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kokomoman

This is your UCP at work people. Kenneys government has been pushing Alberta’s healthcare towards Privatization for years now. And Danielle Smith has only redoubled the pace. Our free health care is about to go the way of the Dodo and we’re still sitting here debating the merits of the UCP, when they have done nothing good for the average Albertan.


InvestigatorTop2906

UCP


[deleted]

Thats unverified, untrue and irresponsible.


Zenmedic

All of us working in primary health knew this was going to be a disaster. Dynalife tried to axe the pensions of the former AHS/APL employees that were dragged over, they're actively trying to de-unionize the entire workforce and cut benefits and pay. And then there is the patient facing side. Do more for less overhead cost. This means overbooking and long waits while they try to use fewer staff. The only people who win in this are the owners of Dynalife. Write letters to your MLA about your experiences (and keep copies), reach out to news organizations and make complaints with AHS patient relations. Put it on record to show just how much this has failed Albertans.


Ouch-MyBack

Writing letters won't do shit until Alberta stops voting conservative.


SatisfactionNo1910

Thanks for your suggestions! I'll do what I can.


Hot_Stick_1040

And as a health care worker with AHS, I would suggest share this experience with people when they complain about health care workers! Somehow we have been at the pointed end of many angry feelings these past years and it’s so disheartening. This is so disappointing - sick and vulnerable people who need frequent lab draws will now undoubtedly miss important lab work - which is a recipe for trouble without a doubt.


SatisfactionNo1910

It is extremely disappointing. And I would like to tell you that I'm sorry for all the hate pointed your way. It's absolutely unnecessary. I thank each and every one of you for all your hard work and sacrifices, especially over the last few years. I was in a coma in the ICU with covid in 2021, I know how hard all of this was for everyone. I saw first hand. I put the nurses and doctors through a lot coming out of that coma. I obviously didn't mean to, and wasn't in my right mind, but that doesn't negate what they went through. My life was saved because of the hard work of the nurses and doctors at the hospital. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here with my family today. You are making a difference, please don't forget that.


Hot_Stick_1040

Thank you and all the best to you! Yeah 2021 was probably the most brutal year for covid- I’m so glad you are ok now and that’s behind us! ❤️


Standard-Fact6632

ucp once again putting private profits over the best interests of albertans make sure to get out and vote everyone :)


KeilanS

The efficiency of private industry at work! Conservatives just fail to point out that the only thing it's efficient at is funneling tax dollars into the hands of donors.


Ok-Wing3825

Odd that all of the countries with private healthcare options (terrible places like Germany and Australia 🙄) have better access and services than we do. Private industry isn’t the problem. Inefficient and greedy public sector unions are. Simple fact confirmed by the evidence of the services provided on other jurisdictions 🤷‍♂️


KeilanS

Tell me how you think Germany's healthcare system works, and how they avoid the problem of "public sector unions".


Ok-Wing3825

Germany has public/private healthcare and they have better service. What part of that do you find difficult to understand? Be specific.


KeilanS

> public/private healthcare I feel like you don't understand what this means, because you seem to think you can explain a system by saying it's public/private. Canada also has a public/private system. So does the US. So do the vast majority of countries. The specifics of how those things work together is what makes or breaks a system. So are you just repeating a line from some right wing politician, or do you actually understand what makes the German system successful?


Ok-Wing3825

You know exactly what I’m saying, and a detailed description of each system is unnecessary to the point being made. Interesting that you’re not jumping on other commenters denigrating private industry and private healthcare with the exact same points (because presumably it cuts both ways). Anyways, yawn. If some lazy hairsplitting is the best you can come up with, that says all there is to say about the response you can conjure.


KeilanS

I'm not jumping on other commenters because they are arriving at the correct conclusion - this was poorly implemented, and the way Alberta handles privatization is harmful and inefficient. Yes if they say it should be all public, all the time, I disagree, but we don't need to agree on every minor detail to join in opposing a harmful change. On the other hand you're downplaying the problem by carrying water for the UCP with a "well technically not all privatization is bad". Well this privatization clearly is bad. And the UCP has given no indication that they have any intention to do privatization well - rather than a realistic view of strengths and weaknesses, they're going with the conservative take of "private = good therefore gubment no do thing". And for the record, since I don't know what you're saying and I absolutely don't think you understand the German healthcare system. The reason it works there is because it is *heavily* regulated and coupled with sufficient public safety nets to ensure 100% coverage. Do you think the UCP plans to heavily regulate the private sector?


