Both the province’s predominant political events — the NDP and UCP — have dedicated to hospital enlargement; the NDP saying this week they’ll get shovels in the ground subsequent yr, and the UCP vowing to make good on the $1.8 billion introduced for enlargement in early 2022.

“It’s great that everyone is in support of this project, but the reality is that there’s still a lot to be done. The problem in central Alberta is that we’ve had projects close before, but they never quite delivered. Now we’re closer than ever, but we are very concerned this project might still not get delivered as we need it, when we need it. There can be no slip-ups,” stated Dr. Kym Jim, spokesperson for SHECA.

“You lose a few months here, a few there, and suddenly you’re another year behind. The message hasn’t really changed, but what’s needed is that task force for the hospital to evaluate the problems we’ve gotten into, and a transition plan from that task force that says this is what we can do today to get us from now to completion. Even if you get shovels in the ground next year, it’s a decade probably before this project gets done.”

Dr. Jim says there’s been progress since that final occasion, in that persons are listening to them, nevertheless nobody has made a public dedication.

“We need a point person to give community updates every three or four months so that this project does not fall off the track,” stated Jim. “The sad reality is we’ve seen more positive things happen in the last six months than in the 10 years prior. It has taken an absolute crisis to get us to this point, and that’s a tragedy.”

NDP MLA David Shepherd, who most not too long ago served as Health Critic, was on the rally Saturday.

He says if the get together wins, hospital advocates can relaxation assured that they’ve heard their calls for.

“The folks working at Red Deer Regional have been under enormous pressure and have been making due with an under-resourced facility for some time,” stated Shepherd.

“We owe them as much openness and transparency as we can give them. If we have opportunity to form government, we’d absolutely be open to providing timely updates, clear communication, what timelines we can, and indeed we’d be open to a collaborative task force.”