Alberta Health Services

COVID is here. It’s real, says Samantha Perryman, acting patient care manager at the Kaye Edmonton Clinic. It’s distressing for the patients. It’s distressing for their families, and for staff as well. Follow the advice you’ve been given. Wash your hands. Wear masksAnd look after yourselves and look after each other, so the hospital is there for you and your loved ones when you need it.

It took a near fatal overdose for Christopher James to decide he needed help. Now he shares his story during National Addictions Awareness Week to inspire others to reach out for help and start their own recovery. I can’t tell you how great my life has turned around," says James, an Edmonton Opioid Dependency program client. "There is victory in admitting and asking for help. There is power and strength in that. It’s not a weakness. Just don’t give up on yourself. We want Albertans to know that help is available, where to go and how to access it, says Dr. Mohit Singh, a physician with the Edmonton Opioid Dependency program.

Every day is just like a new set of nerves, says Charlene Giselbrecht, a registered nurse in the Emergency Department, Royal Alexandra Hospital. We’re short staffed because nurses and staff are off because their families are sick or they’re sick. Giselbrecht says we all have a role to play if we want life to return to normal. If we do those little things, keeping distance, reducing cohorts, we can prevent a lot.

Have friends or family who need COVID info in a different language? Refer them to http://bit.ly/CovidTranslated. If they have questions, they can Health Link at 811 and talk to a registered nurse. If they say the language they’d like to speak in, an interpreter can join the call.

This is real. We need to take this seriously, says Mishaela Houle, Executive Director, Cardiac Sciences, Edmonton Zone. We have a higher number of patients in acute care than we ever did in the spring, and if we continue on at this rate, our health system is going to have a very difficult time responding to all the patient needs. Our staff has a number of challenges between contact tracing, being sick themselves, having to stay home with sick loved ones or children. We ...are really struggling to keep staff at the frontlines for the patients that require it. We need your help. We need you to stay home. We need you to limit the people you interact with. Do everything you can to limit the transmission of COVID-19 and to protect our health system.

Struggling? You are not alone. Make the call.

If you are feeling unwell, please stay home and complete the COVID-19 online self-assessment for testing: http://ahs.ca/covid #COVID19AB

Michelle Kearns hasn’t seen her family in 16 months. They live in Saskatchewan, and because of the pandemic and her job, she has stayed away, doing what she can to help keep them safe. You’re going to make me cry, says Kearns, her voice cracking. I’d like to see my family. Kearns, administrative support at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, is tired. Her entire team is tired, but they continue to work hard. ... We’re doing our best to make sure everyone is looked after not only our patients and their families, but our co-workers as well, she says. If your child is sick and needs immediate medical attention, bring them to the hospital, she says. That’s why it’s there. We don’t want to turn people away and that’s not what we’re doing. But remember that the COVID-19 restrictions are in place for a reason, to keep you and your family safe, as well as us and our co-workers, she adds. Wearing a mask is not only keeping yourself safe. It keeps those around you safe, too. There’s a bigger picture here. We’ve had to go through worse. Just wear a mask. It’s not that hard.

Major progress is being made, inside and out, as the state-of-the-art Calgary Cancer Centre continues to take shape. Operational planning is also officially underway, and the project is on time and on budget. For more information visit https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/info/page15399.aspx