Alberta Healthy Living Program - Central Zone

Due to COVID, some programs may be offered via Zoom.

Alberta Healthy Living Program (AHLP) services provided vary slightly from Zone to Zone. Services include information, education, techniques, and support to help improve your health and quality of life with a chronic condition. The program is based on a model that includes:

Health Education:

• Adult Weight Management - Learn safe and effective strategies to promote healthy living and weight management.
• Diabetes the Basics – Nutrition, physical activity and stress can affect diabetes management. These workshops will help you learn about diabetes and effective strategies to help manage it.
• Heart Wise: Managing blood Pressure and cholesterol – Maintaining a healthy blood pressure and cholesterol level reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure and many other illnesses. In this workshop, offered in collaboration with AHS Nutrition Services, you will learn what affects your blood pressure and cholesterol level and what you can do to manage them.
• Other workshops – Learn how sleep, regular exercise, stress management and nutrition contribute to our health. Create goals and action plans. Learn effective weight management strategies.

Self-Management:

Better Choices, Better Health® - Nutrition, physical activity and stress affect your life, especially when you’re living with ongoing health concerns. These workshops will help you discover changes and strategies to help you live healthier. This education is originally based on Stanford University’s Chronic Disease Self-Management Program and is vailable online. You can join this workshop from any computer with an Internet connection, including dial-up. You can choose to remain anonymous. Better Choices Better Health

Exercise Programs:

Exercise can help you manage chronic conditions and stay healthy. Learning to do it safely will help you prevent injury and stay on track for living healthy. Sessions vary by community.

Specialty Care / Clinics:

Pregnancy and Diabetes - Learn important diabetes management skills when planning a pregnancy and how to manage diabetes during pregnancy.

Type 1 Diabetes - Learn diabetes self-management skills such as insulin adjustment, nutrition, physical activity, illness, ketones and glucagon care.

Type 2 Diabetes - Learn diabetes self-management skills such as insulin adjustment, nutrition, physical activity and illness care.

Insulin Pump - Learn about insulin pump therapy, how to use an insulin pump effectively and how to access insulin pump therapy in Alberta.

For more information please visit our website: Alberta Healthy Living Program

Children's Rehabilitation Services

Services support the development of children and youth to participate in meaningful activities of daily life at home and in the community. Services are goal-driven; starting and continuing services is based on having functional reasons / goals for rehabilitation. Therapists will work with parents to provide the tools and strategies to apply in the context of their home and life. Therapy may look like 'play', depending on your child's age. We will work together so you and your child are supported to move to the next developmental stage or between providers and services. Services are provided by phone, zoom and some in person sessions as determined by your therapist. They may be in a group or one to one. Services provided are related to (neuro) developmental conditions and / or medical conditions. Social Work and Registered Dietitian services are available to support rehabilitation outcomes.

Occupational Therapy 0-18 years services children and their families with self - care; motor development and eating, feeding and swallowing.

• motor development
• self - care
• participation in activities typical for their development
• eating, feeding and swallowing
• modifying the environment
• assistive technology
• mobility and positioning equipment

Physiotherapy 0-18 years services children and their families with development and movement.

• motor development
• movement and function
• t-orticollis
• mobility and positioning equipment

Speech Language Pathology 0-18 years services children and their families with communication and eating, feeding, and swallowing.

• communication
• pronouncing speech sounds
• understanding and listening to spoken language (0-5 years only)
• using words to communicate thoughts and ideas (0-5 years only)
• speaking smoothly and easily (stuttering)
• eating, feeding and swallowing
• using gestures, pictures, communication boards to communicate (augmentative & alternative communication, AAC)

Early Childhood Intervention Program 0-5 years offers home-based and virtual support to families with children that have developmental delays or disabilities.

• information about development, behavior, play and parenting
• connections to community resources and services
• support to your family setting goals and planning for the future
• collaboration with your child’s health team
• services that are provided in various ways; in your home, in the community, virtual appointments or phone consultations

Early Childhood Intervention Program

The program offers:

• information about development, behavior, play and parenting
• connections to community resources and services
• support to your family setting goals and planning for the future
• collaboration with your child’s health team
• services that are provided in various ways; in your home, in the community, virtual appointments or phone consultations

Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Program - Community Screening

Your baby will be referred to Community Hearing Screening if:

• your baby is discharged from hospital or birth centre before hearing screening can take place
• your baby is born at a hospital or birth centre that does not offer hearing screening
• your baby is not born in a hospital or birth centre

A community screening site will call and offer a hearing screening appointment for your baby soon after their birth.

The results of your baby's hearing screening and any follow up needed will be shared with you.

Hearing screening is the best way to find out if your baby has hearing loss.

Hearing screening is quick, safe, and will not hurt your baby. Your baby's hearing is important for many areas of child and brain development. Hearing loss can delay your child's speech, learning and social skills.

For more information, visit our website.

Environmental Public Health - Water Sample Bottle Pick-up and Drop-off

Drinking water, beaches and swimming pool water can be tested. Chemical water sampling testing is available and looks for common chemicals and trace metals found in water. Bacteria water sampling tests water samples for indicator bacteria to ensure water is safe.

For additional information,

• Environmental Public Health - Drinking Water
• Sample Your Water - Environmental Public Health
• Testing your drinking water in Alberta

Health Promotion

Working collaboratively with our partners, we facilitate strategic direction setting, leverage data and supports, and increase capacity for wellness. We connect stakeholders to professional learning opportunities and relevant resources to assist groups in working towards healthier outcomes in their communities. The Health Promotion team can connect with schools and communities in a variety of ways. Some examples are:

• Work in partnership with schools and communities on health promoting initiatives.
• Assist with bringing people together to assess strengths, needs and priorities of schools and communities.
• Facilitate conversations to support communities as they create a vision, terms of reference or action planusing a health equity approach
• Bring data to schools and communities to help inform their decisions
• Develop healthy policy.

