Health care was looking grimmer by the day back in 2023 in a rural corner of western Canada.
Family doctors had retired or moved, starting a chain reaction that cut in half the number serving the 12,000 residents of the Alberta town of Stettler and its surrounding county, also called Stettler.
People with preventable problems, but without family doctors, sought help in the town hospital’s emergency room. Then the emergency room began shutting down on some days because of a doctor shortage, forcing the unlucky to drive 50 miles to the nearest city.
About 450 people came to a hastily called meeting at the hockey arena.
