Building Shrines, Calgary ' s South Health Campus

A few weeks ago I attended a presentation pertaining to Calgary ’s “South Health Campus”. Now for those of you that are not familiar with Calgary’s hospital history, a hospital was planned for Calgary’s South East Quadrant at least ten years ago. This hospital was to be less than 400 beds and would come in at an estimated cost of less than 400 million dollars. Since that time, there has been much in the news media about the soaring estimated cost of this health facility, some reports estimated as high as 1.2 billion dollars. The blame for this has been attributed to Alberta’s overheated economy and rising construction costs. I was considerably enlightened by the presentation (I suspect much of the increased cost has been from expansion of the “vision”)! < br / > Firstly, as one might surmise from the politically correct title “South Health Campus”, this “hospital” has turned into a shining example of the province’s and the Calgary Region’s vision of healthcare, and of course, a reflection of ego and the need to build edifices unto one’s self. The concept itself is quite acceptable. Calgary is in dire need o f both out patient services and more hospital beds. However, this proposal has a very aggressive out-patient intervention facility, educational component, research component, and an in-patient facility that covers a broad range of services in a location that for most aging seniors, the poor, and man y of the chronically ill, is not access...
Source: What's Wrong with Healthcare? - Category: Primary Care Source Type: blogs