Community Health Centres

Community Health Centres provide a wide range of health services, which may include:

• Antenatal Community Prenatal Program (ACCP)
• Best Beginning
• Early Start Parent Drop In
• Postpartum Services
• School Health Program
• Well Child Services

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

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

Rural Pediatric Allied Health

What Families Can Expect:

• families and caregivers are actively involved
• we want to understand what's important to your child and family (what matters to you) e.g. daily routines, family and friends, activities you enjoy
• services are goal-driven; starting and continuing services is based on having functional reasons/goals for rehabilitation
• the length of service will vary. It is based on a child's needs and goals, and the availability of local programs
• services may be time limited. Teams address child and family needs within available resources
• services may be in-person, by phone, or videoconference. They may be in a group or one to one
• we will talk with you about next steps. You and your child will be supported to move to the next developmental stage or between providers and services
• assessment is part of rehabilitation. It comes in many forms. The purpose is to understand your child's strengths and needs. This guides the (rehabilitation) care plan
• we will work together with you and other providers
• therapy may look like ‘play’, depending on your child’s age
• we will work with you to find home ideas that fit with your life
• we want to know if the (rehabilitation) care plan is not working for your child or family
• we want to know if things are getting in the way of rehabilitation e.g. travel, health, other family needs
• AHS Translation / Interpretation services are available.

Program Description:
Your child may need help from more than one type of service. The care team works with children, youth and families to support participation in activities that are important to you. Working together helps everyone to focus on your biggest priority for your child and family. Supports provided are related to (neuro)developmental and / or medical conditions.
Services are provided for children and youth with a variety of needs. For example:

• hearing (e.g. responding to sounds, noise, voices, words)
• moving (e.g. sitting, crawling, walking, coordination)
• using hands (e.g. playing with toys, using utensils)
• taking care of self (e.g. dressing, toileting, doing chores, sleeping)
• equipment needs (e.g. wheelchair, walking aides, adaptive aides)
• physical symptoms (e.g. muscle/joint tightness, head shape, sensitivity to noise or touch)
• managing emotions (e.g. behavior, becoming overwhelmed)
• communication (e.g. understanding directions, babbling, using words and sentences)
• clear speech (e.g. being understood by others, stuttering, voice quality)
• feeding and swallowing (e.g. coughing, gagging, choking, choking, psychosocial factors impacting mealtime routines and feeding relationships, limited/restricted diet)

More advanced feeding supports are available (Okotoks location only) for babies and children with developmental, neurological, and medical conditions requiring a coordinated approach (e.g. medical instability or risk of deterioration, safety risk, aversion to oral feeding, disturbances in oral intake leading to nutrition/hydration risk)
This team will do their best to find ways to help everyone on the team, including the child / youth, their parents and the family.

School Health Program

This service offers:

• public health nursing to support all schools in the Calgary Zone
• public health nursing assists school communities with health resource navigation and partners with school communities to promote health and develop strong, supportive communities
• school aged immunizations through school-based programs. Routine immunization programs occur in grades 1, 6 and 9

Well Child Services

Provide appointments for:

• routine vaccination (2, 4, 6, 12, 18 months and 4 years of age)
• health education, health promotion and support for parents related to adjustment to parenthood, breastfeeding, infant feeding, nutrition and healthy eating, normal growth and development, etc.
• health assessment and screening to identify health concerns
• information and referral to community services, and community partnerships

There are 20 Community Health Centres (7 urban and 13 rural) across the Calgary Zone.