On Wednesday, both provincial and city officials issued separate statements regarding the reason for pausing renovations at Airdrie's Urgent Care Centre. 

In a written statement The City of Airdrie stated that it is aware that a group from the Airdrie region created a proposal for the Minister of Health to provide a unique solution to primary and urgent care in Airdrie.

"The City was not part of creating the proposal, however, the City facilitated meetings between the group that created it and the Minister of Health. This is a typical role the City takes to connect our community to other levels of government to advance key initiatives in our City. We appreciate the Minister of Health considering all avenues to address health care challenges in Airdrie in a timely manner."

The Ministry of Health also issued a clarification on Wednesday.

"Alberta’s government is committed to improving health outcomes for the residents of Airdrie. After receiving a new joint proposal from One Health and QUALICO Communities, Alberta Health decided to pause the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre to thoroughly review this proposal and its innovative project delivery. We are working to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients and residents and will share more information as soon as possible."

Previously, the Ministry wrote in an email that, 'After receiving a new proposal from the City of Airdrie, Alberta Health decided to pause the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre in support of the City of Airdrie's proposal and explore innovative project delivery...'

DiscoverAirdrie reported that on January 11, the Airdrie Health Foundation was alerted to a pause on previously planned $8.4 million in renovations to the community health centre.

"The AHF [Airdrie Health Foundation] was informed the renovations were on pause as the government is looking into other opportunities for our community. This other opportunity, we are told, will be privately delivered and publicly funded," Bates wrote.

According to Bates, the planned renovations were to change the floor plan of the centre resulting in more Urgent Care beds. Among other things, this included adding another triage, as well as bringing the RAZ [Rapid Assessment Zone] and UC beds closer together, which would increase the size of the waiting room.

The renovations were meant to be completed by the end of this year.

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