Brief History Of Alberta Health Services

Alberta Health Services is the largest provincial healthcare system in Canada. Its headquarters is in Edmonton. Alberta Health Services operates under the Government of Alberta. It provides health care services to more than 4 million people in Alberta and also provides health services to people in other provinces. Alberta Health Services has about 1 million employees and more than 1300 staff members performing their duties in capital care groups, Carewest, and many different areas. AHS employees are included in the top 100 employers in Canada.  Alberta Health Services has around nine thousand volunteers and thousands of doctors who practice in Alberta.

History

Alberta Health Services History of AHS was created by Ron Liepert(Health Minister of Alberta) on May 15, 2008, and operated under the Alberta Government. Ed Stelmach was President of Alberta from 2006-2011. He made many Changes in the Alberta Health System. On May 15, 2008, Ron Liepert announced that from April 1, 2009, 9 regional health authority boards of Alberta: Palliser Health Region, Nothern Lights Health Region, David Thompson Health Region, Calgary Health Region, Peace Country Health Region, Aspen Health Region, Capital Health Region, East Central Health Region, and Chinook Health Region, are amalgamated into one board named "The Alberta Health Services Board". At the start, the Alberta Cancer Board, Mental Health Board, and Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission are not included in the Alberta Health Services Board. Healthcare services for transgender are also not included in AHS in 2009, but after efforts of psychiatrists and lawyers in 2010, it was again included in Alberta Health Services.

As Alberta Health Services' history of AHS grows fast, they need to hire more doctors and staff and purchase more Equipment. In 2012, Danielle Smith, leader of Wildrose (Political Party), said that the Superboard bureaucracy in Edmonton was unresponsive; she added that they removed the healthcare units from rural areas and completely ignored the health of the people of those areas.

In 2015, Jim Prentice was President of Alberta; he said, I think that we should create 8-10 new health districts; then Stephen Mandel, who was Health Minister at that time, said that this idea was great, but we have to be more careful in making it. He added that we should make health regions work together and not like the previous health regions that became competitive with each other. In May 2015, Rachel Notley was elected as president of Alberta, and she announced that AHS would soon be recreating health boards.

In 2022, Danielle Smith was elected as president of Alberta. It was a pandemic Period, and health services needed to be fast, but Alberta Health Services was too slow to provide health services to people. In this situation, Smith cut off the system of boards of AHS and gave its control to one administrator.

In 2023, Smith said that she was trying to improve the system. She wants health services to be available to all people and wants to create more healthcare units in rural areas and small cities.

Alberta Health Services Staff

Alberta Health Services has more than 1 million employees (employees on contract base are not included) and more than 13 thousand staff working in health centres that Alberta Health Services, such as Alberta Precision Laboratory, Capital Care Group, and Care West, fully own. Alberta staff members are among the top 100 employers in Canada. All members of Alberta Health Services Staff are highly skilled and passionate about their duty. More than 11 thousand doctors are practising in Alberta, and around about 8 thousand of them are members of Alberta Health Services medical staff; some of them have permanent jobs, and others are temporarily performing duties in AHS.

Alberta Health Services Hospital

106 acute care Hospitals are under the Alberta Health Services. Foothills Medical Center is the largest hospital in Canada, and it is located in Calgary. More than 80 hospitals and healthcare centres operate in rural areas and small cities. Big Alberta Health Services Hospitals are in Calgary and Edmonton. Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Grey Nuns Community Hospital, Misericordia Community Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Stollery Children's Hospital, and Alberta Hospital Edmonton are located in Edmonton. Peter Lougheed Centre, Rockyview General Hospital, Sheldon M. Chumir Centre, South Health Campus, and Foothills Medical Center are located in Calgary.    

MAID Alberta Health Services

MAID stands for "Medical Assistance in Dying," and AHS also provides this service. These services are provided to patients whose treatment is medically impossible and who, due to their health, live a miserable life. MAID is given by only doctors and nurses at the patient's request.

Alberta Health Services Policies

Alberta Health Services takes the responsibility of protecting the health of its staff members, patients, and volunteers. AHS protects people from Radiofrequency electromagnetic energy by limiting its exposure and ensuring that people's health is not affected. This energy comes from electronic devices, which are harmful to health.

One of Alberta Health Services' policies is that it is responsible for effective communication between patients and medical staff, between doctors and patient attendants, and between patients and patient advocates, and also for ensuring effective community engagement. Communication by Alberta Health Services shall be clear and respectful, must ensure privacy and confidentiality, and must be according to the Code of Conduct of Alberta Health Services.