Health woes

It’s good news for Westlock-area residents that Alberta Health Services and the union representing thousands of support workers across the province came to an agreement to prevent any further work stoppage after last Thursday’s wildcat strike.

But the whole incident, which saw about 60 locals walk off the job last week, raises concerns about how the health superboard is managing the system.

We were told having one health authority would yield substantial efficiencies in the system, allowing more money to reach the front lines and help patients.

Instead, we’re seeing an increase in wages for management-level positions and front-line service workers are being asked to tighten their belts. This isn’t an acceptable scenario anywhere, especially not in the richest province in one of the richest countries in the world.

To make matters worse, it’s like pulling teeth to try to get the full story out of AHS. It’s the health authority’s policy that nobody is allowed to talk to media without prior authorization. Obtaining that authorization involves going through the communications department, where a handful of staff handle media requests from every news outlet in the province.

Staff members know this as well and are understandably hesitant to talk about what’s going on with the health-care system for fear of losing their jobs.

This had a direct impact on us last week, since we could not speak with any hospital administrators to find out how, if at all, the strike action affected services in Westlock.

All we got was a vaguely worded media release assuring us that AHS was doing everything they could to ensure patient care wasn’t compromised — whatever that means.

Instead of being able to provide our readers with specific information about how this labour dispute is affecting services in our own community, and how Westlock-area workers are specifically affected by the contract negotiations, we must rely on speaking with union officials and balance what we hear from them with ambiguous and sometimes misleading media releases from AHS.

Undoubtedly, there are aspects of any organization the fly under the radar and are not subject to media scrutiny. In some cases, withholding information from the media might even be necessary.

But we’re talking about the health care system, something that’s absolutely crucial to every single Albertan, and we deserve better.