What is happening at Smithfield Lodge is unacceptable. There’s no two ways around it.
While it is understandable that the Alberta Health Services would want to consolidate its long-term care services in one place, there has to be another way to do it.
One idea that comes to mind is designating rooms for higher-needs seniors as they become available. That way no one is being kicked to the curb, even if incentives and assistance are being provided.
Another way is simply to send the long-term care staff to wherever the clients who require that care are located, even though that is admittedly a less-than-effective use of tax dollars.
Still, forcing seniors to move from their homes is entirely inappropriate. Plain and simple.
It’s not enough just to say an agreement has been signed requiring these rooms, and that the current occupants must move.
This is not like land expropriation where the landowner receives compensation for leaving the property and then that property will be used for a purpose that benefits many more people.
In a case like this, forcing seniors to leave their homes so someone else can move in only benefits one person while disadvantaging one person. How do we decide, ultimately, who is more worthy?
Many of these seniors have given years of their lives to this community and the wider province as a whole. They have earned the right to a restful and relaxing retirement through their twilight years.
They should not be told what to do and where to go at this point in their lives.
Obviously the Westlock Foundation and AHS have made up their mind and are moving ahead with their plans.
But that doesn’t mean the changes are necessarily a foregone conclusion.
As with any taxpayer-funded organization, both AHS and the Westlock Foundation must be attentive to their constituents’ wants.
If your elderly family member has been notified they must move out, and you feel that would negatively affect them, get in touch with the foundation or AHS.
Tell them what you think about the whole idea.
Make your voices heard. Change won’t come if no one pushes for it.
