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The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees launched a team in Didsbury last week to spur 200 members into action should Alberta Health Services close the hospital or reduce services.

"We are hitting every city and small town in the province … we want to be ready if Alberta Health Services makes any big changes," said Glen Scott, vice president for AUPE.

"Because we think cutting security may just be the first step."

Didsbury hospital workers were told last December that they would have to get by without two in-house security guards this spring as part of Alberta Health Services ongoing attempts to cut costs.

The medical superboard said it’s trimming back protective services provincewide after discovering 40 per cent of its hospitals were making do without security while others had more personnel than needed.

"What we’re trying to do is create a better balance of resources across the province … so rural type sites that never had protective services before, get access," said Tom Weeks, AHS director of protective services and parking, in December.

Two hundred positions are expected to be lost with 100 of those absorbed by contract workers. The hospital security force will be reduced by 90 people or 20 per cent overall, Weeks said.

Didsbury’s hospital will be operating without security when the changes come into effect and relying instead on a mobile unit that will be dispatched about twice weekly – more often if called.

The change from in-house security to mobile patrol units was originally expected to happen April 1 but the date has now been moved back to May 1, according to Scott.

Deb Wilson, a receptionist at the mental health unit, went to the AUPE meeting last Friday and said she is concerned about the change.

She was threatened twice, before the hospital got security two years ago.

"I never know who is going to come through the door, how stable they are or what will trigger them … things can happen in a matter of minutes and it is comforting to know security is right there if I need them," she said.

"I’m working the front line. I feel vulnerable … we are all women on that floor. Now our only hope is the RCMP."

Other hospital workers attending the meeting feared this was only the first of several department cuts.

"Who are they going to pluck out of here next?" said Sherry Tschritter, an AUPE chair for general support staff in Didsbury.

Scott believes there is still a possibility Alberta Health Services will overturn its decision to cut security as union members continue to petition and voice opposition.

"This isn’t just about saving two jobs. It’s about sending government a message early on that they can’t do this and prevent them from making other larger cuts," Scott said.

And part of the battle is creating teams that will spur all members into action – whether protest or public meetings – if government stays the course and continues to reduce staff and services.