Edmonton’s Medical Laboratory Proposal: A Private Insanity
I wrote the following post as an op-ed in the Edmonton Journal, October30, 2013. I hope it plays a part in halting the privatization of Edmonton’s medical laboratories. The Alberta…
Alberta Health Services
Janet Davidson is appointed Deputy Minister of Health
Janet Davidson The Redford government just passed an Order in Council appointing Janet Davidson Deputy Minister of Health. This decision has many implications, not the least of which is this:…
70-plus AHS VPs over the side: Alberta doesn’t reinvent the health care system – sort of…
Another visually riveting moment in the history of Alberta Health Services – from left to right, CEO Chris Eagle, Health Minister Fred Horne and just-appointed Deputy Health Minister Janet Davidson…
Queue-jumping inquiry report surely wounds Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman
Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith, looking for all the world like a future premier, lands a few easy punches on the government after the release yesterday of the health care…
A(nother) Trip to the Mayo: The Power of Seamless Connections
For the record, the Soapbox family is not crazy about going to the US for medical care, but our eldest daughter (let’s call her “Missy”) has some serious health issues…
Redford Government, Alberta Health Services Division, drops two political hot potatoes
Health Minister Fred Horne, at the wheel of Alberta Health Services, reverses course on some unpopular policies faster than you can say “take action to improve care.” The actual AHS…
The way the cookie crumbled: Fred Horne fires Stephen Lockwood, entire AHS board
The former Alberta Health Services Board, fired yesterday by Health Minister Fred Horne, as seen by the 99 top executives of the provincial health care agency. Actual AHS board members…
AHS Chair Stephen Lockwood to Health Minister Horne on executive bonuses: ‘Drop dead, Fred!’
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne: it’s hard to imagine how he can come out of this fight with Alberta Health Services Chair Stephen Lockwood not looking foolish or weak. Below:…
Protect the Rights of the Rich? The College of Physicians and Surgeons Grapples with Concierge Clinics
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said to Ernest Hemingway, “You know, the rich are different from you and me.” Hemingway replied, “Yes. They’ve got more money”.* I was sitting in a…
Pack the Senate with cheats, then call for reform, then take off for Peru? Good plan!
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, not pictured because he’s pretty well disappeared, has heeded the touristic lure South America, illustrated above. Below: Canadian Parliamentarian Joan Crockatt and U.S. Representative Davy Crockett.…
A Trip to the Mayo Clinic: Your dime or mine?
Mayo Clinic seen from Cafeteria This past January Mr Soapbox and my youngest daughter (let’s call her Mini) went on a pilgrimage to the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Unbeknownst…
Redford Government just can’t seem to stop fumbling health care expenses frenzy
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne, right, helps Premier Alison Redford get ready to face Opposition questions about Alberta Health Services expense accounts. Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated.…
AHS chair to politicians: Do as I say, not as I do!
10-4 Good Buddy! Why is Stephen Lockwood, above, getting to drive this truck, while Chris Eagle’s got the airbrakes ticket? Just wondering. Senior Alberta Health Services officials may not appear…
Alberta Health Services trimmers toss out a couple of market-fundy myths to save cash
Alberta Health Services Board Chair Stephen Lockwood demonstrates how to trim a provincial health care budget. Actual AHS board members may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr.…
Why is Alberta’s medical queue-jumping inquiry uninterested in dramatic 1990s case?
Dr. Ron Bridges of the Helios Wellness Clinic testifying yesterday in a screen grab from CBC’s broadcast. Below, Dr. Ciaran McNamee, who hasn’t been called to testify. What are we…
Renting seniors’ beds is a formula for failure – and it’s time for Alberta to stop doing it
Fresh air and yogurt might have helped these guys live to be 160, but if they’d lived in Alberta, instead of Russia, where could they afford to sleep? Below, seniors…
The “Tone at the Top” from two perspectives: Richard Nixon and the AHS
When Richard Nixon told David Frost than an illegal activity is not illegal “when the president does it” he confirmed what we’d all suspected: the “tone at the top” as…
Edmonton’s homeless shelters home to body lice, ‘refugee-camp-like conditions’
Alberta’s perpetually mismanaged boom-and-bust economy makes homelessness worse, as hopeful immigrants flock here in hopes of a better life, and find nowhere to live. At least this guy has warm…