Tamarack Health Advisory Council Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Barrhead Healthcare Centre MINUTES Council Members: Alberta Health Services: Public: Regrets: Ruth Martin Williams (Chair), Denise Lambert (Vice Chair), Gary Beeson, Christie Homeniuk, Garry Lorenz, Daniel Pritchard Gregory Cummings, Shelly Pusch, Naomi Shopland, Heather Thompson One MaryAnne Chichak, Douglas Heine Agenda Item Discussion Action Welcome and Introductions 1. Approval of Agenda Moved by that Garry Lorenz that the agenda of Thursday, Sept 8, 2016 be approved. MOTION CARRIED. 2. Approval of Minutes Moved by Denise Lambert that the minutes of Thursday, May 26, 2016 be approved. MOTION CARRIED 3. Presentations and Community Imput 3.1. International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) Denise Lambert Denise Lambert attended the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban South Africa. The beginning of the conference coincided with Nelson Mandela Day and was attended by celebrities, royalty and researchers. The conference focused on issues such as: High risk individuals who are not infected yet but have the potential to be.
Anticipating and being prepared for populations who are at higher risk of being infected. This included a discussion on how this would affect people at the grassroots levels. Assessing current responses and having multiple governments determine the effectiveness of their current assessment and response levels. Canada strengthened their response commitments. Social determinants of health such as poverty, culture and education were also discussed. Questions and Feedback: Ruth Martin Williams asked if there seems to be an inequity of care between North Zone or rural than the rest of the province. Denise agreed that the focus is often on urban centres and rural services need to be bolstered. Denise Lambert also commented that there are higher rates of STIs and prevalence of people living with HIV in Alberta than in Saskatchewan. Denise won the Alberta Aboriginal Role Model Award in the Sciences category this past week. The council expressed gratitude for the work Denise is doing in the North Zone and for the Alberta Indigenous population. 3.2. Barrhead Healthcare Centre Update Heather Thompson, Director Clinical Operations Area 5 North Zone Heather Thompson provided the following overview and update on the local facility where the meeting was held: Barrhead Healthcare Centre is a 34 bed acute care and 100 bed long term care facility which services the population of Barrhead and surrounding area. The facility currently has: 12 physicians including family physicians, general surgeons, OBGYN, and anesthesiologists. 2 P age
A busy operating theatre open five days a week. Bustling home care services. A recently expanded chemotherapy room. Statistics 88% of emergency room patients are discharged within four hours 85% of emergency room patients who need further care are admitted within eight hours acute care satisfaction rates are 85% there were 24,000 emergency department visits in 2015 2016 acute care had an 82% occupancy rate in 2015 2016 there were 197 delivers in 2015 2016 CoACT Barrhead is one of two pilot sites for CoACT in the North Zone. The CoACT program helps patients, families and care providers communicate and work together. The program focuses on team nursing, enhanced communication and patient centred care. Feedback and Questions Garry Lorenz asked if Westlock Healthcare Centre has adopted CoACT. Heather Thompson answered that the centre has adopted some components such as using a communications whiteboard for each patient. Gary Beeson asked if Swan Hills PCN will be helping with home care in the area, and will Barrhead home care staff be helping in Swan Hills? Heather Thompson responded that there will be one support aide helping in Swan Hills Monday thru Friday. 3.3. Community Input A reporter from The Barrhead Leader asked for a copy of the physician recruitment report and also clarified the number of existing Tamarack HAC members and the number of vacancies. 3 P age
4. Old Business 4.1. Business Arising From the Minutes of May 26, 2016 Naomi Shopland, Advisory Council Officer DRAFT - PENDING COUNCIL APPROVAL Council members were asked to provide further feedback on the four quadrants to Brandy Giesbrecht by June 16, 2016. Complete. Council requested reports on STI rates broken down by Zone. Complete. 5. New Business 5.1. Physician Recruitment Report Kim Fleming, Physician Resource Planner, Medical Affairs 5.2. North Zone Update Heather Thompson, Director Clinical Operations Area 5, North Zone Kim Fleming provided the following report: Onoway currently has a recruitment target of one family medicine physician. Heather Thompson gave the following update: Workforce News: Shelly Pusch is retiring from her role as Chief Zone Officer. Gregory Cummings will be assuming the role. Kate Butler has retired from her position as Senior Operating Officer. Stacy Greening has taken on this role. Sandy Rauscher was awarded the Barrhead Care Manager position on the secured dementia unit. Capital Projects: Barrhead Community Cancer Clinic renovations have been completed. Renovation of the four tub rooms at Barrhead Continuing Care Centre has commenced. Move in dates have been revised for the opening of the new Edson Healthcare Centre and are now set for late October/early November. The temporary lab renovation space in Hinton is operational and the lab has been successfully relocated to this area. 4 P age
