A recommendation by Olds town council to have representatives from the Olds/Sundre Primary Care Network make a presentation to council at a later date was made at last week's meeting.
The recommendation was made following a presentation by Gerald Ingeveld, the former Mountain View County councillor who now sits on the David Thompson Health Advisory Council, who updated town council on the health council's activities since it was established in December 2010.
Ingeveld outlined the council's five work plan priorities: maintaining health, improving wait times, improving continuing care, improving primary care and understanding local priorities.
"We need to hear what Alberta Health Services is doing Ö and communicate that to the public,î Ingeveld said, noting that health-care managers are trying to provide the best possible service within Alberta Health Services guidelines.
The council conducts six public meetings per year and has six other private meetings throughout the year. Within the last 14 months, the council has hosted three major events to give the public the opportunity to provide feedback on what they see as issues in health care. The council has also had community consultation events in Rocky Mountain House in November 2011, Sylvan Lake in February 2012 and Drumheller in November 2012 to solicit feedback from community members.
The council has provided feedback on food services at long-term care facilities; on emergency medical services; and has worked on physician recruitment and retention in communities served by the council, said Ingeveld. In response to questions from councillors, Ingeveld said he is frustrated by the slow pace of change, but said that some progress is being made on addressing some of the challenges faced by the system. He said he expects more improvements over the next three to four years.
Ingeveld said the council has been advocating for more site-based decision making that was taken away when the former health regions were merged into one.
"We advocated for that very hard and I Ö hoped that we had some influence into that changing,î he said.
Ingeveld also said seniors' care is slowly improving by giving seniors the type of care they need closer to home. A new facility in Olds will be opening shortly to fill the gap as well as a plan for one in Sundre.
"If we look at it from a long view we can say, ëyeah, it's happening,' but on the other hand, whoa, is it ever taking a long time,î he said.
Ingeveld said he is most encouraged by the fact that during the council's public consultations, people are still talking about the issues.
"They're still willing to come out to another public engagement and give their views again and there's still confidence I think Ö that our health service, our government is doing the best they can and just need some direction for how to do this. I don't think people have given up,î he said.
Mayor Judy Dahl said she was encouraged to hear some of the initiatives the group is working on, especially that local doctors in conjunction with Sundre physicians, are getting closer to launching a local PCN.
"As mayor, I think we waited too long. (The health council has been) working together as a group for three years now. We should have been more proactive and had them here last year. I was very happy with the report back that we heard from our representative,î she said.
"We advocated for (locally-based decision making) very hard and I ... hoped that we had some influence into that changing."Gerald Ingeveld, local representative, David Thomposn Health Advisory Council
