Rural Health Professions Action Plan
Suite 416, 9707-110 Street NW T5K 2L9 Edmonton, AB, Canada

Since 1991, the Rural Health Professions Action Plan has been helping rural Albertans keep health care close to home. Here we outline how we're working with rural communities and stakeholders to help attract and retain health professionals. For more information on RhPAP, visit www.rhpap.ca.

Wembley couple’s plans often paused when emergency calls. As Valentine’s Day approaches and thoughts turn to romance, RhPAP thought it would be interesting to speak with some health-care couplesincluding doctors, nurses, health-care aides, medivac pilots, a paramedic, and a fire chief to learn about how they keep the fires of passion burning in the face of an unpredictable schedule and the stress that comes with working in the health field. The first of the article dives i...nto what life is like for Dr. Angela Luckham and her pilot husband, Alexander Luckham. https://rhpap.ca//couples-plans-often-paused-when-emergen/ Town Of Wembley Alberta Health Services Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) Wembley Fire Department County of Grande Prairie No. 1

Congrats to Spring Coulee's Zach Gorham, one of four recipients of the 2020 RhPAP Rural Medical Student Awards! Here the second-year medical student at the University of Calgary shares why he plans on returning to southern Alberta to practice in Cardston and how much the support means to him. For more information on the programs that RhPAP offers post-secondary students enrolled in health profession programs, visit the link below.... https://rhpap.ca//post-secondary-health-professions-stude/ University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine Town of Cardston Spring Coulee Alberta Health Services Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC)

#FunFactFriday - Watch Global News video about 'Auntie' Annie Saunders. A black pioneer who wore many hats at the time of Fort Macleod's creation and helped shape the southern Alberta region. #blackhistorymonth2021 #Blackhistorymonth #Albertahistory... #ruralalberta Town of Fort Macleod Town of Pincher Creek The Fort Museum Lethbridge Historical Society https://globalnews.ca//annie-saunders-black-history-mont/

Did You Know RhPAP's Health Professions department has funding for your rural health-care team's professional development! Check out how we can help. Visit www.rhpap.ca/TEAMS Alberta Health Services College and Association of Respiratory Therapists of Alberta... College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta (CLPNA) College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) Physiotherapy Alberta - College + Association Alberta College of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists See more

After hearing concerns from various Indigenous communities on health-care access during COVID-19, Dr. Amy Gausvik worked with colleagues to develop the Alberta Indigenous Virtual Care Clinic, a collaborative program that serves Alberta’s First Nations, Métis, and Inuit patients. To learn more about the grassroots program and how it came to be visit the link below. https://rhpap.ca//virtual-clinic-helps-tackle-health-care/ Alberta Health Services... Alberta Indigenous Virtual Care Clinic Rick Wilson #collegeofphysiciansandsurgeons #ahealthservices #DocsofInsta #RuralAbHealth #RuralHealth #albertadocs #medstudent #Abmed #abdoctors #albertahealth #ruraldoctors #ruraldoc #familymedicine #ruralmedicine #ruralmed #ruraldocs

Did you see the Rimbey Farmers’ Market's very own Rodney the Rodent didn’t see his shadow? The team at the market are now prepping for the first spring market on April 3rd! Rodney even knew to wear his mask? Rimbey's Market at the Park Alberta Farmers' Market Association Town of Rimbey ... County Of Ponoka Rimbey & District Chamber of Commerce See more

RhPAP is hiring a permanent part-time administrative assistant for its Health Professions division. If you enjoy helping others keep organized and love rural Alberta, we should talk. For details visit https://rhpap.ca//employment-opportunity-administrative-a/

#FridayFunFacts: For the Yellowstoneone fans that are impatiently waiting for next season, you can get your fill of Kevin Costner and breathtaking rural Alberta scenery with Kevin Costner's most recent feature film, Let Him Go. The movie was filmed in several rural Alberta locations, including Didsbury, Drumheller, High River, and Fort Macleod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqIqsYgUymc Town of Didsbury... Town of Drumheller Town of High River Town of Fort Macleod Keep Alberta Rolling #FunFactFriday #Albertafilmindustry #Abfilm

