Local stakeholders invited to provincial dialogue on primary care
The provincial government appears to be responsive to the needs of the community as next week the valley will be visited by the Minister of Tourism, and stakeholders will also have their say in the future of health care in the province.
On Tuesday, August 14 the Honourable Christine Cusanelli, Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation will be touring the Canadian Badlands. She is a guest of Canadian Badlands Foundation. The tour will begin with a luncheon at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, and following that Mayor Terry Yemen will provide Minister Cusanelli a tour of the Badlands Community Facility.
“The Minister of Tourism, it's a no brainer that we should meet her,” said Yemen, adding he is excited to show off the Badlands Community Facility.
Her tour will then head to Dinosaur Provincial Park. The next day she will be in Medicine Hat and Brooks.
Yemen said he was also contacted by Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey to assist in hosting a conversation about health care in the community.
“Minister Horne has requested that over the summer a “conversation” with Albertans takes place about adequate access to health care. Albertans have made it clear they want better access to publicly funded health care for themselves and their families. In order to improve access we need to better understand the current deficiencies, community expectations and the potential efficiencies in the delivery of health care in our communities,” Casey states in correspondence.
Yemen said the meeting will be at 2 p.m. on August 14 following the visit by Minister Cusanelli.
“They had promised to come around to the communities and talk about health care over the summer,” said Yemen.
Yemen explains that following this year's provincial election he wrote a letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffith expressing his and council's concern that the Drumheller-Stettler Riding no longer has a sitting MLA who is a member of the government. Yemen felt it was important community stakeholders participate in this discussion on Primary Care.
“I had written them a letter that said ‘hey guys, we don’t have an MLA who is in power so we don’t want to be overlooked, so they scheduled one in Drumheller.'”
He said they have invited a number of stakeholders in the community to the discussion.
