Union workers hold rally to keep hospital open

From Metronews.ca

BY ANDREAS MORSE

Hundreds of union workers rallied on the manicured Alberta Hospital grounds yesterday, in an attempt to keep the facility’s doors open. 

“We are going to spearhead a campaign to keep Alberta Hospital open,” said Doug Knight, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president. “Clients come from all over Canada to this facility expressly for the care and treatment that they get here. It would be a crying shame if this facility was closed.”The 410-bed mental health facility opened its doors in 1923. Nearly 1,700 patients are treated at the hospital each year. 

The government made the decision to close the psychiatric hospital in mid-August, claiming the money saved would go into community resources, but Knight said there aren’t enough resources in the community now to house the hospital’s patients. MORE HERE