Dr. Gerry Prince speaks about the future of the city maternity clinic. (CHAT News photo)

By Alex McCuaig

Funding shortfall

City maternity clinic could be closed by April

Oct 16, 2020 | 5:10 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The clock is ticking on the city’s dedicated maternity clinic as a $300,000 annual funding shortfall could result in substantial changes in how hundreds of expectant mothers receive services.

The Family Medicine Maternity Clinic (FMMC) has been serving the community for 17 years, providing a full range of advice and support for mothers annually from the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.

The clinic handles low-risk pregnancies, which one of the clinic’s founders, Dr. Gerry Prince, highlighted is funded differently than high-risk births.

FMMC works to identify those high-risk cases and the funding shortfall for will affect the community as a whole and likely cost the health system more than it will save, he added.

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“We don’t want to see the community service lost because we think this is a critical piece and I think it would leave a big gap in the community service if the maternity clinic were lost,” said Prince.

First-time mother Shyanne Magnus says the clinic was instrumental in the birth of her daughter in May.

“The first-time parents have no idea. Without the (maternity) clinic, we would have no clue about any of the process, about anything to do,” said Magnus. “I think it’ll leave a lot of people in the dark. Honestly, if they get rid of it, what do you do? We relied on it so much. They made us feel safe.”

It was much the same story for Angela Stodalka during the birth of her five-year-old daughter.

“Your own doctor might not recognize the red flags that pop up that say someone at the maternity clinic would see,” said Stodalka. “A bonus of being in the maternity clinic is if something does come up, you’re in the hospital already, you can walk up to labour and delivery or emergency instantly which could save your baby’s life or your life too.”

FMMC was originally operated through a partnership between Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the Palliser Primary Care Network.

However, Prince says changes in the government’s mandate to the province’s five regional primary care networks altered the ability to fund the service and AHS isn’t willing to pick up the tab for operating the clinic out of the hospital.

“Our understanding is that AHS was going to continue on their own but last minute, they said no we’re not able to or willing to fund that,” said Prince.

Prince says without a resolution to the issue, FMMC will likely close in April 2021.

In a statement to CHAT News, AHS says it was the Palliser Primary Care Network’s decision to cease funding the clinic.

“The decision to end the FMMC service was not made by AHS. The FMMC clinic was funded by the Palliser Primary Care Network (PCN), which informed the clinic’s physicians in 2018 that their funding would be reduced,” reads the statement in part. “Then in March 2020, the PCN informed the physicians that funding would be discontinued for the FMMC in both Medicine Hat and Brooks in 2021.”

AHS says it does not recover any overhead costs for its part in the clinic nor has funding been shifted to the agency.

PCN executive director Treena Klassen was not available for comment Friday.