Alberta hospital patients waiting to move into continuing care are paying millions in fees – CBC

‘Alternate level of care’ patients have paid AHS $32M since 2019, data shows

Dec 12, 2024

Adam Preston and his family had a decision to make: let their grandmother stay in hospital, or care for her at home.

Shirley Tryon was diagnosed with dementia before her husband died in November 2018. Within a month or two of his death, she fell and broke her hip, requiring surgery and a lengthy stay in an Edmonton hospital.

The family, realizing she needed continuing care, started touring various facilities, but all had long waitlists. Eventually, doctors deemed Tryon healed from surgery.

The family faced a dilemma, because staying where she was would mean “she’s in a hospital bed with whoever knows in her room — and she’s basically stuck there until we find somewhere,” said Preston, a paramedic who lives in Sherwood Park, Alta., just east of Edmonton.

“A bunch of us are health-care workers,” he said of his family. “We knew if we took care of my grandma at home, that would free up a bed in the hospital for someone who was in much more need of it, who didn’t have the support system at home.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-alternate-level-care-hospital-ahs-1.7398268