293 km from Calgary
Farming, ranching, manufacturing and natural gas
Approximately 63,000 residents
Kindergarten to grade 12 and post-secondary
Did you know that Medicine Hat is Canada’s Sunniest City? This southern Alberta community receives over 2,512 hours of sunshine every year – great news for gardeners, golfers, and outdoor enthusiasts. A year-round outdoor playground is at your fingertips, with numerous provincial parks, and the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology within driving distance for a day trip. A unique place near Medicine Hat, Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, is also a UNESCO world heritage site featuring the largest concentration of First Nations rock carvings and paintings on the Great Plains. Unique natural landscapes, historical sites, and plentiful recreational opportunities, shops, and restaurants mean this isn’t just a great place to visit – you can have a great lifestyle here.
Perched on the South Saskatchewan River valley, the 20-story Saamis Teepee – the largest teepee in the world, was erected in honour of the area’s indigenous history. “Medicine Hat” gets its name from a medicine man’s feathered headdress that was lost in the hills after a fierce battle between Blackfoot and Cree tribes.
Medicine Hat is Alberta’s sixth largest city and offers an excellent quality of life that includes big-city amenities without big-city costs. The city-owned gas utility and power plant help keep the cost of living lower than in major centres, while residents enjoy plenty of choice in goods, services, and activities within 10 or 15 minutes of most residential neighborhoods. The surrounding communities of Desert Blume, Redcliff, Bow Island, Irvine, and Seven Persons are all within a 25-minute drive to the city, offering a rural or small-town lifestyle with easy access to Medicine Hat for work or play.
Medicine Hat is also Canada’s first city of achieve “functional zero” chronic homelessness after adopting a Housing First policy in 2009.
Explore cultural and historical attractions, festivals and events for various age groups and interests. Medicine Hat boasts seven golf courses, over 90 kilometers of paved recreational trails, 100 parks, and four water play parks. Whether you enroll your child in art classes at the Esplanade, listen to a drop-in lecture at Medicine Hat College, or take in a musical performance at the Cultural Centre, there’s ample choice for things to do. Annual festivals like Tongue-on-Post winter folk festival and the summer’s jazz festival are highly anticipated and well attended.
To learn more about this vibrant community, visit the City of Medicine Hat, Medicine Hat Tourism, or the community's Facebook page.
AHS operates six facilities in Medicine Hat offering a full suite of health services. For healthcare professionals seeking a new challenge in one of Alberta Health Services premier health facilities, Medicine Hat Regional Hospital (MHRH) is an excellent place to consider. Opened in 1890, it was Alberta’s first civilian hospital, and has grown and expanded over the years to keep pace with the city’s growing population and technological advances.
This facility provides a range of healthcare services including a 24/7 emergency department, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, and audiology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology. The Margery E. Yuill Cancer Centre is also located within this facility.
The 325-bed Medicine Hat Regional Hospital serves a catchment area of 117,000 residents. A 30,000 square foot expansion completed in 2018 made room for expanded services including an expanded emergency department, inpatient diagnostic services, and a heliport.
MHRH serves as a training center for multiple professions and welcomes nursing and EMS students from Medicine Hat College, as well as University of Alberta pharmacy students and University of Calgary medical residents.
Medicine Hat Community Health Services offers a range of educational and health programs, including public health, parent and child programs, immunization, and addiction and mental health services.
Other facilities, such as the Medicine Hat Provincial Building and River Heights Professional Centre house addiction and mental health services, bariatric services, and nutrition counseling, with additional facilities to support the Medicine Hat Home Care Program and the Opioid Dependency Program.
People working for AHS enjoy a strong sense of community, and getting to know their colleagues, patients, and families. We strive to provide high quality care that sees patients and families as integral members of the health care team and encourage their active participation in all aspects of their care.
