Michener Centre cutting medical, recreational services, NDP says

Residents of the Michener Centre in Red Deer will no longer have in-house nurses on weekends and holidays after June 1, according to a letter from Alberta Health Services.

The letter, released Monday by the NDP, also states that on-site pharmacy services ended on May 1. More recreational events will be moved outside of the facility and the secondhand store operated by residents closed at the end of May.

NDP health critic David Eggen says these decisions will hurt the people who remain at the centre, which will cease operations altogether at the end of September.

“These people already are entitled to long-term care and are protected under law to have those services,” he said.

“And yet, they are slowly cutting those services away, putting the squeeze on people so they just maybe perhaps make a decision to leave on their own.”

Naresh Bhardwaj, Alberta's minister of services for persons with disabilities, says nursing changes set to take effect on June 1 did not go ahead.

"What I'm telling you is whatever they were receiving previous to June 1st, it will remain the same," he said. 

Nurses will still not be on-site on Saturdays but will be on call from 9 to 5 on Sundays. 

The Alberta government is in the process of closing the residence for adults with disabilities and moving people to group homes based in the community.  

Eggen is calling on the three candidates for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party to state where they stand on the closure.