On Fridays, we review the people and places we encounter each week in our quest to support quality health care provision in rural Alberta.
This week we visit a new medical home in Drumheller, step forward to support a worthy cause, discover Grande Cache, and take an Alberta break in Beiseker.
A new medical home in Drumheller
RPAP was privileged to attend the grand opening of the Riverside Medical Clinic in Drumheller, Alberta, on June 30, 2017. Congratulations to Drs. Rithesh and Veronique Ram on this exciting new venture!
RPAP supports the Edmonton “Hard of Hearing” community
RPAP was proud to support the CHHA-Edmonton golf tournament on 14 June 2017. Dean Lack reports that the rain held out and they were successful in helping raise funds for ongoing programs and assistance that CHHA provides the Hard of Hearing community, specifically those in need. One of the recipients of funds to purchase hearing aids was a University of Alberta student with severe bi-lateral hearing loss. Hearing aids purchased with these funds have enabled her to continue her studies.
Discover Grande Cache
On June 26, RPAP Rural Consultant, Holly Handfield, travelled to Grande Cache to visit with some of the council members, and to meet Dr. John Gillett, a practising physician and RPAP Board member from that community. Holly sent some photos of the Sulphur Gates and Labyrinth Park, two of the natural wonders located in and around Grande Cache.
By the roadside in Beiseker
On route from Calgary to Drumheller is the village of Beiseker. At the crossroads of provincial highways 9, 72, and 806, Beiseker has made great efforts to preserve its local history, centred around its historic train station museum and village office.
A roadside park commemorates the comunity’s railway and agricultural heritage, as well as village namesake, T.L. Beiseker:
“The promised Canadian Pacific rail-line arrived here in 1910 and its destination took on the name of the man whose land companies have been active in this area and who had established the future townsite: Beiseker.
In his twenties, Thomas Lincoln Beiseker worked in Calgary for the CPR. The Canadian government had granted it twenty-five million acres of land to attract settlers. Land companies were advertising and selling that land to ranchers and farmers. Recognizing the tremendous opportunity for profit, ‘T.L.’ founded two land companies: Beiseker and Davidson Ltd. and the Calgary Colonization Company, buying 250,000 acres at one dollar an acre. Within months the land was selling for 20 times the original amount. A fortune had been made.
At the height of his career, Mr. Beiseker was one of the wealthiest men in the west, owning many banks and large tracts of land in North Dakota and western Canada. The Great Depression of the 30’s took its toll on the Beiseker empire and his fortune declined. No longer a millionaire, he live a comfortable life until his death in 1941. His friends and relatives remember him as a smart businessman with a generous heart.”
Banner photo: Grandview farm, Beynon, Alberta. (Credit – Jonathan Koch/RPAP)