UCP CUTS DRIVE DOCTORS OUT OF SUNDRE HOSPITAL

EDMONTON -- Tyler Shandro’s attack on Alberta doctors means fewer doctors in Sundre Hospital’s emergency room and labour and delivery room.

Last night, doctors at the Moose and Squirrel Medical Clinic in Sundre announced they were giving notice to AHS that after 20 years of service, they would no longer be able to work in the hospital’s emergency or delivery rooms due to provincial funding cuts.

“The reality is we weren’t able to figure out a way that we could adapt to these cuts and still provide the same comprehensive care we used to,” said Dr. Rob Warren. “We just weren’t able to. So that puts us in the terrible position of having to choose what we can continue to do and what we have to give up. Every rural community and clinic is having those same conversations right now. They're coming to the same conclusions, that we won't be able to deliver full-service care anymore.”

“We are devastated that it has come to this,” said Dr. Michelle Warren. “This is the consequence of the government’s decisions and the government’s cuts.”

“Tyler Shandro was warned as early as November that his cuts would devastate rural healthcare,” said David Shepherd, NDP Official Opposition Critic for Health. “Doctors have pleaded with him to just wait until the danger of this deadly pandemic has passed. But he has pressed forward with his dangerous war on Alberta health care. Sundre isn’t the first rural community to lose healthcare services and it won’t be the last.

“The people of Alberta are coming to their porches and windows and balconies to cheer for the frontline healthcare professionals who are risking their lives to protect us all. Meanwhile Tyler Shandro is insulting them online, harassing them at their homes, and cutting their pay. He must resign.”