Immunization - Adult Services

This service provides routine immunization for adults. Suggested immunizations:

• a booster dose of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough)(dTap) every 10 years
• dTap vaccine for pregnant women every time they are pregnant
• Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) for unprotected adults born in 1981 or later. Some adults born before 1981 may need this vaccine if they are at risk for hepatitis B (e.g. health problems, type of work, lifestyle, contact with the virus)
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for adults up to and including age 26 years who did not get it in school.
• Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine for adults whose immunization records do not show the recommended number of doses of measles, mumps, or rubella vaccine
• Chickenpox vaccine for unprotected adults
• annual influenza vaccine
• pneumococcal vaccine for all adults 65 years of age and older and adults with certain health problems

To find out which vaccines are recommended for you and to book an appointment for immunization, call your nearest community / public health centre. If you are not sure where your nearest community / public health centre is, you can call Health Link at 811. Bring any immunization records you have to the appointment, especially if you were immunized in another province or country.

For more general information about immunization go to ImmunizeAlberta.ca, Immunizations at myhealth.alberta.ca, or call Health Link.

Immunization - Infant and Preschool Services

Alberta Health Services provides routine immunization for infants and children across Alberta. Immunizations are free of charge for infants and children who live in Alberta.
Immunizations are recommended for infants starting at 2 months of age. Routinely recommended vaccines include: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal, pneumococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and influenza.

For the routine immunization schedule, go to immunizealberta.ca.

Additional vaccines may be needed depending on your child’s health conditions or other risk factors.

Immunization is effective. Other than providing safe drinking water, no other health intervention works as well as immunization to reduce disease and death rates. Immunization protects whole communities. The more people who are fully immunized in a community, the safer everyone is.

Immunization is safe. It is much safer to get immunized than to get the diseases that vaccines protect against.

For more information, and to book an appointment, call your nearest community/public health centre. If you are not sure where your nearest community/public health centre is, call Health Link at 811. Bring your child’s immunization record to the appointment, especially if your child was immunized in another province or country.

For more general information about immunization, go to immunizealberta.ca, Immunizations at myhealth.alberta.ca, or call Health Link at 811.

Immunization - School Services

Each year, Alberta Health Services, Public Health reviews immunization records for students in grades 1, 6, and 9 to see what immunizations each student needs. A consent form is then sent home with an information sheet for each vaccine recommended for the student. No immunizations will be given in school without consent from a parent or legal guardian. Immunizations in this program include:

• Grades 1, 6, and 9: Any routine childhood and school vaccines that may have been missed according to a review of the students immunization record on file
• Grade 6: Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine for students who have not already completed a hepatitis B immunization series and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
• Grade 9: diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (dTap) and meningococcal (Groups A, C, Y, W-135) conjugate vaccine

Postpartum Community Services

Provides a wide range of services related to post-partum assessment and care.

Preschool Oral Health Services

Fluoride varnish helps protect your child's teeth from tooth decay (cavities). It slows down decay already started.

Your child needs four fluoride varnish visits, six months apart, to best protect their teeth. Fluoride varnish is painted on your child's teeth. It takes less than one minute to apply. You can hold your child during the visit.

You can also ask any questions you may have about protecting your child's teeth.

If your child is diagnosed with asthma by a doctor, bring their quick reliever medication to the appointment. If your child feels anxious with dental visits it may trigger asthma symptoms.

This provincial prevention service is available across Alberta.

For more information and eligibility, visit our website: Preschool Oral Health Services

Public Health Breast Pumps

Breast pumps are available for short term loan at Community Health Centres. Contact your local Community Health Centre for details.

Public Health Nursing

The four areas that are covered by public health nurses include:

• maternal, child and family health
• communicable disease control
• school health
• health promotion

Public Health Parent and Baby Drop In Services

Contact your local Community Health Centre for service options or to speak with a public health nurse. Information provided may include:

• breastfeeding and infant feeding
• healthy eating
• parenting
• growth and development
• injury prevention
• diseases and immunizations

Information and support may be offered in one-to-one, and/or group sessions so parents can connect with other parents and caregivers.

Public Health Postnatal Services

Services are offered to parents who:

• have been discharged with their baby
• have been discharged while their baby is still in the hospital
• are adopting
• have chosen adoption for their baby
• had a stillborn baby
• are dealing with loss due to a neonatal (newborn) death

Public health nurses contact families within 48 hours after discharge from the hospital. Services are offered according to the situation and discussion with the family and may include health assessments of the newborn, mother and family; information about what to expect and when to seek medical attention; feeding support and referrals to community services.

School Oral Health Services

Services are offered to eligible schools and may include:

• fluoride varnish, provided to kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2
• dental sealants, provided to Grade 1 and Grade 2

A child diagnosed with asthma must have their short acting asthma reliever medication with them to receive service.

Tuberculosis Testing

Offers free tuberculosis (TB) skin testing to eligible Albertans. The Mantoux skin test is not recommended to diagnose TB.

Testing is done at public health centres throughout the province:

• North Zone
• Edmonton Zone
• Central Zone
• Calgary Zone
• South Zone

If you are not eligible for free testing but still need to be tested there will be a charge for the test.

For travel or work related TB testing contact the Travel Health Services in your area.