Dr. Paul Parks (l) and Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway spoke at a town hall meeting on Sunday in Grande Prairie. (Image Credit: Curtis Galbraith.)

By Curtis Galbraith

Healthcare

Speakers at Friends of Medicare townhall asking people to tell their healthcare stories

Mar 24, 2026 | 4:34 PM

Changes to AHS and challenges to attracting family doctors were among the things talked about at a Friends of Medicare town hall meeting Sunday in Grande Prairie.

Organizers say 75 people attended the get-together. Some asked about things like medicals for AISH and the number of doctors trained in Alberta.

Organizers of the meeting asked those in the crowd to go out and tell their stories.

Medicine Hat emergency department physician Dr. Paul Parks says he wants people to talk about the experiences and frustrations that they have had with access to care.

“An example I gave of a loved one’s father, waiting (for) days in hospital in a non-private waiting room area, those are the kind of stories we need to get out.”

“It’s not just deaths or really bad outcomes, it’s also my loved one spent five days in a hallway where they didn’t change them quickly enough, they could not do their basic care needs because they were so busy.”

Dr. Parks says healthcare workers want these stories told.

Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway says everyone has a story about healthcare, and they want to talk about it.

“There’s an opening, a real concern about what’s happening, and that’s an opening to have a good conversation, and then talk about solutions, because there are solutions.”

“We heard some of that (here). We could look at the workforce, we could look at the capacity, we could look at systems that help shorten wait lists, like central referrals and so on. We need to be having that conversation.”

Friends of Medicare held 17 of these meetings across Alberta. Gallaway says access to care was the top thing they heard about at these meetings.

“It’s worry about access. It’s worry about having to pay for care. It’s hearing from health care workers who are stressed, burnt out, feeling frustrated. It’s those same themes across the province.”

Dr. Parks says there are what he calls “commonalities” across Alberta.

“Here, big stories are about getting access to getting a family physician (that is a) big, big one.

But now, more and more too, (it is)  travel, (crowding) and access to get into the hospital.”

Gallaway says he is hoping Friends of Medicare will form a chapter in Grande Prairie so more people will be able to share stories.