The Community
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Volume 114, Issue 28
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
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Monday storm causes immediate whiteout Leslie Cholowsky Editor
Travellers in the Flagstaff Region experienced some very harrowing driving experience late afternoon and the evening of Monday, Jan. 17, due to a winter storm with light snow and very high winds, with gusts forecast in the 80 km/hr range for some areas. Some reported their evening commutes as nothing short as “terrifying,” as blowing snow created drifts on the highway, polished the icy surfaces, and dropped visibility to near zero. Reports of vehicles in the ditch, including plows, came in from various sources, and accidents continued into Tuesday until highway crews could work on the local highways. On one social group, called “Highway 13 Road Report,” local travellers reported some hair-raising drives, and relayed reports of vehicles spin-
ning out or going off the road. In other regions, Parkland County issued a ‘notravel’ warning early Monday evening, asking motorists there to avoid travelling altogether. The driving snow also caused other issues in the region, with reports of temporary power outages made from Daysland clear to Hardisty, with most services restored within minutes but with a few people dealing with hours without power. Crews worked through the night in many areas. 511 Alberta still reported Highways in the Flagstaff County region late Tuesday afternoon as partly ice covered. Environment Canada issued Extreme Cold warnings for most of the region Tuesday overnight, with wind chill values near minus 40 degrees celsius overnight. Conditions were expected to moderate midweek, with windchills easing slightly to the minus 20s, and daytime highs in the minus teens.
Community group proposed by Flagstaff County Council and FIRST to discuss issues of medical recruitment and retention Leslie Cholowsky Editor
During the Wednesday, Jan. 12, meeting of Flagstaff County Council a delegation from Alan Dietz, Chair of the Flagstaff Informed Response Sharing Team (FIRST), regarding the shortage of medical professionals within the region was heard. Dietz said, “I’m here representing FIRST as a response to healthcare issues in the county. I attended an Alberta Health Services (AHS) meeting on Monday whereby the same issues were discussed; shortages of RNs and LPNs, and this is critical, we are not in a position to run our hospitals in the way they were intended. “Galahad Care Centre will not reopen until two LPNs are hired but it will affect stuff in Hardisty when that happens. We don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul. AHS says recruitment and COVID-19 are the two main issues and I’m not denying that, but as a community I think we need to work with them and find out what we can do to attract healthcare workers to our county. “If we don’t address this as a community, we may be down the road looking at each other saying what the heck happened? I’m not saying we can solve it but I think we can sit as a group, community members and elected officials, to brain-
storm what do we have. What are the roadblocks and what are the things we need to achieve and how do we get around the roadblocks to get this to work? “I have no preconceived idea on what to do but I think the first step is to make sure we have the support of the municipal elected officials across the county and then we sit and we brainstorm. We can bring in one or two AHS people at a higher level to answer any questions and assist us. “I think over a period of time that maybe we could come up with a plan. “All of rural Alberta is being affected this is not unique to us it’s all over, both rural and urban. “We’ve got an issue and I think what we need to do as a community is sit down together.” Dietz praised the Flagstaff County Economic Development group for working with AHS, adding, “But it hasn’t helped because of roadblocks and impediments. We’re told we can’t do this or that because.... “Let’s find out what the ‘becauses’ are and see if we can get them changed.” He said at the very least, perhaps it would be to form or join a lobby group. He closed, “We as FIRST would like to provide two individuals to sit with this new group and are asking if the County would be part of that.” He proposed him-
self and Lynne Jenkinson as the FIRST representatives. “What I’m asking here today is let’s start the groundwork and see what we can do.” County Reeve Don Kroetch said, “I’m glad you’re here, this goes right into my report on my takeaways from Monday’s AHS meeting.” He added, “It is a very competitive job market out there and as communities, as elected officials, as community leaders, is there a role we have to play in recruitment and retention in our region? I think there is.” Kroetch said inaction does not help the cause. Kroetch said he had the same idea coming out of the meeting with AHS, of opening the discussion to the wider community. “It has to be a region-wide approach. Having Ec. Dev. with elected officials and community leaders, with FIRST, all in the same room I think that would build the capacity to get some positive results. Kroetch agreed that having AHS at the table would be key. “Through various meetings we’ve had with AHS there are many avenues that we can go down and flush out that may or may not work.” He suggested including the Hospital Foundation in Killam, adding, “I think there are lots of strong community leaders who are not elected officials who do not belong to FIRST or FFCS; we have to
bring those people to the table too. They might have a solution and we need to give them the opportunity to speak. “In our role at Flagstaff County I think that we can take the initiative and start that process. It’s up to Council, but I do think we have a role to bring these groups together. “I think we have the capacity and I would encourage Council to take that leadership role set up an initial meeting I don’t know what’s going to come out of it… But let’s get everybody in the room let’s flesh out some ideas let’s form a path forward whatever that may be.” Kroetch added, “We are not only competing against other healthcare authorities, we are competing worldwide for recruitment and retention. AHS will have that insight on what is working and how we can complement some of their services. In these meetings we hear that they are working hard at recruitment and retention it’s clear, but their capacity is limited, too, because they are a government organization. “As community of elected officials our capacity is limited as well, but if you get everyone in the same room our capacity grows. I think we can probably form a path forward that way. There have been lots of different ideas discussed informally that I would bring to the table also.” See COMMUNITY P9
Page 2 - The Community Press, Wednesday, January 19, 2022
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Wheat Kings now sit third in NEAJBHL standings Editor
The Wheat Kings returned to the ice in the new year with a 5-4 loss to the St. Paul Canadiens on Saturday, Jan. 8, but a weekend win in Lloydminster on Saturday, Jan.
