Drumheller Associated Physicians is hosting a Town Hall Meeting this Friday to shed light on potential changes to the delivery of medical services in the valley and the province.
The Alberta Government is focusing on health care in the province. This comes after the release of the Ernst and Young Review, which makes 57 recommendations on delivery. On February 14, Minister of Health, Tyler Shandro, deemed the voluntary mediation used during physician negotiations was unsuccessful and then introduced a new physician funding framework a week later.
Dr. Michael Beach is a family physician in Drumheller and practices anesthesia. He is hoping the community becomes more engaged in what the future of health care could look like in the valley.
‘The main concerns we want people to understand is what changes they can expect to happen to their direct care,” he said. “What that is going to look like in the clinic, with the reality of what we, as family physicians, are going to have to change in the ways we do business. If we don’t make changes, we are simply going to have to close and lock the doors, Businesses are going to go under.”
“Also understanding there is real potential here for the loss of service in our hospital.”
This could affect obstetrics, anesthesia and even the operating room, he says. His concerns go beyond simply remuneration.
“This is more about advocating for care…I am worried about rural service and worry about rural care,” said Beach.
They are holding the meeting to raise awareness within the community, and they are not the only ones. He says several rural communities are holding Town Halls, including one in Sundre that has had more than 45,000 views on Facebook Live. Others are coming up in Canmore and Rocky Mountain House.
“This is a very standard thing that almost every rural community is doing now because every single group of health care professionals in these communities is petrified of what is happening right now and they want to make sure the community is engaged,” said Beach.
“We need community members to feel engaged to get in touch with their MLA, or whatever else they do because unfortunately, our voices alone aren’t enough to change what is happening at this point.”
The Town Hall meeting is slated for Friday, February 28 at 4:30 p.m. at St. Anthony’s School.

A local man who received a second lease on life with a heart transplant is celebrating it by competing in the 2020 World Transplant Winter Games.
The Winter Games are being held in Banff from February 23-28. Scott Ouellette, owner and operator of Jurassic Bark in Morrin is heading to the games to compete in curling.
This is Ouellette’s second time competing in the games. In 2011 he competed in golf.
“I always keep track of where they are, but it is tough to get away for the summer ones. The winter ones are normally in places like Switzerland, and this is one of the first times it has ever come to North America,” said Ouellette.
The Winter Games encompass 12 different sporting disciplines, including biathlon, curling, skiing events, and snowboarding.
The Mail brought readers Mr. Ouellette’s transplant story in 2013. In 2008, at the age of 28 he was living in Red Deer and one night he began having chest pains playing hockey. He played through the pain and finished the game. At 2 a.m. that evening he couldn’t stand the pain and was taken by ambulance to the Red Deer Hospital. He quickly learned he was having a massive heart attack and was airlifted by STARS to Foothills in Calgary.
“It basically killed the left side of my heart,” he said. He was put on a ventricular assist device but was told he would need a new heart.
It took 113 days to find a donor, and after 12-hours of surgery, the heart took.
In two months he was back at work and back on the golf course. That was nine years ago.
In 2011 he went to his first world games in Sweden and competed in golf, bowling, the 4X100 relay, table tennis, and the ball throw. In 2012 he competed in the Canada Games, winning three gold and bronze medals.
“I have been pretty lucky. Everything has been going well, I haven’t had any issues whatsoever,” he said.
Today he regularly curls in Drumheller and jumped at the opportunity to go to the games.
‘I’ve curled most of my life, so it’s not like it’s new to me,” he said.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun. I have lots of friends that are part of the transplant community.”
He explains for the games, you enter as an individual, and you are put with other players from Canada to compete. He says the games are allowing donor families and donors to compete, alongside recipients.
“You get a few more people out to compete, and a few more donors and donor families show up, which is actually quite nice because really, we owe our lives to them,” said Ouellette
This might not be his last games. In 2021 the Summer Games will be in Houston.
For more information on the games go to www.wtgf.org.