Combined, Lac La Biche was without their emergency department for 49 hours in April.

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

Drayton Valley

On 16 April, Drayton Valley found out that they were losing their emergency department when AHS announced they planned to close it for 16 hours, starting at 16:00 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 twice before, back in September 2022 and July 2023.

Beaverlodge

The next announcement was for the emergency department at the Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital.

The closure was announced on the 17th and set to begin at 08:00 the following day and last for 24 hours.

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, assessment, and referrals.

Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures in May, July, August, November, and December 2022; January, March, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; and March 2024.

Sylvan Lake

The following day, on the 17th, 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 19th.

Like so many others, this closure 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, Februrary, and March.

This marks 27 months in a row that Sylvan Lake has lost ambulatory care service, not including the regularly scheduled overnight closures.

Fort Macleod

On the 25th, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Fort Macleod Health Centre for 12 hours.

They planned to close the emergency department as of 20:00 that evening and opening at 08:00 the following morning.

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

On the last day of April, AHS announced that they were closing this emergency department for 12 hours yet again. The closure was to run from 20:00 that evening until 08:00 on 1 May. The April portion of that closure was just 4 hours.

That’s a combined 16 hours that AHS closed this emergency department down last month.

In both cases, 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 for 15 hours this past September and December.

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 a year and a half. That’s a long time to be just temporary.

The community had no emergency department access for 364 hours in April.

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.