Hinton mulls paying $500,000 to keep remaining clinic open
Lisa Johnson · CBC News · Posted: Jul 04, 2024 8:56 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

In Hinton, Alta., an industrial town in the shadows of the Rockies, residents left without a doctor to write prescriptions face a three-hour drive to Edmonton to try their luck at a walk-in clinic.
Hinton is down to eight family physicians, half of what's needed for the town of 10,000. And of those remaining, some are working part-time or making retirement plans.
The town council has formally declared it a health crisis and is looking at dipping into its own pockets to find $500,000 to keep the physicians from closing up shop.
'Absolutely ridiculous'
Mayor Nicholas Nissen said he's disappointed the town may be on the hook for something that's not a municipal responsibility.
"It's absolutely ridiculous that municipal taxpayers are paying three times now — in our community — for health care that half of them don't even have access to," Nissen said in an interview.
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