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Hospital adds dialysis capacity
BY RENÉE FRANCOEUR
ADVOCATE STAFF
Red Deer dialysis patients will no
longer be asked to travel outside of the
city for treatment, says Alberta Health
Services.
The dialysis unit has been operating
over its capacity to treat 120 patients
per week for several months, forcing
some patients to drive to outlying units
such as Rocky Mountain House and
Wetaskiwin for the essential treatment
that is required three times a week.
The treatment takes four hours each
time.
According to a media release on
Friday, “additional dialysis capacity
will be added in the short term at Red
Deer Regional Hospital Centre; a solu-
tion that has been in the works for sev-
eral weeks.”
No further details on how this space
has been created were provided.
AHS said three patients were travel-
ling outside of Red Deer for treatment.
They will now receive treatment back
in Red Deer. Two of these were single
women, one 53 and the other 75, who
went public with their plight earlier
this week.
Another patient, Paul Norvila, from
Rimbey, had been going to Red Deer
for the past 11 years for dialysis. He
was told on April 4 that he and his wife
June would have to drive to Wetaski-
win for dialysis.
AHS said it is reaching out to all
Red Deer dialysis patients, “to explain
the capacity challenges we are cur-
rently facing, and to reassure them
that they will not have to travel for
treatment.”
In the longer term, AHS said it is
“working hard to find a solution that
will provide further dialysis capacity
in Red Deer.”
Rosalie Thon of Sylvan Lake said
that while she is glad to be back for
dialysis in Red Deer, she has “lost all
respect for Alberta Health and the Al-
berta government.”
Thon, who drives herself to and
from each dialysis appointment, was
told earlier this month that she would
have to go to Rocky Mountain House
instead of Red Deer for the treatment.
She tried the longer run once and said
she would not drive to Rocky again;
that she would contemplate complete-
ly quitting dialysis instead of endan-
gering herself and others by getting
behind the wheel for 45 minutes after
the draining treatment.
Dialysis is an artificial means to re-
move waste from the blood for those
who have lost the function of their kid-
neys. Without it, the patients will die.
On Thursday, Thon was told she
could come back to Red Deer but that
her dialysis schedule would change
from evenings to mornings.
“I wonder why all of a sudden
they’re not moving anyone now,” Thon
said. “I still have a hard time under-
standing why they picked me in the
first place and disrupted my life but I
guess we have to start a new chapter
and move on.”
Kerry Towle, Wildrose MLA for
Sylvan Lake-Innisfail, was outside the
Red Deer hospital on Friday morning
along with Lacombe-Ponoka MLA Rod
Fox expressing their concerns for di-
alysis patients at the facility. They met
with 75 year-old dialysis patient Joyce
Reynolds of Sylvan Lake, who was told
almost two weeks ago that she would
have to have her next treatment ses-
sion, scheduled for Tuesday, in Rocky.
Reynolds told the Advocate that if
she had to continue travelling to Rocky
in the winter time, she would rath-
er stop dialysis. That decision would
leave her with two weeks to live, she
said.
Towle and Reynolds were sched-
uled to meet with Alberta Health Ser-
vices vice-president for the Central
Zone Kerry Bales on Friday morning
to talk about options, just before AHS
released its statement announcing that
all further travel for dialysis patients
outside of Red Deer had been stopped.
Towle said the limited renal infra-
structure problem is an issue across
the province. But she said the thing
about Red Deer is that it was “no se-
cret” that there was a 10-year time line
to the unit’s capacity and plans should
have been undertaken.
“You can put a mobile dialysis unit
on the floor fairly quickly, we know. ...
We have floors in this hospital that are
empty. Maybe move bureaucrats out of
their offices and put in dialysis units if
that’s what needed. It’s not that hard
to do if you make it a priority,” Towle
said.
“It’s really hard for Albertans to un-
derstand how we are facing this issue
in Alberta when they (the provincial
government) have no problem spend-
ing a billion dollars on severance
packages and coaching and contracts
and none of it is going to direct patient
care. It’s mind boggling.”
Towle and fellow Wildrose MLA
Heather Forsyth issued a statement
later Friday afternoon welcoming
AHS’s decision to expand the dialy-
sis capacity in Red Deer. They noted,
however, that it was only a short-term
change and said they urge AHS to find
a way to permanently provide expand-
ed dialysis support.
rfrancoeur@reddeeradvocate.com
Photo by RENÉE FRANCOEUR/Advocate staff
Kerry Towle, Wildrose MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, chats with Joyce Reynolds and fellow MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka
Rod Fox outside the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre on Friday morning before meeting with Kerry Bales, senior vice
president with Alberta Health Services for the Central Zone. Reynolds, 75, was one of the patients that had been told she
would have to go to Rocky Mountain House for dialysis instead of Red Deer.
PATIENTS WILL NO
LONGER BE REQUIRED
TO GO ELSEWHERE
FOR TREATMENT
‘I STILL HAVE A HARD TIME UNDERSTANDING WHY THEY
PICKED ME IN THE FIRST PLACE AND DISRUPTED MY LIFE
BUT I GUESS WE HAVE TO START A NEW CHAPTER AND
MOVE ON.’
— ROSALIE THON
SYLVAN LAKE
Ponoka veteran honoured
for community service
A Ponoka veteran will be awarded
the Governor General’s Caring Cana-
dian Award for his community service
on Monday.
Hugh Greene served in the air force
during the Second World War. He has
been a member of the Royal Canadian
Legion since 1946, and has served both
at a local level and as Dominion presi-
dent.
Outside the Legion, Greene has
served his community through the
Chamber of Commerce, the Saint Au-
gustine School Board and the Saint
Augustine board of directors.
He has also volunteered as a leader
with Scouts Canada and was the chair
of the Ponoka Royal Canadian Air Ca-
det Squadron.
The Governor General’s Caring Ca-
nadian Award recognizes individuals
who volunteer their time to help oth-
ers and to build a smarter and more
caring nation.
Town of Ponoka, AUPE reach
bargaining deal
A new collective bargaining agree-
ment between the Town of Ponoka and
its unionized employees includes a
13.5 per cent pay increase over the
next three years, with a seven per cent
increase in the first year alone.
Members of the Alberta Union of
Provincial Employees local 118/004 rat-
ified the agreement on Thursday.
The three-year deal includes a sev-
en per cent increase in the first year,
followed by a three per cent increase
and then a 3.5 per cent increase.
“This employer was a pleasure to
deal with from the start of negotia-
tions,” said Ken Curtell, AUPE nego-
tiator. “The town is very supportive of
its employees and grateful of the work
staff do for the community. That’s re-
flected in this agreement.”
LOCAL
BRIEFS