Why We Need an Urgent Conversation on Health Care
By Kelly Allard
This week we heard that pediatric cancer patients are not getting their chemotherapy in a timely manner because there are not enough beds at the Stollery Hospital in Edmonton. Children with cancer already have enough to worry about, now they have to worry about their cancer spreading because our government has failed to invest in health care to keep up with the population increase.
For cancer patients and their families, a delay in treatment is a very scary thing. As a family member of a cancer patient, I can tell you that families feel helpless. I would have happily taken on the burden of the disease and the treatment rather than see my loved one go through it. I can only imagine how parents of children with cancer feel; they must be going through hell.
The Change in Cancer Care Over the Past 35 Years in Alberta
I’m going to use my late husband Carl as an example. Our situation is quite unique - Carl had two different cancers nearly 30 years apart. Here’s how the access to treatment has changed over that time for one person.
1989 - Carl was 35 years old; he had a lump on one of his testicles. We made a call and Carl saw the family doctor within a few days. Carl saw the specialist the next week. The day after the specialist appointment, he had surgery to remove the testicle.
Time from patient concern to treatment - one week.
Did You Know?
The Medicine Hat Regional Hospital did not have a CT Scanner until 1989; Carl was the very first person on it. They used Carl to train the technicians so they put barium in every orifice they could; he was on the table for 3 hours. Carl was always a very good sport, he was happy to be a guinea pig to let people learn.
When the second CT scan showed the cancer had spread, within 5 days Carl was getting chemotherapy at the Tom Baker Cancer Clinic in Calgary - he was there from M-F. He had 3 rounds of chemo and was cured - testicular cancer is one of the most curable cancers when found early.
One time between treatments Carl told me he could not feel sorry for himself. He had run into a pediatric cancer patient about 7 years old. The child told Carl they were going home after completing their last treatment, they’d had 3 years of chemo.
In 2018 at the age of 64, Carl was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. It took weeks to get to see a specialist, it took months to get the diagnostic tests done and to start the chemo. This time he could get treatment in Medicine Hat but the Margery E. Yuill Cancer Clinic had no full time oncologist - we had to wait for one to come down from Red Deer two days a week.
Carl Allard Dec 2018
In the chemo suite, Medicine Hat Regional Hospital (MHRH). He has his “chemo blanket” made for him by our daughter-in-law; she had heard that cancer patients often feel cold.
At Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge
June 2019 - Carl had finished his radiation treatment to stop bleeding from an esophageal stent placement. Radiation was not available in Medicine Hat.
The Difference in Cancer Treatment 30 Years Apart
The first time Carl had cancer, he was diagnosed and had surgery within one week. Within one week of a CT scan, he was getting chemo.
The second time - once it was diagnosed Carl waited about a month to see a specialist. Once the diagnostic exams were done it took 6 weeks to get treatment; he had to wait to see an oncologist. (The patient concerns started much earlier but it was not obvious he had cancer at that time so I just went from time of diagnosis.)
Now in 2025 we have pediatric cancer patients getting their treatment cancelled because there are not enough treatment beds. Carl had a soft spot for children, I know he would be outraged that children are having their chemo cancelled. We should all be outraged!
This is why we need to have an Urgent Conversation about Health Care
Please join the Palliser Friends of Medicare on Tuesday Nov 4 2025 when Dr Paul Parks in association with Friends of Medicare will be hosting an Urgent Conversation About Health Care. Event info here
Did You Know?
As of Nov 2 2025 there are currently TWENTY THREE facilities on the “Temporary Service Reduction” list ranging from ER closures to no obstetric services, most of the reasons are because of staff shortages.
The Alberta government has been advocating for privatizing medical centres claiming that it will shorten wait times. However, we already have staff shortages across Alberta, indeed there is a Canada - wide shortage.
List of Alberta Job Openings for Medical Staff
These new private facilities need staff and will end up taking staff away from the public system - if a nurse, doctor or diagnostic imaging technician has the opportunity to work 9-5, M-F, why wouldn't they want to do that? When medical staff leave the public system, the ones remaining will burn out and they will end up leaving too.
Here is the list of communities experiencing Temporary Service Reductions as of Nov 2 2025. Some of these “temporary” reductions are months long.