Did You Know that RhPAP has Rural Community Consultants (RCCs) located across the province to help rural Albertans build strategies to attract and retain health-care professionals within their communities? Learn more about the programs and supports that your Rural Community Consultants can help your community access at the link below: https://rhpap.ca/programs-servic/rural-alberta-communities/

In this week's episode of Rural Medical Who’s Who, we take a look back to 2016 to see the nursing student in their natural habitat, the rural hospital. #FridayFunFacts #FunFactFriday #HinterlandWhosWho #yearofthenurse #yearofthenurseandmidwife College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta (CLPNA) College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) ... Town of Pincher Creek Alberta Health Services See more

What is 15 ft. high, 3,000 lbs. and welcomes highway 43 travellers in northwestern Alberta? The WORLD’S LARGEST BEAVER in the great Town of Beaverlodge! #FridayFunFacts #FunFactFriday #Beaverlodge #BeaverlodgeAB #TravelAB #funfactsfriday #alberta #albertacanada #canada #explorealberta #explorecanada #albertaviews #travelalberta #canadasworld #discoveralberta #myalberta #roadsideattraction #ruralAlberta #iloveruralalberta

Driving around with a carton of eggs on top of her car: High River physician, Dr. Sarah Makhdoom, shares why practicing in rural Alberta is about the beautiful little things you won’t find on a patient’s medical chart. Town of High River Alberta Health Services Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) ... University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine Charles Clark Health Clinic College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta See more

The World Health Organization (WHO) 2020 as Year of the Nurse and the Midwife as a tribute to these front-line caregivers. The year was chosen to coincide with the 200th anniversary of English nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale's birth to bring attention to this valued profession. This week, we step back in time to learn more about Alberta’s early district nurses, who were often the only trained caregivers in isolated areas across Alberta. District nurses met the challen...ge of providing much of the health care, particularly obstetrical care, in rural and remote Albertan communities in the first half of the 1900s. These women were often trained in Eastern Canada, the United States, and Britain, making practice in rural Alberta an adventure. #yearofthenurseandmidwife https://rhpap.ca//paying-tribute-to-nursing-health-care-h/ College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta (CLPNA) Nurse Practitioner Association of Alberta Alberta Health Services

Rural Alberta youth are learning how to care for their cardiac health with the Transitioning Rural Adolescents to Adult Care study that is lead by Stollery Children's Hospital cardiologist Dr. Andrew Mackie and registered nurse Jody Gingrich. Learn more about the study in this week's Rural Health Beat. https://rhpap.ca//young-rural-cardiac-patients-learn-to-t/... Women and Children's Health Research Institute Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation Alberta Health Services University of Alberta

Want to make mental health matter in your community? The Rural Mental Health Project aims to build capacity for better mental health and catalyze local mental health action plans in up to 150 rural and remote communities. The Rural Mental Health Project provides funding and training to support local change-makers, aka Animators.... Funding for the Animators includes training time, travel, and community facilitation hours. https://ruralmentalhealth.ca/connect/get-involved/ #RuralMentalHealth #DoMoreAg

A guardian angel has been looking down upon the town of Jasper for more than a century. Mount Edith Cavell, a prominent part of the landscape for millions of years, was so-named in 1916 to honour the courageous British nurse who saved countless lives in Belgium during the First World War. The famous nurse never set foot in Jasper, or even Canada for that matter, but people around the world felt a strong affection for Edith Louisa Cavell after she was executed by a German firi...ng squad for treason. https://rhpap.ca//jasper-peak-named-after-heroic-wartime-/ #November11 #RemembranceDay #LestWeForget #yearofthenurse #yearofthenurseandmidwife Jasper Museum Jasper National Park

Originally from Nepal, Pradeep Neupane, a registered nurse, practises at the Sacred Heart Community Health Centre in McLennan, AB. Here he discusses practicing as a male nurse in Alberta, his journey to the northern Alberta Town of McLennan, and how much he loves the variety of learning opportunities in rural Alberta. Alberta Health Services... College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA) See more

Sean Stanford, a Southern Alberta farmer, shares about his journey with mental illness, in this week's issue of the Rural Health Beat. #agmentalhealthweek. https://rhpap.ca/news-events/planting-the-seeds-of-support/ For additional resources and information regarding rural mental health, visit one of the great organizations tagged below. ... Rural Mental Health Project cspyyc - Centre for Suicide Prevention Chinook Primary Care Network Ag Mental Health Week Do More Ag

