Despite the recent announcement that 24 hour health care is finally coming to Airdrie, the city is still considering solutions to the ineffective urgent care centre.

At the Airdrie city council meeting on October 3, members of the Airdrie and area Health Benefits Cooperative (AHBC), Dr. Julian Kyne and Myles Hamilton, brought forth their plan for a health cooperative in the city.

City Councillors unanimously approved their request to consider investing a total of $400,000 from the 2017 budget into the plan.

Hamilton said the money would go towards putting together a more comprehensive plan for the health cooperative, paying legal fees and paying the salaries of those who would work on the plan. He added that the members of the group have been volunteering their time to work on this project and said they deserve to get paid.

The AHBC was given $50,000 in February and Dr. Kyne said that money went to legal fees to address concerns from the province.

Hamilton, whose father, Hugh, donated land for the project in 2015, says a health cooperative would combine all of the different health services under one roof and make them more accessible for Airdronians.

This plan has been in the works for awhile and already, Dr. Kyne says 25 doctors and physicians in the area have fully committed to this more self-sufficient model.

"What is being proposed is a far more advanced, efficient and comprehensive approach to health that requires us, that's the community, to be in the driver's seat."

Hamilton highlighted his frustration with AHS and how long it's taking to implement changes. Even though we did finally achieve 24 hour health care, it took five years of hard work to get to that point.

"One of the problems we've got in the community is that we don't have all the services. We don't have a hospital and we're not on the list for capital investment until 2035 but we can't wait till 2035 to do something different. We need to move forward our health care and our own health."

He said AHS would still be a member of the cooperative, working alongside different medical service providers and the City of Airdrie.

A health care cooperative is not as new idea as around 100 communities in 30 countries around the world have adopted this system. Dr. Kyne said it has been highly effective and could work for us too.

"It's been done, it's been proven and we know we can do this."

 

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