Work is well underway in the installation of a dumb waiter in Jasper and the upcoming second phase of the elevator replacement/upgrade. The Mayerthorpe Healthcare Centre roof replacement has essentially been completed. Major Events and Initiatives: Dr. Verna Yiu, Dr. Carl Amrhein, and Deb Gordon, along with other AHS staff toured the new and old Edson Healthcare facilities. Minister Hoffman and Minister O Neill toured the Whitecourt Healthcare Centre. The mobile clinic for the North Zone Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Screening Project has arrived. Westlock Public Health Nursing, Westlock Oral Health and Barrhead Public Health Nursing have all been working with non English speaking refugee families. Hinton Addiction staff continues to provide presentations to the community and schools. 5.3. Recruitment Update A province wide recruitment campaign this spring/summer resulted in significant interest in the Health Advisory Councils, the Provincial Advisory Councils for Cancer and Addictions & Mental Health and the Wisdom Council. The names of the recommended candidates have been sent to the AHS Board for approval and appointment. 5.4. 2016 Fall Forum The 2016 Fall Forum is an opportunity for council members from across the province to join together for a weekend of networking, information sharing and learning. This year s forum is held October 21 22 in Edmonton at the Westin Hotel. Council members are urged to RSVP without delay if they haven t already. 5 P age
5.5. Report from the Chair Ruth Martin Williams, Chair The Council of Chairs met by Telehealth Thursday, Sept 1 to discuss issues such as recruitment, terms of reference for the community engagement sub committee of the Board, and the advisory councils fall forum. 5.6. Advisory Council Officer Update Naomi Shopland, Advisory Council Officer Shelly Pusch also commented that AHS is looking to implement a provincial advisory council on seniors. Naomi Shopland provided the following report: She highlighted the exemplary job by AHS staff during the evacuation and recovery in Fort McMurray. Elections for the Chair and Vice Chair of Health Advisory Councils are at November meetings. Orientation materials will be distributed to new and current members. The Community Engagement Committee of the Board had their Terms of Reference approved at the July 29 Board meeting. Within the terms, there is clarification that advisory councils report to the CE committee at a governance level, and to specific groups at an operational level. The 12 HACs had 77 members with terms expiring on June 30, 2016. Of those, 48 members are recommended for renewal. The 12 HACs had 108 vacant positions across the province. The recruitment campaign resulted in 236 applications across Alberta and 65 new member recommendations 5.7. Council Roundtable The following items were brought forward: Dan Pritchard commented that he is supportive of the idea of a provincial advisory council on seniors and that there should be an emphasis on access to education coverage after the age of 65. He also 6 P age
shared that the Blue Ridge Logging days will be held on September 24. Garry Lorenz shared that he represented the council at the Seniors Fair in Westlock. Next one is October 8. There were various senior s speakers and services in attendance. He also reported that there is a new group in Westlock called the Voice of Seniors. He is concerned that it has turned into an advocacy group instead of the original format of providing seniors with cohesive group of available resources. Lastly, he shared that he has heard two similar complaints regarding a doctor s office in Westlock. The office told the patients that they couldn t switch physicians, however when they did, a serious medical discovery was made in one of the patients. Gary Beeson reported that Swan Hills had their annual Duck Race. All three winners from out of town. The Swan Hills Tree of Lights is gearing up and lights need to be up before the snow. The Swan Hills Hospital Foundation plan to have an open house to showcase the new portable ultrasound machine. Ruth Martin Williams spent most of her summer helping with the wildfires in Fort McMurray. She joined Dr. Carl Amhrein and Dr. Very Yiu on the tour of the new Edson Healthcare Centre. She is concerned that there doesn t seem to be any media coverage about the new Healthcare Centre; however, she was advised that AHS communications sent a statement to local media to update the public on progress and timelines. Tours will occur when construction is complete. Christie Homeniuk stated that there hasn t been a lot of communication from AHS regarding the new Naomi Shopland to forward College of Physicians and Surgeons complaint information to Garry Lorenz. Someone from Alberta Health Services to contact the Swan Hills Hospital Foundation to discuss the possibility of an open house. 7 P age
Whitecourt Healthcare Centre. She has had some parents in Whitecourt asking about child mental health services and enquiring about the wait times for these services. She also shared a story that highlights the importance of the awareness and accessibility of EPI pens. She suggested that EPI pens should be placed in public places similar to portable AED defibrillators. 6. Date of Next Meeting Date: Nov. 3, 2016 Time: 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Location: Onoway 7. Meeting Evaluation and Adjournment Moved by Gary Beeson that the meeting adjourn at 7:30. *Please note that these minutes are in DRAFT form and are subject to change and approval at the November 3, 2016 council meeting. 8 P age