Coaldale Town Council voted unanimously to support the City of Lethbridge’s physician recruitment and advocacy efforts during a regular meeting held Dec. 9.
City of Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen, along with Government Relations Manager Gerald Gauthier, appeared as a delegation before Council to deliver a presentation. The presentation highlighted the growing need for physicians, including specialists in the region, which is leading to longer patient wait times and increasing pressure on the healthcare system.
According to data from Alberta Health Services, from the 2021/22 fiscal year to the 2023/24 fiscal year, Coaldale residents visited the Chinook Regional Hospital a total of 8,622 times. From September 2022 through to September 2024, Lethbridge residents visited the Coaldale Ambulatory Clinic a total of 11,399 times, which amounts to 51 per cent of total visits at the facility.
What this data shows is a shared challenge for residents in both communities. “There’s not only a lack of access, but a lack of timely access to acute and/or primary care,” notes the Town of Coaldale.
While Coaldale residents have no choice but to travel to Lethbridge to see specialists and access emergency services, Lethbridge residents are now choosing to travel to Coaldale to avoid long wait times at the City’s walk-in clinics and the Chinook Regional Hospital.
For this reason, Town of Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn has agreed to sign a letter to Alberta Minister of Health Adrianna LaGrange requesting the government to continue to make the recruitment and retention of family physicians, as well as specialists, a top priority.
Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen says the City is grateful to Coaldale and the many other communities in the region supporting this advocacy effort. “By working together, our region will have a stronger voice – which will help us to better address the common challenges we face.”
“Given our proximity to Lethbridge and Lethbridge’s proximity to Coaldale, it makes sense for us to get on the same page when it comes to physician recruitment and retention,” adds Van Rijn.
“For over 15 years, there’s been an inverse relationship between access to healthcare in Coaldale and population growth in Coaldale. We’re now a town of just under 9,500 people, but since 2006 have had our healthcare services downgraded from emergency to urgent to ambulatory care. For this reason, our residents often have no choice but to travel elsewhere to meet their healthcare needs – whether it be Taber, Raymond or Lethbridge. By supporting Lethbridge’s advocacy efforts to attract more physicians and specialists to the region, we hope Coaldale residents will also benefit, making it easier for them to access the services they need and preferably without having to leave the community,” notes Van Rijn.
