August 9, 2024
Working to minimize service disruptions
We’re taking action to support you better and minimize disruptions to local rural services that Albertans rely on. (more...)
Receive personalized care support
Pathfinder, a platform available through our Employee and Family Assistance Program, provides customized care plans. (more...)
Mental Wellness Moment - Mental health in the aftermath of a disaster or emergency
Dr. Nicholas Mitchell talks about how to deal with mental health struggles in the aftermath of a disaster or emergency situation. (more...)
Become an immunization site champion
Join a community of site champions that help protect our people and prevent the spread of seasonal respiratory viruses. (more...)
New icon for language interpreters available on your desktop or mobile device
A new desktop icon provides quick and seamless access to professional medical interpreters in clinical areas. (more...)
August 9, 2024
Service disruptions, especially in rural communities, pose a challenge year-round but particularly during this time of year when staff and physicians take well-deserved and much-needed summer vacation. Of course, this is not news to our people on the front lines or to the people in impacted communities. Service disruptions are an expected part of any healthcare system from time to time, and are not unique to Alberta. Our teams have exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills to deal with these disruptions as they arise, with a focus on patient care and safety. We’re also taking action to support you better and minimize disruptions to local rural services that Albertans rely on.
AHS rural facilities have adopted an Emergency Department Coverage Plan. In rural zones, when an AHS facility has a gap in coverage of the emergency department (ED), a fan-out process ensues. This includes calling all potentially available staff and physicians and asking them to pick up shifts. It also includes checking availability of immediately local locums, and, for physicians, reaching out to the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) Physician Locum Services (PLS) program, which is available in the zone and across the province. Rural zones also often reach out to out-of-province locums.
The AMA PLS program does a great job of fulfilling most locum requests. However, rural health centres can present logistical and geographical challenges for locums, as it can be difficult for them to work in their regular setting and have time to travel to a rural community. To address this issue, AHS is engaging AHS physicians to explore an opportunity for a complementary internal Rural Physician Locum program that retains several physicians to be readily available for locum shifts in specified locations for specified dates.
When service disruptions do occur, our teams do everything possible to minimize inconvenience and ensure Albertans can access the care they need as quickly as possible. Thanks to you, communities are promptly notified of service disruptions through many different channels, and patients in those communities can still be triaged by registered nurses or nurse practitioners, with Emergency Medical Services teams on standby to transport patients to another facility if necessary. During service disruptions, I am grateful to all of you for striving to make the best out of a suboptimal situation.
Of course, vacancy-filling and recruitment is always a priority for AHS and takes place all year, in real-time. AHS has a dedicated team in place focused on supporting multi-pronged recruitment and retention efforts across the province.
Ensuring Albertans have access to healthcare in their community is of utmost importance to AHS — and to you. I value the work you do every day in communities across Alberta, and remain committed to supporting recruitment and retention efforts to ensure you have the supports and resources to serve patients and families when they need us the most.
Athana Mentzelopoulos
President & CEO
Alberta Health Services
When you create an account on Homeweb, you get access to Pathfinder. This platform, available through our Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP), provides a suite of online tools that offers an enhanced and customized care approach tailored to your current needs and concerns.
This experience starts with a series of questions that guides you from an initial assessment to recommended services within minutes. Pathfinder offers different ways to access EFAP services and enables you to connect with counsellors immediately or at your earliest convenience by scheduling a session, over the phone or virtually.
For additional support, call the intake line 24/7 at 1-877-273-3134. Physicians can contact the AMA Physician and Family Support Program, a confidential 24/7 support line, at 1-877-767-4637.
Questions? Contact wellness@ahs.ca.
In this Mental Wellness Moment, Dr. Nicholas Mitchell talks about how to deal with mental health struggles in the aftermath of a disaster or emergency situation.
Help immunize our people for the 2024-2025 seasonal immunization campaign.
Last year, more than 700 site champions provided seasonal immunizations for workers across the province. Site champions help improve access to the vaccine, promote the importance of getting immunized and play a key role in protecting our people against respiratory viruses.
Interested in becoming a site champion? Review the FAQ for additional information or connect with a zone occupational health nurse.
AHS Interpretation and Translation Services has partnered with Language Line to bring a web access shortcut to professional medical interpreters for all home screens in clinical areas.
A new desktop icon will be seen on AHS desktop and mobile home screens so you can connect limited English-speaking patients, families and clients with a professional medical interpreter on-demand.
You can access an interpreter by clicking on the icon and entering your program authentication code and device name. If you do not know your authentication code or device name, ask your manager or contact us at interpretation.services@ahs.ca.
For more information about Interpretation and Translation Services, visit Interpretation & Translation Services.
If you have any questions regarding the Language Line “Interpreters” icon on your screen, email interpretation.services@ahs.ca.