Over nine different rural doctors, including RhPAP Board Director, Dr. Sarah Makhdoom, are sharing their personal experiences as practicing rural physicians in the University of Calgary's latest Human Library. Rural Medicine (DLRI) UofC

Learn about the new program, 'Real Talk with Men', and how the Wolf Creek Primary Care Network, along with the communities of Innisfail, Sylvan Lake, Delburne, Ponoka, and Rimbey are working to break the stigma around men's mental health in the latest Rural Health Beat article. #mentalhealthweek #mensmentalhealth #ruralmentalhealth https://rhpap.ca//breaking-the-stigma-around-mens-mental-/... CMHA National / ACSM National, Alberta Health Services Centre for Suicide Prevention, Rural Mental Health Project Village of Delburne Town of Innisfail Town of Ponoka Rimbey, Alberta

As a rural Alberta physician are you interested in upgrading your skills or acquiring new ones? RhPAP offers five continuing professional development (CPD) programs for physicians. From a point-of-care ultrasound course designed for physicians practising in an emergency department to specific training for emergency teams that includes simulations that are appropriate to the realities of rural practice. Perhaps you have your own specific training need that would let you bette...r meet the medical needs of your community. We have a program for that. Discover more about our CPD programs at: https://rhpap.ca/programs-se/rural-health-care-providers//

RhPAP's Rebekah Seidel and Jennifer Best ventured to #468 First Nations community and Anzac this week to explore opportunities to collaborate. Photos by Rebekah Seidel Fort McMurray 468 First Nation

RhPAP's Rebekah Seidel and Jennifer Best would like to thank Elaine and Anika from Careers: Next Generation in Fort McMurray for taking the time to meet this week and explore new ideas. CAREERS: The Next Generation

Rebekah Seidel, RhPAP Director, Rural Community Development and Engagement, receives a warm welcome from Jennifer Best, RhPAP Rural Community Consultant - North East Zone and her daughter Jovie. Jovie was excited to point out the fall colours in the Fort McMurray area. Rebekah and Jennifer met with numerous stakeholders this week to explore new opportunities for collaboration. The two beautiful murals were on a school that was located near the Northern Lights Regional Health ...Centre. The fall scenics were taken next to the Clearwater River. Photos by Rebekah Seidel.

Rural medical clinics have adapted in response to COVID-19 to keep patients safe and healthy. Exam rooms are cleaned between visits, patients are pre-screened when booking an appointment, health workers wear PPE and some dental clinics are taking temperature readings prior to every appointment and requiring pre-treatment mouth rinses. Clinics are beginning to see patients return; many clinics are reporting patient numbers close to their pre-COVID-19 rates. "Coming to see us w...ill not increase their risk of getting COVID, but staying home could increase the risk for whatever their concern is," says Jennifer Normore, Practice Manager, Delburne Medical Centre. See the full story: https://rhpap.ca//clinics-adapt-in-response-to-covid-19-t/ Photo: Dr. Muti Kauchali sees a patient at the Delburne Medical Centre. Photo submitted. Delburne Medical CentreBreton Family DentalRiverside Medical

Harvest is in full swing across rural Alberta. RhPAP freelancer, Lorena Franchuk, recently captured combining in the works near Delburne in Red Deer County, as well as pumpkins and other fall bounty from the gardens at The Jungle Farm near Innisfail. RMAVillage of DelburneRed Deer CountyThe Jungle FarmTown of Innisfail

Join RhPAP Board Director and High River physician, Dr. Sarah Makhdoom, at a Human Library event with Rural Medicine (DLRI) UofC on October 6 as she talks about her journey from the sun to the Rocky Mountains!

As we all know, fall is a busy time for farmers and ranchers. Our Director of Rural Community Development and Engagement, Rebekah Seidel, lives in the Rimbey area and took this photo of a swather from her office window. Good luck to all Alberta farmers with the harvest. It's so good to see that the weather is cooperating this September. RMAAlberta Urban Municipalities AssociationAlberta Federation of AgriculturePonoka information Site