Alberta Health Services has changed the parking system at hospitals in Calgary and across the province from a pay on exit system to a pay before use system. 

The new system is causing unnecessary stress, hardship, and adding additional costs to patients attending appointments and emergencies at all of the hospitals. 

The new parking system forces patients to guess at the length of their appointments and pay upfront. If the patient hasn’t calculated correctly, they have to find a way to go to the machine and pay more money. If the person is in the middle of an appointment or procedure, that is simply not possible. It’s also not possible for those accompanying children or others that need care and can’t be left alone, to leave and add money to their parking.

People are overpaying for their  parking in order to have peace of mind and to avoid getting a parking ticket. This is not fair, and looks like a cash grab by the AHS. Patients have found the parking offices are not sympathetic to patients, when they get tickets and say their appointments have run over.

AHS, says that they are releasing an app that patients can use to add money to pay for parking, however most hospitals have very poor cell phone reception in most areas and very poor WiFi service. How is a patient to add money to parking even with an app, especially if they are in the middle of an appointment or procedure? There are also, many people who don’t have cell phones, particularly seniors.

This petition is to bring these concerns to AHS, and to make AHS listen and change this system!

One of AHS Core values states:

”We show kindness and empathy for all in our care...”

I ask the AHS, are these just words? Let’s see your empathy in action!