The province is providing $85,000 to One Health Airdrie through a grant to co-develop a detailed business plan for an integrated primary care and urgent care facility in the area.

According to Alberta Health officials, future public engagement on the proposal is being planned and the business plan is expected to be complete later this spring.

"As the development of the business plan is ongoing, we are unable to provide details at this time," an official stated in an email.

Alberta Health underlined that the government is prioritizing the delivery of high-quality healthcare services in the Airdrie area while continuing to explore ways to increase system capacity.

"The Alberta government is also exploring a proposal by One Health Airdrie for an additional and separate facility to support health needs in Airdrie... When exploring potential capital projects, Alberta Health assesses the ability of current facilities to accommodate future demands for health services across the province."

Last week during a session in Alberta's Legislature, there was an exchange between MLA for Airdrie-East, Angela Pitt and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange. MLA Pitt had queried the health minister on updates regarding the renovations to the Airdrie Community Health Centre. 

"Given that these necessary renovations to our urgent care centre have started back up and given that this centre will need further investment and expansion to meet population growth pressures, can the Minister of Health please update my constituents on the proposal being put forward by One Health and Qualico Communities to meet the needs of my constituents?" MLA Pitt also asked during the March 28 session.

Minister LaGrange stated that Alberta Health has approved a grant agreement with One Health Associate Medical Airdrie Incorporated to develop their business case of a co-located primary and urgent care services model in Airdrie.

"One Health will work with contracted resource providers provided by the province to support any necessary community engagement, writing, and development of the business plan. A request for proposal to support this work is ongoing, and it is anticipated the contract will be awarded in April of this year."

The Health Minister also stated that the government is acutely aware of the challenges Airdrie residents face when it comes to strained healthcare services in the city.

"We want to ensure that every Albertan can access the care where and when they need it. AHS recently submitted a major capital needs assessment for health capital projects to Alberta Health, which outlines the Airdrie community health centre redevelopment. I look forward to seeing this move forward."

Delay in renovations

In late January DiscoverAirdrie learned that previously planned renovations to the city's community health centre had been temporarily delayed. Initially, Michelle Bates, Executive Director of the Airdrie Health Foundation had written that the foundation was notified in January of the delay and the foundation was told that the new proposal would be a privately delivered, publicly funded model.

In previous statements to DiscoverAirdrie Alberta Health confirmed that the delays to the community health centre were to, 'ensure Albertans receive value for money spent.'

"Once the proposal by One Health is better defined and more information is received, the Alberta government will be able to determine if the project should move forward as planned or if changes to its scope and funding are recommended or required," Alberta Health said. 

However, one month later, at the end of February, MLA Pitt confirmed that the renovations would resume. She underlined that she had always supported the renovations. Previously, when asked what her thoughts were on the renovations being paused, MLA Pitt said that it came down to looking at whether other options were a better use of taxpayer funds.

"At the end of the day, Airdrie needs a renovation; we need a new urgent care facility, and we need a hospital," she said.

Criticism of initial delays 

The news of the delays sparked vehement criticism from Friends of Medicare, a non-profit, non-partisan coalition which advocates universal public healthcare. Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of the group was critical of not only the delay of renovations but also what he said was the lack of transparency surrounding the new health proposal.

"It doesn't ring very accountable to us, [and] it seems a bit sketchy; behind the scenes [and] behind closed doors," Gallaway previously said. 

What will the renovations at Airdrie's Community Health Centre mean for residents? 

Alberta Health stated that the Airdrie Community Health Centre serves more than 40,000 patients annually, the planned renovations will increase its treatment room capacity by more than 37 per cent. While Alberta Health said the government is providing $8.4 million to renovate the existing facility, the funds were allocated some time ago. 

"These funds will be used to consolidate public health and non-urgent care services into one area of the facility, and to increase treatment room sizes and capacity."

The renovations will also go towards supporting the creation of a new trauma and negative air pressure room, a dedicated dictation room, an expanded waiting area and more triage stations to improve privacy and the movement of patients and staff.

What else will Airdrie receive in healthcare funding from Budget 2024?

According to Alberta Health officials, the province's Capital Plan includes $3 million over three years for, 'planning and exploring health care options for the north Calgary and Airdrie areas.' The capital plan's details include a line item for the North Calgary/ Airdrie Regional Health Centre planning, which according to Alberta Health officials is broken down as follows:

  • $300,000 in 2024-25
  • $800,000 in 2025-26
  • $2 million in 2026-27

"These funds will be used to complete the required service and capital planning to inform health infrastructure funding decisions in both north Calgary and Airdrie. Funds may be used to develop business cases and functional programs, and to support preliminary design work and related studies," an Alberta Health official previously stated.

It is currently estimated that the renovations to the community health centre will be completed by the summer of 2025. Before the pause of renovations, it was estimated that it would have been completed by the end of 2024. 

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