Our Hospital, Our StoriesFoundation applauds Notley government on first steps into phase one of Royal Alexandra Hospital redevelopment
Posted on: Mar 16, 2017The Board of Directors of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation applaud Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.
The Board of Directors of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation applaud Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her government for its decision to include capital infrastructure funding for the first steps into the rebuild of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in its 2017 budget.
“Today is an important day for the future of patient care in the province of Alberta,” says Andrew Otway, President and CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. “For more than 20 years the Royal Alexandra Hospital has been waiting to be addressed. Today, the provincial government has paved the way to move the Royal Alex forward.”
“Not only is the new child and adolescent mental health building and Norwood important in and of themselves, this work has always been identified as needing to move forward to allow the Alex to rebuild. The decision shows that Minister Hoffman is addressing the needs of the biggest and busiest hospital in the province and is taking action on the first steps toward the rebuild of the Royal Alexandra Hospital,” Otway continued. “This announcement means the needs of some of Edmonton and northern Alberta’s most vulnerable patients are finally being addressed.”
The Royal Alexandra Hospital, often referred to as the province’s ‘workhorse’ due to the high volume of patients it handles each year, was identified as early as 1997 by then-Capital Health as the number one priority in the province for capital infrastructure funding. Replacing the aging infrastructure continued to be identified by Alberta Health Services as the number one priority following comprehensive, province-wide needs assessments in 2012 and 2014.
“We understand that the Notley government inherited the lack of health infrastructure investment in Edmonton. An announcement was made in 2015 by the previous government to fund the redevelopment of the Royal Alex, but the change in government meant it did not move forward,” said Otway. “We are thrilled to see that the current government is now taking the first steps toward the rebuild our patients so desperately deserve.”
Communicated through the launch of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation’s “Voice of Alex” campaign Alberta residents were encouraged to express their support of the rebuild of the Royal Alex.
“Thousands of public comments and requests to the government to make the Alex its top priority for health infrastructure have been made through our foundation’s campaign,” shares Otway. “We believe today’s announcement should be celebrated by our supporters and Alex’s fans and we want to thank them for their continued support.”
“The Royal Alexandra Hospital is the place where many Edmontonians were born - including me. I believe Edmonton cares about the Royal Alex and it is wonderful to see the provincial government does as well. They know that this hospital’s deteriorating conditions simply cannot be ignored any longer.”