Alberta Health Services documents show what Fort MacMurray medical professionals and residents already know, there is a lack of sufficient maternity and child care space at the local Fort MacMurray hospital. In addition there is also a shortage of ob-gyn practitioners and general physicians who have experience in maternity care in the area. Rachel Notley, Alberta’s NDP Party Leader, visited Fort MacMurray on Friday, and she brought documents with her that were released a few hours before Notley visited the Sawridge Inn & Conference Centre to meet supporters. Notley responded to questions from the media by stating “When it comes to frontline services, we are not getting a lot of the important stuff people feel we should get in Alberta. Healthcare is stretched. Education is stretched. Care for seniors is very stretched. All over the province, vital services are stretched.”
When maternity and child care space, and local options at the Fort MacMurray hospital, were discussed Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Mike Allen explained that “We only have three ob-gyns in town and the chief of staff is trying very hard to attract more ob-gyns, as well as general practitioners specializing in maternity care. They just don’t have the numbers. You can double the facility’s size, but at the end of the day, you will have an empty floor if you can’t get any staff up here.” Notley also said “To me, those 9% cuts look like major increases to class size. We should be worried about a whole bunch of kids taking years to meet basic educational goals. It looks like more wait times in emergency rooms. It looks like a growing inability to deal with mental health. It looks like much needed infrastructure getting delayed.”