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Calgarians
speak out:
Submissions so far: David
Fryett
Roy O Christensen
Allan J
Hunter
David
A Hartwick
Harvey
Cohen
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THE LOCATION
OF THE NEW CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IS A CITY-WIDE ISSUE
by Roy O Christensen, Mayland Heights The location of the new Children's Hospital (CH) is important to all stakeholders for centrality & accessibility. It is also important for many other considerations such as the costs of infrastructure development, transit accessibility, traffic planning, out of city patients & adjacent community impacts. The CH location is therefore a city-wide issue, whether or not you have children or work in health care. The investment of hundreds of millions of tax dollars must be made with all appropriate considerations & consultations, but this has not been done. The CHR Site Selection Committee's recommendation for the West Campus location was based on selective & unscientific evidence and is therefore fundamentally flawed. The construction of a new CH must be a positive development for the children & the City of Calgary. It is a given that a new CH will be a needed as the City continues to grow, but children are not receiving substandard care now & there is no crisis. The issue of care does not mean that any location other than the West Campus will offer substandard services. It is neither imperative that construction be started in 2001, nor that it be completed by 2005. The priorities of the CHR are incongruent with their principles of "kids first". Building a world class city with a population exceeding 1,000,000 will be the results of design & engineering, not ad-hoc plans like those of the CHR & U of C, that ignore the tenets of responsible & sustainable development. All Calgarians must join their voices with the REACH Committee to demand that the CH be located in the right place for the right reasons & following the correct procedures. Only this will ensure that the CH truly puts kids first. Thank you,
From Allan J Hunter, NE Calgary I have been watching the developments on the hospital and I would like you to please add my name to the growing list of opposed. Even if the U of C site was the best location(and it is not) it is the process that is offensive! The tactic of saying the children are better served by the proximity of the Foothills and U of C is ridiculous. If this were true, the present location of the Childrens Hospital would bear statistical evidence that indeed Kids lives were put at risk because it is not at the University lands now! The millions lost in access costs could be better spent on the care of the children of Southern Alberta. I understand that the push is on now, to get construction started so that there is no turning back after the C.R.H.A. elections in the fall. We are the voices for our children. If it is indeed the motives of what is best for our kids that is the cornerstone of this project, then it will withstand the true test of democracy. Let the people decide! The health and welfare of our children are of greater importance than any other agenda.... Respectfully,
From Harvey Cohen, Aldermanic Candidate, Ward 7 As an Aldermanic candidate for the people of Ward 7 I am approaching various groups and individuals with a view to listening in order to get an understanding of ward issues. One thing is clear to me: the consultative process is flawed. The process is designed so
that the weakest affected group or individual is the one that takes the
brunt of the negative aspects of proposals so that the politically powerful
can benefit.
There is practically no consultation
with those affected. A proponent shows up at the doorstep of an impacted
group with a plan, lays it out, and asks for comments. The promoter then
goes to the approving authority armed with this list of objections and
downplays them. The problems are not fixed. The approving authority more
often than not simply parrots the words of the proponents and becomes a
booster of the project. The end result is often bitterness and a lack of
faith in democracy, a poor project and extreme waste.
Through this article I am
consulting you.
Harvey Cohen
It really scares me when I see the sites people with influence are pushing in this city for the Children's Hospital. Clearly, none of them have made an emergency trip to the Children's in recent years. I spent the past three years living five blocks from the hospital and even though my sick son had to wait up to four hours to see a doctor, I was thankful to be in a handy location. I am quite familiar with the roadways of Calgary and travel-times so I analyzed each site proposed for the hospital. The N.W. is most illogical. The travel time to the N.W. from any other quadrant of the city is up to 60 minutes in non-rush hour traffic as there are no easy accesses other than Crowchild Trail, Shaganappi Trail or 16th Avenue, all of which are horrible for traffic any time of day. Lincoln Park and Fire Park are both more logical because they are located near the infamous ring roads, particularly Fire Park. There is also access from Deerfoot or 16th Ave., which combined connect to Hwy 22X, Country Hills Blvd., the future Stoney Trail, Glenmore Trail and Crowchild Trail. Travel time from Deer Run: 15 minutes. Travel time from Citadel: 30 minutes. Travel time in the NE: 15 minutes. Travel time from Coach Hill: 45 minutes. Travel time from Bowness: 30 minutes. Travel time from Somerset: 25 minutes. Lincoln Park travel times would also be generally under one hour once an overpass is built at Elbow Drive and Glenmore Trail. We already have a hospital at the University, why would we put another there? David A. Hartwick
Friends of the General Hospital made a presentation to City Hall in December 2000. Dr Harold Swanson passed along these comments to REACH, saying he has the same concerns about the ACH site selection as about the CRHA's refusal to build another hospital on the site of the demolished Bow Valley General Hospital. "The city’s own plan, 'The Calgary Plan' , states 'the vitality and health of Downtown is a reflection of the city as a whole. The city plans to substantially increase the resident base especially Eau Clare, East Village, China town and the West End and to increase the use of the transit system.'... "...The location of hospitals and other health care facilities is of citywide interest, as location affects access particularly for disadvantaged groups. 'It is important that planning of hospital sites and health care facilities be integrated into community and city wide planning.'... ..."A report commissioned by the Calgary Downtown Association states that a key factor to support the goal of economic vitality and quality of life is high quality and accessible health services. The authors of the report state that they did not even verify the findings and recommendations given by others. The references used are those of the CRHA. The inferences given are that travel times by EMS to all locations will be 10-20 minutes and that if the EMS can initiate appropriate care, transit time is less relevant. (It is always relevant to survival in the trauma literature.) Their solution is to buy more ambulances, to service downtown with a community walk-in clinic, and in future to utilize mobile medical clinics... "Two other comments from the Downtown Association report are relevant:
From M. Widas, Southwest Calgary I am a very strong supporter
of the new Children's Hospital being built on the old Bow Valley Hospital
site. I have been writing letters to government officials, and CRHA, since
1995, seeking action on this proposal. Yet very little consideration
has been given to this idea, other than letters from government officials.
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