INNISFAIL – With the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic surging across the region and the town, Innisfail took a welcome break for nearly five hours on Sept. 2 to honour their health-care heroes.
“It exceeded my expectations. We had a bit of rain this morning and we were a bit nervous but it did turn out quite good,” said Wendy Evans, a geriatric assessment nurse with the Wolf Creek Primary Care Network. She was one of the organizers for the two-part event at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre that was called the Innisfail Health Care Providers Appreciation BBQ.
The celebration began at about 11:30 a.m. with the barbecue outside, which was followed by introductions from Jean Barclay, a town councillor and a member of the Community Partners in Action group, which included the award-winning team that created the Innisfail’s Dementia Friendly Community Initiative.
Coun. Gavin Bates, council’s current deputy mayor, noted to the audience outside that with COVID dominating the lives of so many over the past 18 months, and with so many changing protocols and unknown risks, everyone’s livelihoods and the community are “always” depending on their health-care heroes.
“Innisfail is fortunate to have the complete network of primary health care that we enjoy. You truly put the care in our health care,” said Bates. “I personally have not needed significant assistance during COVID but certainly did prior and will in the future. You have always carried the day and will be there long after we have learned to live with it.”
Dr. Jesse Christiansen, a family physician at the Innisfail Medical Clinic who is also treating seriously ill COVID patients at the local hospital, said he was honoured to receive recognition as one of the many health-care heroes in the community but he also stated his concerns going forward, including the strain for the pandemic’s rapidly advancing fourth wave and Innisfail’s future leadership.
“In Alberta, the times are a changing, right,” he added. “I think the rural communities have to be cognizant of the fact that they stand to lose a lot if they are not careful, and don’t band together to demand they get the things that they need.”
The celebration later moved inside to the Community Room, where the audience heard the experiences of citizens living with dementia as well as from their care partners. They also heard an online live presentation from keynote speaker Dr. Norah Keating, a renowned social gerontologist devoted to enhancing the quality of life of older adults.
But importantly, it was a day for the community to experience the official award-winning recognition of Innisfail’s Community Partners in Action team.
The team successfully created and delivered Innisfail’s Dementia Friendly Community Initiative, and was the 2021 winner of the RhPAP Rhapsody Health-Care Heroes Award. The team included Evans, Ellen Helgason, community recreation therapist with Alberta Health Services and Jennifer Wood, former dementia friendly community coordinator and registered nurse.
“The pandemic has been challenging both personally and professionally for the team. We have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. But it also gave us an opportunity to re-evaluate how to deliver care and support within the community,” said Evans. “Despite the pandemic we were able to achieve the goal of raising awareness to reduce stigma, creating sustainable resources and programming through collaboration with our community partners.”
Wood gave a 20-minute presentation of the Dementia Friendly Community Initiative ground-breaking initiative, which has earned stellar reviews, not only from other health-care professionals in the region but throughout the province, country and even beyond.
“It feels amazing to see how far we have come from just six of us sitting around a table with people in the community with an idea to where we are now. It feels wonderful to see all of our ideas come to fruition,” said Wood, who remains a citizen volunteer with the Community Partners in Action group, and remains passionately optimistic about the initiative’s future possibilities.
“I feel very proud but also very humbled to enjoy the success we have because it’s not just the Community Partners in Action, it’s the community’s involvement that helped make what we’ve done such a success.”