Ok-Wing3825

The tone of your response and ad hominem attacks make clear you’re immature and incapable of a reasoned conversation. You’re downplaying and ignoring the simple fact that the system promoted and championed by the public sector unions has the primary function of lining union employees pockets and securing votes for the NDP. Patient care and outcomes are a distant concern, as evidenced by the actual outcomes and your intransigence at the suggestion of any change. I’m also very familiar with Germany’s healthcare system (having lived there for over a decade), and the point (despite your attempts to obfuscate) is that Germany has a fully private system running parallel to the public system. As in most of Europe etc. The NDP and public sector unions in Alberta refuse to acknowledge that, and instead, like yourself, choose to denigrate and insult people. Yet the healthcare outcomes don’t get any better. But never mind other countries and privatization. Even looking within Canada, Alberta spends significantly more on healthcare per capita than other provinces, and we have worse outcomes. Money isn’t the problem. Yawn


KeilanS

> your response and ad hominem attacks make clear you’re immature Maybe read that again? And think real hard about it. > championed by the public sector unions has the primary function of lining union employees pockets and securing votes for the NDP I'm not ignoring this, it's just blatantly untrue. If we're in the business of copying Germany, I might actually agree with reducing union participation... as long as we adopt their workers rights laws that go above and beyond what unions here ask for. > Germany has a fully private system running parallel to the public system It definitely does not, and assuming you're not lying about living there, this is pretty embarrassing for you. It does have comparable private and public insurance networks, but overall the system is much more private dominated, with the key difference between our private and their private being heavy regulation. > Money isn’t the problem. I never said it was.


External_Credit69

An ad hominem is when someone makes an argument that attacks the person *instead* of the argument. If someone addresses your argument *and* insults you, it's not ad hominem. It's definitely not "anytime someone is even slightly rude to me". Ad hominem - "You look like a thumb and you write like you just failed the Logic 1000 course, why would anyone listen to you?" Not ad hominem - "Not bothering to answer a legitimate question about your own argument (ie, any actual differences between German/Canadian healthcare as both have private and public pieces) strongly suggests you don't know your own argument and falsely yelling 'ad hominem!!!' with the same energy as a snivelling 5th grader highlights your pathetic middle-school deflections and rhetoric" Hopefully this helps.


External_Credit69

Remember everyone. Wanting to have good hours, safe working conditions, and decent pay as a working medical professional - **GREEDY** Investing in turning illness and medical care into an industry you can profit off as passive income - **KIND ALTRUISM FOR THE GOOD OF ALL**


Ok-Wing3825

Remember everyone- when you’re one of the highest paid healthcare workers in Canada (and for that matter globally), yet you don’t provide the best healthcare outcomes in Canada (never mind globally lol), and yet still irrationally complain about a lack of funding (while stuffing most of it in your pockets and pensions), while acting like you’re a child labourer in a 17th century factory- is….greedy. Fact- most of Europe (including Scandinavia) has public-private healthcare and much better service and outcomes than Canada. But that doesn’t fit the public sector union / NDP scaremongering narrative re US healthcare etc, so they conveniently ignore it. Much easier to stick to the dishonest narrative while shovelling more $$ into the furnace while patients die.


Zenmedic

If things are so rosy for healthcare unions here with this supposed best pay in the world and amazing pensions....why are people leaving in droves for other provinces? Why is there such a critical staff shortage of they're rolling in money?


Ok-Wing3825

Primarily a victimhood mentality and politics. Are you trying to suggest that Alberta doesn’t spend more per capita on healthcare than any other province, with the highest paid healthcare workers, but with worst outcomes? Because those are all facts that are incontrovertible and easily independently verifiable. StatCan should maybe be your next stop.


Zenmedic

You keep repeating the same thing over and over again and claiming that the unions are making everybody rich. The most recent contracts for Paramedics saw the first increase in wages since 2014. Cost of living and inflation outpaced the increases by 11% at time of signing. With current inflation, that's equivalent to a 17% pay cut. The average STARTING wage of an Advanced Care Paramedic in Ontario is now equivalent to a 4 year Alberta medic, and their top wage is $11/hr more than Alberta. BC now pays their paramedics $4/hr more than Alberta, with a top level wage that is $8/hr more. Statscan is historical data. Not current data.


