Read the following article from a website.
Alberta is deciding what to do about births in its rural north. Eight small birthing units in the region have closed over the past twenty years, and for some families the nearest maternity ward is now a four-hour drive away. The health ministry has two options on the table: reopen some of the units, or expand the program that flies expectant mothers to city hospitals. A decision is expected before the next provincial budget.
Halima Ekwueme, a family doctor in a northern town that lost its unit seven years ago, says the closure has not made births safer, and she has numbers to back her up. “Since our unit closed, the number of babies born in cars on the highway has doubled,” Ekwueme told a legislative committee. “Many of my patients skip checkups because the trip costs them a full day’s wages. Nobody chooses to miss those visits. The distance chooses for them.” She says rural mothers “should not need a tank of gas to see a nurse.”
Alastair Fenton, a vice-president at the regional health authority, says a small unit cannot be made safe without specialists. “Every birthing unit needs a surgeon and a doctor for anaesthesia ready at any hour for an emergency operation,” Fenton said. “We cannot find those doctors for the cities, let alone for towns of two thousand people.” He would rather fly high-risk mothers to the city a few weeks early and pay for their hotel rooms.
Ragnhild Gustafsson, who leads the provincial midwives’ association, says most births do not need a surgeon down the hall. “About eight in ten pregnancies are low-risk, and midwives deliver those babies safely every day,” Gustafsson said. “What a rural unit needs is a written plan to move a mother to the city within an hour by air,” she added. Yevgeny Granger, whose partner spent three weeks alone in a city hotel before their daughter was born, says the travel program has a gap. “It paid for her room, but not for me or for our son,” Granger said. “She had a baby among strangers.”
Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.
What matters most to everyone quoted is 2..
The author presents the decision as 3..
Ekwueme thinks that losing a local unit would mean 4..
Granger’s concerns would likely be supported by 5..
The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: how to provide birth care for rural mothers
Why this is correct: The ministry must choose between reopening rural units and flying mothers to the city. Every speaker gives a view on this choice.
Passage Reference: The health ministry has two options on the table: reopen some of the units, or expand the program that flies expectant mothers to city hospitals.
Tips: Check each option against what Ekwueme, Fenton, Gustafsson and Granger say. The best answer covers what all four people talk about, and nothing more.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a shortage of nurses in city hospitals: Fenton mentions a shortage of specialists, not nurses in city hospitals.
- a new hotel for families near hospitals: Hotel rooms are mentioned, but nobody plans to build a new hotel.
- the price of plane tickets in the north: Flights are mentioned, but nobody talks about ticket prices.
Correct Answer: the safety and support of mothers and babies
Passage Reference: the closure has not made births safer ... says a small unit cannot be made safe without specialists ... midwives deliver those babies safely every day ... She had a baby among strangers.
Why this is correct: Ekwueme and Fenton both speak about whether births are safe, and Gustafsson says midwives deliver babies safely. Granger is upset that his partner had a baby among strangers.
Tips: Check each option against Ekwueme, Fenton, Gustafsson and Granger in turn. An option is right only when every one of these people treats it as important.
Why the other options are wrong:
- keeping the province’s costs as low as possible: Nobody quoted argues mainly about cost. Fenton even wants the province to pay for hotel rooms.
- bringing more surgeons to small towns: Fenton says those doctors cannot be found. Gustafsson says most births do not need a surgeon.
- reopening every unit that has closed: Nobody asks for every unit to reopen. Fenton and Granger do not ask to reopen any.
Correct Answer: a choice the province has not yet made
Passage Reference: The health ministry has two options on the table ... A decision is expected before the next provincial budget.
Why this is correct: The reporter says the ministry has two options on the table. A decision is only expected before the next budget, so it has not been made.
Tips: Read only the reporter’s own sentences, outside the quotation marks. Check each option against those words and drop any view the reporter never gives.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a mistake that the reporter wants reversed: The reporter never gives a personal view. The opinions in the article come from the speakers.
- a matter the ministry settled long ago: The ministry is still choosing between two options. Nothing has been settled.
- a light story about long drives: The reporter writes about births in cars and missed checkups. Nothing in the reporter’s words is light.
