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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Carolyn Martindale, City Editor, 403-314-4326 Fax 403-341-6560 E-mail editorial@reddeeradvocate.com
BARBERSHOP HARMONY CELEBRATING 75 YEARS All former barbershoppers are invited to come celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Barbershop Harmony Society on April 9. Songs will be sung, memories shared and birthday cake had. The Wildrose Harmonizers Barbershop Chorus will host the get-together in recognition of Barbershop Harmony Week and the anniversary. The local chapter is one of 800 around the world in the Barbershop Harmony Society. The celebration runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Davenport Church of Christ (68 Donlevy Ave). For more information, call David at 403342-1318 or email crozsmit@telusplanet. net. For information on the club, visit www. harmonizers.ca.
Sundre flood fears heard BY PAUL COWLEY ADVOCATE STAFF The province appears to be listening to a Sundre group’s concerns about the need to take action to prevent future river flooding, says one of its members. Red Deer River Quality Control Committee member Myron Thompson and other representatives met with a pair of Alberta cabinet ministers earlier this month to lobby for a risk assessment on the river in the Sundre area. Thompson said despite its budget woes, the province appears to be committed to undertaking risk assessments in the most flood-
prone areas of Alberta this spring. “Hopefully, we’ll be high on the priority list, at least.” The assessment is expected to support the committee’s case for funding to undertake flood control measures, such as berms, along the river south of Sundre. Fears of flooding have been heightened over the last year after the river changed course, moving several hundred metres to the north and running along a stretch of low banks. Thompson and other committee members were joined by Wildrose Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Joe Anglin in a meeting in Edmonton with Environment Minister Diana McQueen and Municipal Affairs Minister
Doug Griffiths. The government was presented with 160 letters from residents concerned about potential flooding. Assessing the flooding threat from the Red Deer River may not take any additional work, he said. “One of the wiser bureaucrats that was in there with the Department of Environment said he felt there were enough studies and information already completed that there wouldn’t be any cost,” Thompson said. It was suggested that it would just be a matter of going over the work done to assess where the Red Deer River stood as a priority, Thompson said. pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
FABULOUS FABRIC SALE The Fabulous Fabric Sale to raise money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers Campaign will be held on April 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Grandmothers Campaign supports grassroots organizations that assist grandmothers in Africa who care for millions of children orphaned by AIDS. They receive help in the form of food, educational supplies, uniforms and school fees, medical care, HIV counselling and testing, adequate housing and bedding, counselling and support groups, home visits, and more. The sale at Gaetz United Church, 4758 Ross St., will include unused fabric, yarn, notions, patterns, and embellishments — everything for the knitter, quilter, fibre artist and home sewer. Sales are cash only. For more information, call Millie at 403-346-4225.
GEARED UP FUNDRAISER Bring your gently used outdoor gear for Geared Up, the equipment sale fundraiser at the Kerry Wood Nature Centre in Red Deer. The sale runs from April 12 to 14. The sale runs on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Twenty per cent of the proceeds will go to support the environmental education initiatives. Dropoff begins at noon on Friday, April 12. Call 403-346-2010 for more information.
GIVE US A CALL The Advocate invites its readers to help cover news in Central Alberta. We would like to hear from you if you see something worthy of coverage. And we would appreciate hearing from you if you see something inaccurate in our pages. We strive for complete, accurate coverage of Central Alberta and are happy to correct any errors we may commit. Call 403-314-4333.
Photo contributed
Students from Stettler’s Wm. E. Hay Composite High School will convocate from Red Deer College this spring after taking health-care aide certificate program. Back row (left to right) are Claire Hunter, Alisha Coules, Kendra Renschler, Claire Brown, Cheyla Lachowsky, Kennedy Fisher, Corey Garbutt. Front row (left to right) are Kelsey Hallett, Claire Aspenes, Andrew Kim, Amy Son. Missing are Tara Kruk and Kourtney Schilling.
Stettler students complete RDC health-care aide program BY LAURA TESTER ADVOCATE STAFF Thirteen students in Stettler will graduate with a health-care aide certificate from Red Deer College — before they graduate from high school. Since September 2011, four Grade 12 and nine Grade 9 students from Wm. E. Hay Composite High School have been taking a health care aide class through the college. Rhonda Brown, career practitioner at the high school and the one who helps administer the program, says the program is a success. “When Red Deer College was contracted to provide instruction, we started with 13 students and we’ll finish with 13,” said Brown. The course consists of a classroom and lab instruction, plus supervised clinical and a preceptored clinical practicum. The pilot was launched through Prairie Land Regional Division, which set up three semesters for the students. The Stettler students finished their theory at the end of January and will convocate in June with other college students. “Our students had to be in Grade 10 and 11 because it was spread out over three semesters,” said Brown. Once they graduate, the students will be considered certified health-care aides. They’ll be able to work in longterm and continuing care facilities such as nursing homes and auxiliary hospitals, acute care, as well as in home care/community agencies.
