Provincial Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman visited Stettler on Wednesday, April 27, touring Stettler's hospital with staff, Alberta Health Services (AHS) representatives, and municipal government.
Hoffman said that the visit was not to make any special announcements, but instead to become familiar with the community's hospital. When legislature is not in sitting, Hoffman said she likes to tour the various medical facilities across the province, which fall under her purview as Minister of Health.
"I read reports around some of the needed infrastructure upgrades," Hoffman said. "We've increased the money for infrastructure maintenance and renewal, and certainly we had facilities just like this in mind. It's nice to see first-hand the good hospital that we have."
She was full of praise for the hospital and its staff, who recently took overflow surgery patients from Red Deer hospital after a flood damaged two operating rooms. As of Friday, April 22, both operating rooms are back online. She also was able to see the physical results of contributions to the hospital foundation, such as the new medical device reprocessing centre.
The Alberta government has increased the infrastructure and maintenance budget for 2016 from $70 million to $130 million in an effort to keep Alberta's aging hospitals functioning at a high level of service.
"We want to make sure we're investing in our mature buildings as well as building new when necessary," Hoffman said. "We have very good bones here in this hospital and it's been used very effectively. There's been a submission made by AHS about some of the needs they see for this hospital and that's certainly being taken into consideration with our other 100 hospitals across the province."
One of the standout moments for Hoffman was being able to speak with one of the doctors who has settled in Stettler.
"I have yet to visit a community where there isn't at least one doctor who moved from out of country," Hoffman noted. "It was neat to see how he's working to a very high level of scope of practice — being able to do Cesarean sections, types of day surgeries here at the hospital as well as provide a variety of patient care. We need to attract and retain the best here in Alberta."
Hoffman said that not all communities have been successful with physician recruitment, and Stettler's success in that regard is a good news story, one that she can share with others. The community's welcoming nature and access to schools and recreation make the community attractive.