Jeremy Appel has a story for us this week that you have to read. It’s investigative reporting on what privatizing healthcare looks like in real time. The headline: AHS pressured health-care workers to transfer mentally ill patients’ prescriptions to Shoppers Drug Mart.
Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds.
But how do you publish a scoop like this? We got a tip back in May, and when we first heard about it, it didn’t sound real.
Image by Terence Faircloth. Mural by Joe Iurato.
Plus, all we had was one source, who had to be anonymous, due to the backlash they would face from their employer for revealing this information. When that’s the case, you need to have multiple sources and hopefully some other documentation. So I quietly asked health-care professionals I knew if they had heard anything about this.
Eventually, I found someone who had experienced this firsthand and they also agreed to be a source for the story.
At this point, I chatted with our staff writer, Jeremy, and passed the story along to him. He was able to work with the sources, gather documentation to further buttress the story and even found another health-care worker source.
This entire process takes time. What they don’t tell you about investigative journalism is that while the news is flying by you and the government floods the zone with bullshit, you have to do the work necessary to back up what you’re saying. It has to be true and you have to be able to back it up.
There’s more where this story came from. Since publishing, multiple people, both patients and health care workers, have come forward with additional stories regarding AHS and their dodgy relationship with Shoppers Drug Mart.
But again, just like before, this work takes time, and time is money. If you think investigative journalism that holds powerful people and institutions accountable is important, please consider becoming a monthly patron of the Progress Report. If 100 people give $15 a month, we can afford to hire more reporters and even bump up Jeremy’s hours.
Sundries
Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert, the two men involved in the 2022 anti-vaxx border blockade at Coutts who were caught with a stockpile of guns and a pipebomb, have been sentenced to six years in prison. Danielle Smith, who expressed sympathy and support for them, says the jury has spoken and their decision needs to be respected.
Danielle Smith has dispensed with the dog whistles and is just saying racist things out loud now. In a statement sent through official channels yesterday Smith said “Alberta’s government is opposed to the federal government’s plan to relocate tens of thousands of asylum claimants to Alberta, especially without any financial assistance to support the province in doing so.” The trouble is there is no such plan to do so. But here’s the worst part. “Alberta has always welcomed newcomers who possess our shared values – and we will continue to do so,” said Smith. What those shared values are and what asylum claimants she’s talking about was not articulated.
In former conservative MLAs acting badly, Derek Fildebrandt compared himself to Grampa Simpson, but testifies he didn't threaten teens and Jonathan Denis has been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Law Society of Alberta.
In response to an op-ed from police chief Dale McFee which cast aspersions on Lauren Boothby’s reporting around Edmonton’s encampment sweeps, NDP MLA Janis Irwin has written an editorial of her own arguing that Dale and the UCP’s ‘navigation centre’ project is far less important than permanent, affordable housing.
Mayor Amarjeet Sohi made some very mild statements of concern about the police killing of Mathios Arkangelou. This spurred an absolutely unhinged letter from the president of the Edmonton Police Association, Curtis Hoople. Arkangelo’s mother wrote a response to Hoople’s letter. You should read it.
Good luck finding a COVID-19 vaccine for a while: Health Canada has directed the provinces to destroy their existing stock to make way for a new formulation, but the new vaccine isn’t available yet, and won’t be until some time in October.
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