Earlier this year Red Deer City Council adopted a motion supporting their local emergency room doctors and community, requesting the provincial government reprioritize the Red Deer Regional Hospital in their capital plans, due to the need for expansion of the hospital which serves all of central Alberta.

Mayor Tara Veer has been instrumental in working to get the hospital pushed up the priority list, recently gathering letters of support from 16 surrounding communities.

She's now sent another letter to Health Minister Sarah Hoffman.

“Red Deer Regional Hospital was previously 4th on the Capital Priority list for Hospital Infrastructure Expansion, in the last budget RDRH was removed from that last all together, so the request is to reinstate Red Deer’s priority on that list.”

She says these letters requested the hospital be re-added due to its importance of the area.

“It’s not just an issue affecting the health and wellness and safety of the 100,000 Red Deerians that we serve, but ultimately it’s an issue effecting 350,000 Albertans in the Central Zone.”

Veer attached all 16 of those letters, from communities including Lacombe, Ponoka, Bashaw, Bentley, even as far east as Coronation and Hardisty.

A motion was also brought to the floor of the recent Alberta Urban Municipalities Association Convention, who also supported these efforts.

Now that these letters have been sent to the Health Minister, the next step is to wait and see if they add it to their 2018 budget.

A rally of support was held outside the Hospital on September 9th, as hundreds, including doctors and city councillors, showed their support in the fight for expansion.