Teams in Beaverlodge and Manning, and a Peace River paramedic to receive this year’s RhPAP Rhapsody Health-care Heroes Award
Health-care excellence is home-grown in northwest Alberta, with health providers from the region sweeping the 2020 RhPAP Rhapsody Health-care Heroes Awards. This award recognizes rural Alberta health providers or teams that demonstrate superior commitment to their patients, health-care team, and community.
Following a review of the outstanding candidates nominated this year, the RhPAP Board of Directors has endorsed three recipients for the 2020 Rhapsody Health-care Heroes Award:
- Beaverlodge Health and Wellness Centre Team
- Tyne Lunn, Advanced and Community Care Paramedic, Peace River
- Manning Community Health Centre Nursing Team
About the Rhapsody Awards
The RhPAP Rhapsody Awards continue a long tradition of celebrating rural Alberta’s health-care heroes and rural communities. Founded in 2002, the Rhapsody Awards are intended to recognize the individuals, teams, and communities that make significant civic and health-care contributions within rural Alberta. Nominations are evaluated by an Awards Selection Committee composed of a practising or recently retired rural Alberta-based physician, a member of an active rural community health professional attraction and retention committee, and one rural Alberta health professional, all from different zones. The selection committee provides recommendations to the RhPAP Board of Directors, who are responsible for endorsing the final recipients.
What’s next?
RhPAP celebrates Rhapsody Award recipients with a recognition event in their home community. Celebrations include the Rhapsody Award presentation, a donation by RhPAP to a local non-profit organization on behalf of the recipient, and the debut of a video profiling the recipients, and their contributions to the health and well-being of their communities. Details on the recognition event will be released as they become available.
Backgrounder: Beaverlodge Health and Wellness Centre Team
The Beaverlodge Health and Wellness Centre Team was selected as a 2020 Health-care Heroes award recipient based on the caring, friendly atmosphere they have developed at the Centre and the accessibility to patients offered both in terms of physical access and the range of multidisciplinary health-care services offered.
The testimonials submitted reflect the belief that the Centre’s team has made a huge difference in their community and has helped to address the many barriers that rural residents can face. One community member writes that access to several services in one place—including a medical clinic, pharmacy, eye clinic, physical therapy, massage therapy, and many other alternative therapies—allows for “the patient and the professional to come together to develop a care plan that provides the best possible outcome.”
Others speak of supportive, positive, and informative interactions at both the Mint Pharmacy and Medical Clinic; they are “a community of professionals with like-minded ideas” coming together to make a difference; and the physicians are “helpful, forward thinking and… have a strong commitment to our community.”
“It is clear from the letters that accompanied your nomination that your community recognizes the Health and Wellness Centre Team’s strong commitment to Beaverlodge, and to providing access to health and wellness opportunities for the people who live there,” stated said Bernard Anderson, RhPAP Executive Director. “The welcoming atmosphere you have created from the ground up is attractive not just to your patients, but also to the rest of your team.
“Your patients have told us how lucky they feel for the health-care access and the health provider attraction and retention work that you have made possible on behalf of the community.”
Backgrounder: Tyne Lunn, Advanced and Community Care Paramedic, Peace River
Tyne Lunn was selected as a 2020 Health-care Heroes award recipient based on the exceptional work she has done for her patients and her profession, both within her community and nationally. A resident of Peace River since 2004, Ms. Lunn has served the community and surrounding region in her role as a paramedic on both ground ambulance and fixed wing air ambulance and, most recently, as the first Community Paramedic hired into the newly expanded EMS Mobile Integrated Healthcare Program.
Tyne has built relationships with community partners and other health-care providers and teams, playing a critical role in the program’s success. She is also an active member of the provincial and national paramedic community, providing feedback and serving on a number of working groups and committees, including AHS’s Alberta Clinician Professional Practice Council.
She has served as a preceptor for both Primary and Advanced Care Paramedic students; been an active advocate and champion for the EMS Palliative and End of Life Care Assess Treat and Refer Program; has instructed Emergency Medical Responder, Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) courses in the region, and started the “Nerd Alert Poster”—an educational feature shared through the northwest zone, with educational talking points, clinical tips and “did you knows” directed at EMS practitioners.
Ms. Lunn has volunteered her time to assist with health care and community events, including a local RhPAP Skills Event, the P.A.R.T.Y Program, and serves as a parent school volunteer and Junior High Volleyball coach. She also provides ongoing material donations to the local women’s shelter and has offered assistance with promotions and clinical training for the newly opened Out of the Cold Shelter.
“Ms. Lunn has a reputation of being a dedicated and competent practitioner well known by those in Peace River and beyond. Her drive to improve both the care offered by her profession and the system in which she works, is evidenced by the many volunteer projects in which she has participated and the efforts she had made to enhance and promote these projects,” says Bernard Anderson, RhPAP Executive Director. “Tyne is the first individual health provider to receive this award and, as such, has helped to define what it means to be a Rhapsody Health-care Hero.”
Backgrounder: Manning Health Centre Nursing Team
The Manning Health Centre Nursing Team was selected as a 2020 Health-care Heroes award recipient based on the challenges the team continually overcomes, how well they function as a team, and the fact that they never lose sight of their focus on patient care.
Testimonials submitted by the community underscore that Manning “feel[s] fortunate to have such a caring, professional nursing staff to help deliver health care in the region.” The team is cited as being great role models for youth considering careers in health care. Their volunteer efforts within the community—ranging from school outreach programs like the Health Relationships Program and presentations on subjects such as opioid addition and naloxone, to Family Fun Night at the hospital, kindergarten tours, and providing Girl Guide first aid at camp—reflect the team’s commitment to maintaining a healthy community for Manning’s youth. The team also enthusiastically volunteers their skills and time at initiatives such as the High School Skills Day and RhPAP Skills Day to encourage students to consider rural nursing as a career. As one community member stated: “These programs would not run if it weren’t for our nurses.”
Colleagues mention the team’s support of each other, noting their willingness to fill in on short notice and stay late to help others finish their work. Their dedication and compassion towards their patients is also recognized by the wider community.
“The Manning Health Centre Nursing Team has repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to go that extra step for their patients and their community. The team is able to think outside the box and improvise in order to provide, as one of their nominators puts it, “world class care to their patients,” says Bernard Anderson, RhPAP Executive Director. “They create a welcoming atmosphere where their patients and those patients’ relatives are treated like family. Those family members note that, even in the face of devastating loss, the Manning nursing team somehow makes them feel like everything is going to be okay.”