Calgary woman with rare disease can't find a parking spot at Peter Lougheed Centre

A Calgary woman says a lack of spaces at Peter Lougheed hospital has people using retail lots as a last resort, and after getting a parking ticket this week she thought there must be some way to improve the situation.

Patsy Davis has a rare disease requiring monthly appointments at Peter Lougheed but the hospital lots are often full.

“When I am driving to the Peter Lougheed, I usually add on an extra half hour just to find parking alone, and this time, we could not find any parking,” Davis said.

Tuesday she had a specialist appointment and needed her husband for support so finally he dropped her off, parked at Sunridge and raced over to join her.  When he returned to the mall  less than two hours later, they had a ticket.

“A parking ticket of $80 and we were both taken aback by it,” Davis said.

Tuesday she had a specialist appointment and needed her husband for support so finally he dropped her off, parked at Sunridge Mall and raced over to join her. When he returned to the mall a less than two hours later, they had a ticket.

Sunridge has signs posted warning anyone leaving the property without their vehicle can be fined.

Many other people CTV spoke with have experienced similar frustrations trying to find parking at Peter Lougheed Centre.

“Parking should be easily accessible and it usually isn't. I had to do a couple of loops around,” said hospital visitor Karan Wadhwani.

“It's really stressful,” added Jacob Wilkinson.

He has daily appointments and admits he has used Sunridge Mall’s parking lot when he couldn’t find a spot at the hospital.

“If you’re not here at like seven in the morning, then you're not going to find a spot," said Wilkinson. "Even the handicap spots are always full… when people are coming here and they have wheelchairs, like what are they supposed to do?”

Davis says her health condition also makes it difficult when she’s had to park elsewhere.

She’s also met healthcare workers parking beside her in retail lots.

“It's that difficult,” said Davis.

EXPLORING SOLUTIONS: AHS

Alberta Health Services says it is working to address concerns by exploring solutions to enhance parking capacity.

This year, an additional 45 parking spots were added at the Peter Lougheed Centre to create added capacity.

Davis wonders if another option might help.

“It'd be nice if something could transpire between the Sunridge Mall and the hospital to have something that would work for both of them,” she said.

She suggests an area of the mall parking lot be set aside for patients and visitors to pay the same price they do at the hospital.

“Some kind of an agreement that would help support the patients and the families that that have to go to the hospital," Davis says.

CTV reached out to Sunridge and Diamond Parking but did not get a response to our questions.

There is a little relief coming next year however. AHS says it is working to add 50-60 more surface parking stalls for patients and visitors at Peter Lougheed Centre in the latter part of 2024.