Planned reno of Airdrie Urgent Care Centre put on hold as province considers last-minute pitch
CBC
Planned renovations at the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre have been put on hold while the provincial government considers a new pitch.
The proposal comes from an Airdrie doctor, in partnership with a developer. It could see a new facility built and leased to the province, with a family medical practice attached.
The delay has raised concerns among local health-care advocates, who worry about the impact on patient care and what some see as a lack of transparency in the process.
The renovations were halted on Jan. 11 by the Alberta government. It had committed $8.4 million to increasing the number of beds in urgent care as well as renovating some of the clinics located in the centre. Construction was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Airdrie family physician Dr. Julian Kyne, the director of One Health Associate Medical, is behind the late-hour pitch to Alberta Health.
"I'm looking at ways how we can make the health-care situation in Airdrie better, and this, I've got to say, I'm pretty, pretty darn excited about," he told CBC News.
Kyne says he partnered with Qualico Communities because he had one of the developer's sites in mind for the project.
Kyne runs his own practice and also works at the urgent care centre.
For years, the community of Airdrie has been asking the Alberta government for a new urgent care centre. The city of more than 80,000 doesn't have its own hospital, so the current centre is its primary health-care facility.
In the last provincial budget, the government set aside $3 million for the planning of a North Calgary/Airdrie regional health centre.
Kyne says Airdrie's current health-care facility wasn't purposely built to offer urgent care.
The city's community health centre opened in 1998. It began offering urgent care in 2007 and expanded to 24/7 services in 2017.
Kyne says the centre needs a lot of upgrades and redesigning to fully meet the needs of Airdrie — beyond the planned renos.
He also believes that many patients who come through urgent care could be seen by a family physician instead. But often, he says, they don't have one.
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