South Edmonton to get urgent care facility, but is it enough for growing population?

The province is committing to build an urgent care facility in South Edmonton and while this is welcome news for city councillors in the area, it's not the same as a hospital. The Heritage Valley neighbourhood was slated to get a hospital in 2017 but it was cancelled in 2024, leaving the area waiting for those essential health services. I'd love a new hospital to be built. We haven't had a new hospital built in Edmonton since 1988. This is, I think, a positive step forward, knowing that we can have these emergency care centres in our own backyards. I'm speaking to one of the residents. bought their homes, they made their lives down here because of that hospital and so any investment in health care will be a welcome addition. Both Elliott and Morgan say it's not just a health facility that's needed, they need infrastructure to support emergency services. We're talking about roads, there's supposed to be a road right through this hospital lands here, we're talking about health care, transportation issues, anything. But one health expert says it's important to note urgent care is not an emergency room, it can help with non-life issues like broken bones, x-rays, or lab services. To be clear, urgent cares are not a replacement for hospital beds. The government's website shows Edmonton had a population of 1.2 million in 2025, second in the province. The city's population increased 3.38 percent year over year and 18.3 percent in the last five years. Dr. Mann says with this growth, what's desperately needed now I think all provinces have gone a bit too far. Too far on constraining their beds per capita. We just don't have capacity to address our ER gridlock problem. The province announced eight urgent care locations last spring, adding Sylvan Lake Monday. The minister hopes to start these projects soon. My hope for all of the urgent care centres is from the start of shovels in the ground that we would see them up and running within three years. The province could not say where the South Edmonton location would be built or when construction would start. Nicole Healy, CBC News, Edmonton.