Last month, I reported that Alberta Health Services had cut service at hospitals in 14 communities this past November, 13 of which lost their emergency department.
This is a continuation of similar closures starting in May 2021. 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 December, as well. Sure enough, there were.
Here’s what I found.
Hinton
The December closure that was actually announced in December was for the emergency department at the Hinton Health Centre, which would happen 4 times over the first week of the month.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 13:00, 1 December | 07:00, 3 December | 42 hours |
| 13:00, 3 December | 07:00, 4 December | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 4 December | 07:00, 5 December | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 5 December | 07:00, 6 December | 18 hours |
| 96 hours |
A week later, on the 8th, AHS posted about 3 more emergency department closures in Hinton.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 13:00, 8 December | 07:00, 9 December | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 9 December | 07:00, 11 December | 42 hours |
| 13:00, 11 December | 07:00, 12 December | 18 hours |
| 78 hours |
4 more closures came just 4 days later, on the 12th.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 21:00, 13 December | 07:00, 14 December | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 14 December | 07:00, 15 December | 10 hours |
| 19:00, 15 December | 07:00, 16 December | 12 hours |
| 13:00, 16 December | 07:00, 17 December | 18 hours |
| 50 hours |
If 12 closures were not enough, AHS added another 9 closures on the 19th, the first of which would start the next day.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 23:00, 20 December | 07:00, 21 December | 8 hours |
| 13:00, 23 December | 07:00, 24 December | 18 hours |
| 21:00, 24 December | 07:00, 25 December | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 25 December | 07:00, 26 December | 10 hours |
| 21:00, 26 December | 07:00, 27 December | 10 hours |
| 13:00, 27 December | 07:00, 28 December | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 28 December | 07:00, 29 December | 18 hours |
| 13:00, 29 December | 07:00, 31 December | 18 hours |
| 21:00, 31 December | 23:59, 31 December | 10 hours |
| 120 hours |
All of these closures were a result of AHS not having hired a sufficient number of physicians, or what they called “a clinical personnel shortage and an inability to secure temporary coverage”.
The community lost their emergency room for a combined 344 hours in December.
This emergency department also experienced closures in May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2024, and January, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November of 2025.
Smoky Lake
Two days later, on the 3rd, AHS declared that they were shutting down the emergency department at the George McDougall Healthcare Centre in Smoky Lake 3 times during December.
| Start | End | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 16:00, 4 December | 08:00, 5 December | 16 hours |
| 16:00, 11 December | 08:00, 12 December | 16 hours |
| 16:00, 18 December | 08:00, 19 December | 16 hours |
| 48 hours |
A second closure announcement came on the 23rd. It was to start at 08:00 the following morning and last until 08:00 on the 1st. AHS announced on the 30th, however, that they found coverage for the final 24 hours of the original closure. That resulted in a net loss of their emergency department to 144 hours.
Technically, they said that it would “be without onsite physician coverage”, not that it would be explicitly shut down.
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 triage and assess patients and to refer them to healthcare facilities in other communities, if needed.
The emergency department at this hospital was closed for a combined 192 hours last month.
Oh, also in December, AHS announced that they were expanding their virtual physician pilot programme to Smoky Lake (as well as the community of St. Paul).
The programme lets healthcare workers on site connect with an AHS physician by telephone or videoconference for patients with non-life-threatening issues. This off-site virtual physician collaborates with local staff, speaks with patients, orders tests and medications, and transfers or discharges patients.
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, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November 2025.
Fort Macleod
AHS announced on the 4th that they were closing the emergency department in the Fort Macleod Health Centre for just 2 hours, beginning at 10:00 on the 7th. This was to accommodate a planned emergency power shutdown.
Later in the month, on the 29th, this emergency department, once again did not have enough clinical personnel on site. This new closure had no posted start time, but it was set to end at 19:00 that night. The HTML code of the posting showed a publication time of 02:00, which would mean a 17-hour shutdown.
During both closures, nurses were on site, but only to care for long-term care residents.
Fort Macleod lost its emergency department for a combined 19 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, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November 2025.
Milk River
The town of Milk River also received a closure notice on the 4th. The emergency department at the Milk River Health Centre was to be closed from 07:00 the following morning until 19:00 that evening, lasting 12 hours.
A week and a half later, on the 15th, AHS published a second closure for this emergency department. The announcement never specified when the closure was to begin, only that it would end at 08:00 on the 16th.
