Bow Island Health Centre February 6, 2020 (photo courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chantal Wagner

AHS plan to come in May 2020

Bow Island Health Centre spared closure following AHS report

Feb 6, 2020 | 4:56 PM

BOW ISLAND, AB – The Bow Island Health Centre is one of the 83 smaller hospitals in the province.

It was part of the provincial government’s review of Alberta Health Services which was unveiled this week.

The hospital has been spared from closure, but the town’s mayor Gordon Reynolds worries these smaller healthcare facilities are seen as low hanging fruit.

“In our case, it’s not just Bow Island, it’s the County of Forty Mile, patients come here from Cypress County and Newell to the north of us. It’s a key piece of the health care picture in southern Alberta.”

While it may have been spared from closure the mayor believes changes will be made when it comes to service provided.

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“A lot of the talk in the report was around the emergency departments and how they’re not always really busy late at night and that sort of thing, so what’s going to happen there,” said Reynolds.

According to the report, 77 emergency departments meet the criteria to be closed or reclassified.

The report does not list specific locations but notes many emergency rooms average 3 patients per night between 11 PM and 7 AM.

Because of this, the report suggests reduced operating hours could be more suitable.

But the NDP worries about the impact this could have on seniors living in rural areas.

“Many seniors that need emergency care will have to be taken away from their community, putting greater pressure on them and their families and reducing their chances of recovery,” according to Rachel Notley.

For residents in Bow Island, they feel strongly about their hospital and the services it provides.

“It’s part of our community it keeps our little town going. It serves the surrounding area, which we even notice it that there’s a lot of the Hat that comes out because of the lineups there (at Medicine Hat). So it’s extremely important, it’s overwhelmed usually,” a resident told Chat News.

“Too far to go to these other hospitals,” says another resident.

And a third told Chat News, “The hospital is very important, we have very good healthcare.”

AHS has 100 days to come up with a plan for this report and we won’t know how it would impact hospital services.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual at the Bow Island Health Centre.

The full performance review report can be found by visiting this link.