15, put them back on track. Kobe Charchun opened the scoring Saturday night, from Brandon Zunti to take the lead 1-0 going into the second period. Charchun popped another one in early in the second for the Wheat Kings to take the lead, as-
Sabres split decisions Leslie Cholowsky Editor
The Sedgewick Sabres resumed play in the new year with two games on the weekend. On Friday, the Sabres travelled to Provost to take on the Combines there, coming away with a 4-3 overtime loss. The Sabres jumped ahead in the first period with a goal by Clay Lang, from Dean Brodie. The Combines scored a power play goal in the second to tie things up, then another to go ahead by one, but Sedgewick scored their second, from Curtis McKinlay, assisted by Evan Armstrong, then slipped ahead again with a second goal on the night from Clay Lang, assisted by Carter Ortman and Quinn Johnson. Provost tied it up in the third, forcing an overtime period, where the Combines scored to take the win. Brendan Davis took the loss in goal, stopping 37 of 41 shots. On Saturday, the Sabres welcomed the Stettler Imperials to Sedgewick, coming away with an 8-5 win on the night. Sedgewick got ahead early with two goals, the first by McKinlay from Dalton Zemanek and Kyle Sanders, and the second from Landon Eskra, assisted by Nick Dunn and Armstrong. Stettler scored a single in the first to head into the second period with a onegoal lead for Sedgewick. McKinlay scored his second of the night seconds into the second, from Lang, to make it 3-1 for the Sabres. The Imperials scored twice more in succession to tie the game, but late period goals from Jesse Reeds (assisted by Eskra and Cole Borth) and Lang
(from Chase Schatschneider) put the Sabres ahead 5-3 going into the final period. The final was a give and take period, with Stettler scoring one, then Sedgewick, by Trevor Bromby from Ortman, then Stettler, and finally by Sanders, from Eskra, to finish the game with an 85 win. Tanner Watkins got the win in goal for the Sabres. The Sabres next game will be this Friday when they travel to Oyen. Provost currently leads the league with 14 points, with Irma and Sedgewick neck and neck at 10 points each. Stettler has seven points, Oyen and Delburne six each, and Coronation is on the bottom with just two points on the season.
sisted by Sami Fyith and Zunti. The Bandits scored an answering goal to come within one, but a final goal in the third period, this time by Zunti from Trey Forster and Tim Lynes, brought the Wheaties to a 3-1 final. Devon Naslund got the win in goal for the Wheat
Kings. The Wainwright Bisons remain at the top of the league with 46 points, with St. Paul in second place, at 41 points, and Killam dropping to third, at 39 points. The Wheat Kings will host the Cold Lake Ice this Saturday in Killam, and then again on Sunday.
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January 27 is Family Literacy Day Call for a convenient time for upcoming classes: Microsoft Word: Three in-person classes. Join the Excel one-day in-person class. Sage is a 2-day in-person accounting class coming soon.
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Page 12 - The Community Press, Wednesday, January 19, 2022
January 2022 Meetings
Council Meetings Flagstaff County Co ouncil M Meetings eetings aare re conducted the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month commencing at 9 a.m. unless u otherwise planned. Council and Committ ommittee meeting agendas aare re aavvailable at the County’’ss websit ebsiite te at: flagstafff fff...ab.ca/c .ca/council/mee .ca/ council/meeeetings-andminu utes tes
780-384-4100 1-877-387-4100 Email: Stay Connected with Us: s
Monday to Friday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Closed Noon - 1 p.m.)
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12435 TToownship w Road 4442 PP..O. Box 35 358 Sedgew e wi wic icck, AB T0B 4C00
flagstaff.ab.ca
The Community Press, Wednesday, January 19, 2022 - Page 13