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By rdnewsNOW Staff

Rural Healthcare Focus

Dusty Myshrall seeking UCP nomination in Lacombe-Ponoka constituency

Sep 20, 2022 | 3:07 PM

Following six years as president and founder of the Alberta Paramedic’s Association, Dusty Myshrall has announced he is stepping down from the role in order to seek the United Conservative Party (UCP) nomination in the constituency of Lacombe-Ponoka.

“I’ve had a successful 20 year career as a paramedic, which includes the last nine as a flight paramedic, and six years simultaneously serving as president of the Association.” says Dusty Myshrall, of Ponoka, AB. “We know healthcare is broken across rural Alberta, and there’s no good reason for it. I’ve spent my career grappling with the AHS bureaucracy – I know I have the frontline experience to bring to the legislature to fix it.”

A press release from Myshrall issued on Tuesday, notes the Ponoka Emergency Department was recently closed due to lack of physician coverage (Sept. 18-19), with residents redirected to neighboring communities such as Wetaskiwin and Red Deer.

“Last year, when EDs in rural Alberta were closing, I successfully piloted a project in several central Alberta EDs to use health professionals in a collaborative model to keep our hospitals open when a physician is not available,” he explained. “Despite this model working here and being proven successful in other provinces, AHS pulled the plug on expanding the program at the last minute, resulting in more ED closures. There’s more work to be done, but this kind of program keeps our hospitals open and increases physician recruitment.”

“These are the types of innovative solutions I have championed with the Association to improve healthcare accessm” continued Myshrall. “We need to increase both the quantity and the scope of practice for rural health providers so that our residents can get the care we need.”

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According to Myshrall, he is the only frontline healthcare worker across the province, to his knowledge, seeking to represent the UCP in the next provincial election.

“When it comes to beating the NDP in the next election, we need frontline representation to really sell the conservative healthcare plan to Albertans,” added Myshrall. “Healthcare is widely seen to be a pivotal issue in the upcoming provincial election. In addition, affordability measures for Albertans are quickly topping the list of priorities.”

“I am strongly in favor of any and every policy measure that makes life more affordable for Albertans. We need to build sustainable revenue streams and the best way to do that is to grow the economy,” stated Myshrall. “If elected, I would push within government to remove Alberta’s provincial income tax on overtime hours worked. We need to incentivize and reward hard work, not punish it.”

“With a labour shortage in this province, we need to do everything we can to increase the size of the workforce,” concluded Myshrall.

Ron Orr is the current UCP MLA in the Lacombe-Ponoka riding and was first elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the constituency on May 5, 2015.