By Chris Brown

Siksika Nation eligible for grant program

Province announces plan to boost surgeries

Sep 11, 2020 | 11:04 AM

The Siksika Nation northwest of Brooks is included in a new Indigenous stream grant program that allows it to develop a proposal to be a part of Alberta’s plan to reduce surgical wait times in the province.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro today announced new and existing chartered surgical facilities will be significantly expanded to provide more publicly funded surgeries, leaving hospital operating rooms available to perform more complex surgeries.

Siksika Nation Chief Ouray Crowfoot is pleased with the support.

“Siksika Nation is a leader in the area of health, not only on reservation lands but for all of southern Alberta. We pride ourselves on providing first-rate services and a first-rate program that just happens to be located on a reservation,” says Crowfoot in a release. “With the support of the Government of Alberta, and with funding to assist Siksika to provide necessary upgrades, we feel the positive results will prove to be a great return on every dollar Alberta invests in our community.”

Alberta Health expects the expansion will happen in urban and rural communities across the province. A formal request for proposals will be posted by Alberta Health Services this fall.

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The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March forced all scheduled surgeries to be put on hold until May 4, causing a backlog of surgeries. A 60 per cent reduction in surgeries caused a backlog of about 25,000 surgeries. So far, 88 per cent of that backlog has been cleared.

Alberta has a plan to fully clear the backlog and will increase surgical activity volume to 150 per cent to meet its 2023 Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) platform commitment of providing all scheduled surgery within clinically acceptable times.

Shandro says he knows it will take hard work from the health-care industry, “but I know that they’ll do whatever it takes to do this, because it’s not my goal, it’s theirs.”

The other First Nations included in the Indigenous stream grant program are:

• Enoch Cree Nation, west of Edmonton
• Maskwacis, home to four Cree First Nation bands southeast of Edmonton
• Tsuut’ina Nation, southwest of Calgary
• Bigstone Cree Nation, southwest of Fort McMurray, with a health facility in Edmonton
• Blood Tribe, southwest of Lethbridge