According to the HTML code of the announcement, it was published around 04:30 on the morning of the 5th. If this is accurate, that would mean a closure of about 27.5 hours.
The same thing happened on the 19th. AHS announced a closure with no start time. The HTML showed a publication time of around 01:00 on the 18th, and the announced end time was 17:00 on the 19th. That is a total of 40 hours.
AHS posted a fourth closure on the 22nd. This time, they actually had a start time: 08:00 on the 23rd. It was scheduled to end 23 hours later, at 07:00 on the 24th. However, the next day, they said they were extending it by 12 hours.
With just 2 days left in the month, AHS announced the final closure for this hospital’s emergency department on the 30th. It was to begin at 07:00 on the 31st and last for 7 hours, ending at 14:00 that afternoon.
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.
The combined length of all closure of this emergency department last month was around 122 hours.
Milk River also lost their ER in February, May, September, October, and December of 2022; in January, February, May, July, August, September, October, November, and December of 2023; in January, June, and December 2024; and in August, September, and November 2025.
Beaverlodge
On the 5th, AHS said that they were shutting down the emergency department at Beaverlodge Municipal Hospital.
The closure was to begin at 20:00 that evening and last 12 hours, until 08:00 on the 6th.
A second closure was announced on the 18th. It, too, was to last for 12 hours and beginning at 20:00 on the evening of the announcement.
Finally, AHS published another closure for Beaverlodge’s emergency department on Christmas Eve. This time, however, it was supposed to for 24 hours, beginning at 08:00 on Christmas morning and ending at 08:00 on Boxing Day.
Like the others, these closures were all a result of AHS’s inability to hire enough physicians.
In December, this emergency department was closed for a combined 48 hours.
This was not the first time Beaverlodge’s emergency department saw closures either. It was closed in May, July, August, November, and December 2023; January, March, May, June, August, September, and October 2024; and June, July, August, September, October, and November 2025.
Ponoka
AHS announced a closure for the emergency department at the Ponoka Hospital and Care Centre on the 5th.
The announcement never specified when the closure was to begin, only that it would end at 08:00 on the 6th.
According to the HTML code of the announcement, it was published just before 10:00 on the morning of the 5th. If this is accurate, that would mean a closure of about 22 hours.
As expected, the closure 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; June 2024; and April and June 2025.
Hardisty
On the 23rd, AHS said they were closing the emergency department at the Hardisty Health Centre.
The closure was scheduled to begin at 07:00 on Christmas Eve and end at 07:00 on the 30th, for a total of 144 hours.
The cause was “a gap in physician coverage”.
However, earlier in the month, AHS announced they were reducing the opening hours of this emergency department “temporarily”. Until further notice, it will be closed every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and it will be open on the other days for 10 hours each, between 07:00 and 17:00.
That announcement did not specify when that would begin, so I assume it was as of the date of the announcement, which was the 4th. If so, that is a combined 419 hours last month.
When we add both sets of closures, we end up with a total of 563 hours that this emergency department was closed in December.
Nursing staff were on hand for assessment and provide appropriate care. They also were to refer patients, where needed, to alternate care facilities in surrounding communities.
Hardisty also lost their emergency department in November and December 2023; August and December 2024; and June, July, and September 2025.
Athabasca
On Christmas Eve, AHS announced that they were closing the emergency department at the Athabasca Healthcare Centre on Boxing Day.
The closure would start at 18:00 that evening and end 12 hours later, at 06:00 on the 27th.
Nursing staff were on hand in the emergency department during these times to provide assessment and triage services, as well as refer patients to surrounding communities, if necessary.
This isn’t the first time the community lost their emergency department. AHS also closed it in April 2022; December 2023; and August and November 2025
Ongoing closures
Keep in mind that these are just the closures announced in December.
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 372 hours in December.
As well, since September 2024, Elk Point has lost their emergency department for 25 hours starting at 07:00 every Wednesday. For December, that was 5 Wednesdays, for a combined 125 hours.
Last year, AHS said they would close down the emergency department in Coronation for 24 hours every Thursday for the foreseeable future, as well as every weekend. This has since been adjusted to between 08:00 on Tuesdays until 08:00 on Wednesdays, and again between 08:00 on Thursdays and 08:00 on Fridays. For December, that came to 216 hours.
