We welcome the opportunity to continue the discussion about our RPAP’s strategic plan for the future, and to explore how RPAP can help your community achieve solutions to local health workforce issues.
Contact us at info@rpap.ab.ca if your organization is interested in a face-to-face meeting or presentation with a member of our leadership team in your community.
…
May 5, 2017
Dear Friend,
Since 1992, the Alberta Rural Physician Action Plan (RPAP) has supported Alberta’s rural and remote communities, providing an evolving variety of strategies supporting the successful attraction and retention of physicians, within a constantly changing healthcare environment. A recent review by the Ministry of Health will see RPAP’s mandate evolve once more, expanding beyond physicians to provide support services to other health professions, such as nurses and nurse practitioners, occupational and physical therapists, midwives, and paramedics.
To inform our transition towards becoming a renewed rural physician and health care professional services support program, we surveyed our key rural stakeholders across Alberta earlier this year, asking the following question: “How could an organization like RPAP deliver greater value to rural Alberta in support of delivering better access to quality, sustainable health care?”
The response was overwhelming. We received valuable feedback from close to half of the provincial municipal officials we surveyed—which included reeves, mayors and chief administrative officers from rural Alberta communities— about how RPAP can help achieve solutions to health workforce issues in rural and remote communities.
From the hundreds of responses received, six key strategic themes to guide our future direction emerged:
- Support for rural allied health professions development and retention
- Support rural communities to have their health care issues heard
- Help rural communities build capacity to sustain their rural health care
- Development of a rural health focused research service
- Development of rural health indigenous program
- Maintain the suite of rural physician support services that RPAP currently provides.
I would like to personally thank you for your support of a renewed RPAP. Moving forward, we welcome the opportunity to continue the discussion about our RPAP’s strategic plan for the future, and to explore how RPAP can help your community achieve solutions to local health workforce issues.
I invite you to contact me personally at bernard.anderson@rpap.ab.ca to arrange a face-to-face meeting or presentation with a member of our leadership team in your community
Once again, thank-you for your time, your ideas, and your continued support.
Respectfully submitted,
Bernard C. Anderson, Executive Director
Alberta Rural Physician Action Plan