‘THEY REALLY GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO INVESTIGATE A FUTURE CAREER IN THE MEDICAL FIELD.’ — DIANNE ENYEDY, WM. E. HAY CLASSROOM TEACHER
The health-care aide works as part of the health-care team assisting patients with the activities of daily living. The health region has indicated a pressing demand for graduates of this program. “High schools are always helping students to leave school with the most skills,” said Brown. Brown said some of the Stettler students plan on being health-care aides, others will enrol in licensed practical nursing or registered nursing, or work in the field part-time while they take another post-secondary program. Most health-care aide jobs start at around $18 an hour, she said. Claire Hunter, 17, said the program has been worthwhile for her because she wondered about becoming a registered nurse, and now with this experience she knows this is what she wants to do. Hunter trained at Stettler Hospital and also at Pine Ridge Lodge. “At first when I heard we had to work in the hospital, I had doubts I could do it,” said Hunter. “But at the end of the summer, I was really glad I was able to accomplish it. I was able to work like a professional.” Dianne Enyedy, Wm. E. Hay classroom teacher for the high school component of the program, said the students did three weeks
of clinical experience at the hospital last summer. They are working on a 80-hour preceptorship at either Heritage House or Pine Ridge long-term care centres. “They really get the opportunity to investigate a future career in the medical field,” said Enyedy. The Stettler high school of about 500 students is the only one offering the program this school term through RDC. Maureen Matejka, chair of the nursing program at Red Deer College, said that two groups of Hanna-area students within Prairie Land Regional Division have already graduated from the healthcare aide program. Starting next school term, Red Deer Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Prairie Land will take part, but Wm. E. Hay will not be involved. A high school teacher teaches part of the CTS course and the college instructors fill in any gaps. “There’s a very big demand for health-care aides in the province. There are many people who are working and are not certified,” said Matejka. “Students also get the feel for what it’s like to be a college student.” ltester@reddeeradvocate.com
Nova project takes another step forward COMPANY WANTS TO CLOSE ROAD ALLOWANCE FOR NEW RAIL YARD Nova Chemicals Corp. is closer to completing another piece of the regulatory groundwork connected to a $900-million polyethylene expansion. Lacombe County council voted on Thursday to forward to Alberta’s Transportation Minister for approval a Nova request to close a road allowance to make way for a new rail yard. The $30-million project will provide space for 450 cars to supply the proposed plant addition. Nova requested the closure of the road allowance — which would be sandwiched between the petrochemical plant’s existing rail yard and the planned addition — to make it easier to manage safety and security.
If approved, the county would sell the eight-acre unused road allowance to Nova. In the first major expansion in years, Nova plans to add a third polyethylene reactor in its Polyethylene 1 plant. Related infrastructure will include a new pelletizer and finishing facilities, a flare stack, three cooling towers and an electrical substation. With the new reactor able to produce an anticipated 950 million to 1.1 billion pounds (431 million to 500 million kg) of low-density polyethylene annually, the capacity of Nova’s polyethylene facilities will jump about 40 per cent.
Cancer patients have a guide BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Central Alberta Cancer Centre now has a cancer patient navigator to help guide patients through treatment and followup care. Alberta Health Services is placing specially trained nurses in all 15 community cancer facilities across the province. Most of them are Eileen n o w o n Wagner the job. Navigators are trained to: ● Provide accurate information for patients so they can make informed decisions about their next steps. ● Help patients prepare for tests and cancer treatments by explaining test results and treatment choices, or by referring patients to other resources or services. ● Improve co-ordination of care by working with other health care professionals. ● Help patients prepare for medical visits by explaining ahead of time what to expect. ● Help clients access financial resources and community supports. Cancer patient navigator Eileen Wagner is the first person patients meet at the cancer centre at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre. “I think it often makes the journey a little easier when they have that good first contact. It will actually alleviate a lot of the stress and the difficulties going through the rest of the system,” said Wagner who has worked as a nurse at the centre for 17 years and started her new job as patient navigator at the end of January. She meets with 12 to 20 patients daily. People who require cancer treatment can feel lost, frustrated, angry and scared and the navigator can help them feel like “somebody’s got your back,” she said. “So far I’ve had so much positive response from it. It’s almost addictive how rewarding it is feeling like you’re making a difference for people.” The navigator program is funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation at no charge to the patient and is available to Albertans with a confirmed diagnosis of cancer and their families. Funding for the local navigator is available until next spring, at which time it will be assessed for further funding. The cancer patient navigator program is mirrored after breast cancer patient navigator programs in Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer that assist patients during the surgical portion of treatment. Alanna Dukes, nurse navigator with the Clinical Breast Health Program at Red Deer hospital, said support is available when the diagnosis is fresh and overwhelming to help patients sort out all the medical information to decide which surgery is best for them. A navigator for breast cancer patients has been available in Red Deer since 2007. The program has an open caseload of 120 patients. Visit www.albertahealthservices.ca/cpn. asp for more information on cancer patient navigators, or contact Wagner at 403-406-5524. For the Clinical Breast Health Program call 403314-6056. szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com