Since December of 2010, the David Thompson Health Region Advisory Council (DTHRAC) has been working with residents and health service representatives to improve health-care services across the region.
Bergen resident Gerald Ingeveld, who was appointed as the new chairman of the 15-member DTHRAC on March 14, said his council will continue working to ensure everyone receives effective and efficient health-care services.
“Because we're an advisory council, we kind of feel the pulse of the community, hear what people have to say, take input - you know, the good the bad the ugly - of the health-care system, and then share that information,” said Ingeveld.
There are 12 health advisory councils in the province, all operating under the auspices of the provincial government.
“(We share information) both with senior administration for the David Thompson Health Region and the Central Zone, and as well share information and comment with the actual AHS board, so that's the main part,” he said.
This will be his fourth year on the council, which formed in 2010 and deals mostly with the exchange of information and ideas, but also participates in community engagement and has had a hand in lobbying, he explained in a Gazette interview on March 27.
There are a few health-care issues coming to a head in the region, including mental health with the recently announced planned closure of the Michener Centre in Red Deer, he said.
“We're certainly concerned there because that's going to put more pressure onto mental health services and AHS, and we weren't really thrilled with how mental health was being handled in AHS already, and now there's even more pressure, so that's going to be pretty trying,” he said.
Ambulance services, particularly in the smaller municipal centres and rural areas, are also a concern for the DTHRAC, he said.
It's not all bad though, as there has been much headway made on shortening wait times for seniors to get into appropriate facilities, following the efforts of the councils.
“We worked with AHS and with our senior administration and really began to lobby for that for seniors, and of course, a lot of spaces were announced and a lot are starting to open, so I think we had something to do with that improvement,” he said.
Within seniors' long-term care, there have been some significant complaints about the quality of food, he noted.
So the council and other community members got together a group and tried out the food themselves as part of a pilot project called Closer to Home.
“We tasted the different things that were offered and made some suggestions, and so the whole approach to food services in long-term care is now being changed,” he noted.
“So we've tried to get the food in the long-term care facilities more like the homemade food, you know, what you've been used to for most of your life.
“We're really happy that we were part of that – first that AHS took the initiative to make some changes to start those pilot programs, then also to get us involved in that.”
The council also helped the push for AHS to return to site-based decision making, rather than centralized decision making, he said.
“The decision makers were just not accessible to the people on the ground, and now that's changing and it's coming back more to a site-based decision-making process, so that's really good.”
Despite the improvements, there is still a long way to go to bring provincial health services up to the level of care that the council would like to see in Alberta, he said.
It's a challenging job, because health advisory council membership is done on a volunteer basis, and though members' fuel for travel is paid for, everything is done by volunteers, he said.
Ingeveld is a former Mountain View County councillor.
