Athabasca County has received the following notice from Alberta Health Services:
Due to an unexpected clinical personnel shortage and an inability to secure temporary coverage, the Athabasca Healthcare Centre emergency department (ED) will be without onsite physician coverage from:
•6 p.m., Tuesday, July 28 to 6 a.m., Wednesday, July 29*
* A Virtual Emergency Physician (VEP) is currently scheduled to support all or part of this shift. VEP schedules may be altered; the site will make patients aware when there is a VEP on duty.
During this time, nursing staff will remain on-site in the emergency department providing triage, assessments, and referrals for patients to alternate emergency departments in neighbouring communities, as needed.
Virtual Emergency Physician (VEP) coverage may be available for all or part of this service advisory. The VEP program uses an experienced ED physician to remotely support facilities temporarily without available on-site ED physician support. Site clinical staff can connect with an AHS physician by telephone or videoconference for ED patients with non-life-threatening issues. This off-site virtual physician can collaborate with local staff, speak with patients, order tests and medications, and transfer or discharge patients.
Patients are asked to call 911 if they have a medical emergency during these times. Emergency Health Services will remain available to the community and will be re-routed to surrounding facilities.
Community members are reminded to call Health Link at 811, which is available 24/7 for non-emergency health-related questions. Depending on their needs, patients may also be aware of services available through local pharmacies.
AHS continues to work to find clinical personnel coverage for this time period. If coverage is found, this disruption will be cancelled.
This is a temporary measure, and AHS is working hard to ensure residents continue to have access to the care they need during this time.