Correct Answer: more babies born on the way to hospital
Passage Reference: Since our unit closed, the number of babies born in cars on the highway has doubled
Why this is correct: Ekwueme says that since her town’s unit closed, the number of babies born in cars on the highway has doubled.
Tips: Read Ekwueme’s quotes and the sentence that introduces her. Keep the result she gives in her own words, and cross out results that Fenton, Gustafsson or Granger raise.
Why the other options are wrong:
- safer births in city hospitals: Ekwueme says the closure has not made births safer. This is closer to Fenton’s case.
- patients paying for their own hotel rooms: Hotel rooms come up with Fenton and Granger, and the program pays for them. Ekwueme does not mention hotels.
- nurses leaving the region for good: Nobody in the article says nurses are leaving the north.
Correct Answer: reports of mothers left alone in a city before a birth
Passage Reference: It paid for her room, but not for me or for our son ... She had a baby among strangers.
Why this is correct: Granger says the travel program paid for his partner’s room but not for him or their son. Stories of other mothers left alone in the city would back his point.
Tips: Read every sentence Granger says. Ask of each option: if it were true, would his complaint look stronger, or would it help one of the other speakers?
Why the other options are wrong:
- data showing midwives deliver low-risk babies safely: This would help Gustafsson’s case for midwife-led units. It says nothing about families left behind.
- a report that specialists will not move to small towns: This would back Fenton, who says such doctors cannot be found. Granger does not talk about specialists.
- figures on patients who skip checkups to save wages: This would back Ekwueme, who says the trip costs patients a day’s wages. Granger’s point is different.
Correct Answer: four-hour
Passage Reference: for some families the nearest maternity ward is now a four-hour drive away
Why this is correct: For some families, the nearest maternity ward is now a four-hour drive away.
Tips: The commenter needs a travel time. Check how far some families now live from a place to give birth.
Why the other options are wrong:
- one-hour: One hour is much shorter than the drive in the article.
- two-hour: Two hours is shorter than the drive in the article.
- six-hour: Six hours is longer than the drive in the article.
Correct Answer: seven
Passage Reference: a northern town that lost its unit seven years ago
Why this is correct: Ekwueme works in a northern town that lost its unit seven years ago.
Tips: The commenter gives a fact about the doctor’s town. Find how the article introduces her.
Why the other options are wrong:
- three: The article gives a longer time than this.
- twelve: The article gives a shorter time than this.
- twenty: Twenty years is how long units have been closing across the region, not the age of this town’s closure.
Correct Answer: a tank of gas
Passage Reference: She says rural mothers “should not need a tank of gas to see a nurse.”
Why this is correct: Ekwueme says rural mothers “should not need a tank of gas to see a nurse.”
Tips: The commenter is quoting the doctor’s own words about visiting a nurse. Find the thing she says a rural mother should not have to buy.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a city address: Ekwueme does not talk about where mothers live in the city.
- a second car: A second car is not mentioned in the article.
- a hotel room: Hotel rooms belong to Fenton’s plan and Granger’s story, not to the doctor’s line.
Correct Answer: two thousand
Passage Reference: We cannot find those doctors for the cities, let alone for towns of two thousand people.
Why this is correct: Fenton says the authority cannot find specialists for the cities, let alone for towns of two thousand people.
Tips: Find the size of the communities the vice-president mentions when he talks about hiring.
Why the other options are wrong:
- five hundred: Fenton describes bigger towns than this.
- ten thousand: Ten thousand is not the size Fenton gives.
- fifty thousand: Fenton is talking about small towns, not places this large.
Correct Answer: an hour
Passage Reference: What a rural unit needs is a written plan to move a mother to the city within an hour by air
Why this is correct: Gustafsson says a rural unit needs a written plan to move a mother to the city within an hour by air.
Tips: Read the midwives’ condition for a safe rural unit. Find how quickly a mother must get to a bigger hospital.
Why the other options are wrong:
- twenty minutes: Gustafsson gives a longer time than twenty minutes.
- three hours: Three hours is longer than the time Gustafsson gives.
- a day: A day is far longer than the time Gustafsson gives.
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