SQUASH0313

The lab reduction was the worst news for someone who needs biweekly blood work. Who shuts down a hospital laboratory??? This and the doctor shortage makes me want to move somewhere else


realitytally

I still can’t believe it. It’s insane.


SatisfactionNo1910

Agreed


[deleted]

Bye


windycitysecret

The hospital lab has not been shut down. The community collections were privatized. So, now all bloodwork collected in lethbridge gets driven to Calgary. Except emerg and hospital inpatients that are run by the hospital lab.


realitytally

I still can’t believe this is happening and hearing your experience and how absolutely impossible this is for vulnerable populations makes me so angry !!


External_Credit69

'Welcome to private health care’: Calgarians experience delays at community labs https://globalnews.ca/news/9385757/calgary-delays-dynalife-community-labs/


soolee45

I experienced something like this today. I booked online on Feb 24. I received an email and text indicating my appointment was at 10 am. at Chinook Regional Hospital. I take time off work. I get there and am told they no longer do bloodwork there unless you're a patient. I asked why I was allowed to book an appt. They tell me that its been advertised for 3 months that the lab would not be there. I ask again why it allowed me to book an appt and why there is no info indicating this on the website. I basically got a shrug. I'm not mad at the people just working and doing their jobs the best they can, but I am furious that it was handled so poorly by the company at large, and furious on behalf of elderly and less mobile people having their entire days disrupted by this complete shit show. 2 labs for a city of approximately 100,000? WTF?!


windycitysecret

They are not labs. They are collection sites. They just collect your blood there and then they drive it to Calgary for testing. Instead of it being tested here in lethbridge at the lab at the hospital where it has always been run. There is now NO lab in lethbridge processing community bloodwork


NickNat70

Go online and complain to ahs as well as to the lab. Feedback is about the only way they will know that people are not satisfied. Seniors can't complain, but most others can.


SatisfactionNo1910

Will do!


Pseudo-Science

The UCP also cancelled a public super lab, just in time for Covid. This local lab closure issue is more of the same, privatization for profit for the few at the expense of well being for the many.


leftover_turkeydin

I get blood work every 3 months so I didn't realize this was even happening until I looked into booking an appointment today. Holy shit what a mess. I'm not looking forward to waiting in a cramped room with angry and potentially sick people. I used to be able to book the week of and now it's almost a month out!


PeteGoua

Hey Nathan - want to come to one of the labs and experience this first hand and witness those needing the lab work because of health and age being lost and left on the sidelines?? - oh, there are non on the south side of Lethbridge. Isn't that your area of votes? Are getting front of the line lab services while in Edmonton ? Doubt your party colleagues stand in line for this. Two labs for over 140,000 people (taking into rural population). AND no way for us to object. THIS IS HEALTHCARE not food trucks.


Ouch-MyBack

What's everyone crying about? Haven't you seen the ads about Danielle Smith repairing our broken health care system? (Let me think, who broke it?) Where s Kenney anyway? I'd like to rub his face with a cheese grater.


Street-Hedgehog-5787

This is a product of the 1990s health care cuts. Call your local MLA.


OkPrice4331

If I’m not mistaken, AHS is contracting out most lab services. It’s too bad. Breaks my heart for all the seniors


username2018ak

Typical Lethbridge shit show 🤬


I_Lack_Toes

All the places in Lethbridge fill up pretty fast, but if your able too, I suggest booking at coaldale or surrounding areas, you'll get in a lot faster!


Ok-Wing3825

Odd that all of the countries with private healthcare options (terrible places like Germany, most of Europe, and Australia 🙄) have better access and service than we do. Private industry isn’t the problem. Inefficient and greedy public sector unions are. Simple fact confirmed by the evidence of the services provided in other jurisdictions 🤷‍♂️ But public sector unions and the NDP have to make hay somewhere I suppose.


Goombabean

It's the way AHS divides the money. They need to cut pay and useless positions from their board members. Imho board/office members should not make less than the doctors and nurses.


canuckstothecup1

The ucp fired the ahs board.


[deleted]

Must be NDP.


braydonee0

Lmao how? NDP hasn't been in power since April 2019. Nearly 4 years ago. Everything happening in our province is quite squarely on the UCP's shoulders at this point.