January 8, 2015
“The program gave us the
opportunity to hear and share the
history of what our grandpas and
grandmas lived through, and how
things have changed in their lives.
The memory albums and keepsake
boxes are such a treasure for the
younger generation.”
Lucy Koolen,
Echo Lodge
Recreation Worker
(Left photo) A Common Weal staff member listens to the story of Echo Lodge resident
Tom Nakonechny as they work together to create his memory box. (Right photo)
Keepsake/memory boxes created by Echo Lodge’s residents in Fort Qu’Appelle.
Photo credits: Echo Lodge staff.
Remembering when…
those were the good old days!
The residents of Echo Lodge in Fort Qu’Appelle were fortunate to
participate in a creative writing, storytelling and visual art program with an
organization from Regina known as the Common Weal.
Common Weal is a Saskatchewan non-profit organization engaged in
community-based art for social change.
• A little wool
goes a long way
• Outreach clinics bring
care to high-risk youth
• National poster
contest winner
• Client portering
appreciated
Seven residents from Echo Lodge shared their life stories and made memory
albums, keepsake boxes and posters for their rooms. The residents gathered
every Tuesday afternoon over the course of six weeks for two hours a week
to work on the project, and they enjoyed the creative process. The recreation
staff at Echo Lodge, family members and volunteers worked alongside the
residents and Common Weal staff to create their stories in memory albums
and keepsake boxes to pass down to future generations to enjoy.
The program ran from April 8, 2014 to May 20, 2014, and ended with an art
show on May 27, 2014. Many of the residents’ family and friends came to the
art show to admire their work. The memory boxes were all on display at the
Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina for a week, and on July 6, 2014 the residents
and staff went to the art gallery to see the display and listen to the memory
box audio stories.
Continued on Page 2
Remembering when, cont’d
great joy to our seniors at Echo
Lodge,” said Lucy Koolen,
Recreation Worker at Echo
Lodge. “The program gave us
the opportunity to hear and
share the history of what our
grandpas and grandmas lived
through, and how things have
changed in their lives. The
memory albums and keepsake
boxes are such a treasure for the
younger generation.”
Irene Lutz with her memory box.
Echo Lodge resident Irene
Lutz’s memory box was
selected to go on tour to
other art shows throughout
Saskatchewan.
“Common Weal Community
Art is an awesome educational
program. This program brought
“The Echo Lodge staff enjoyed
working with the kind, helpful
Common Weal staff,” added
Koolen. “They are special
people, and the residents, staff
and family volunteers cherish
their talents and kind words.”
Comments from the Echo Lodge
residents who participated in
the program include:
“It was great to reminisce about
our past.”
“The program was a good idea, I
enjoyed all the sharing of the past
and looking at old pictures.”
”I enjoyed the program very much.
I especially enjoyed working with
my daughter and sharing my life
story with everyone.”
“I really enjoyed sharing and
reminiscing about my past and
leaving my story for my family to
cherish.”
Echo Lodge will continue to
create the memory albums and
memory boxes, so that all the
residents will have them to
hand down to their families.
Currently, another group of
residents at Echo Lodge are
nearly finished creating their
memory albums.
Submitted by Lucy Koolen,
Recreation Worker, and Dolly
Goebel, Recreation Supervisor.
A little wool, little work goes a long way!
2014 was no different. The items
she made included: 96 toques,
10 dolls, 19 bears, 15 sweaters,
45 pairs of slippers, 16 scarves,
bootees, socks, and 116 sets of
personal items ready to go into
a holiday stocking (containing
items such as face cloths, soap,
toothbrushes and more).
Staff from a number of services
in the RQHR were invited to
take donations to give to their
© Copyright 2015
Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region
clients – including
the Street Project,
Four Directions
Community Health
Centre, Al Ritchie
Health Action Centre,
Meadow Primary
Health Care Centre
and the KidsFirst
and Parenting Plus
programs.
If you have wool that
you do not want, you
are invited to donate
it for Kathleen to use
to make articles for
RQHR clients.
Kathleen Diener has been busy knitting
donation items throughout the year for RQHR
clients. In 2014 alone, she made over 320 items
for clients in need.
You can send wool donations to
Dr. Tania Diener at Population &
Public Health Services on
2110 Hamilton Street or contact
her to pick up your donation at
306-766-7770.
e-link is published weekly by the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region.
We welcome submissions. Please submit items no later than two weeks
before publication. Submissions are subject to the editorial guidelines
of e-link. For more information, contact Communications
at 306-766-5227 or email [email protected].
January 8, 2015 - page 2
For the last three years, Kathleen
Diener has been busy knitting
throughout the year so that
when November arrives, there
are homemade knitted items
for Regina Qu’Appelle Health
Region (RQHR) clients in the
community.
Academic Family Medicine Unit primary health care
outreach clinics bring care to high-risk youth
What do primary care services
mean for students at Balfour
Collegiate’s Shirley Schneider
Support Centre (SSSC) and
adolescents staying at the Street
Culture Kids homeless shelter
and affiliated group homes?
This is isolated one-time care.
By having primary health care
available at the shelter and the
SSSC, high-risk youth can see the
same care provider.
Barb Beaurivage, Nurse
Practitioner with the Central
Primary Health Care Network,
has been providing primary
health care services to the
Balfour High School Shirley
Schneider Support Centre one
half-day per week for four years,
and at the Street Culture kids
shelter one half-day per week for
one year.
Beaurivage is supported by
the physicians and staff of
the Family Medicine Unit at
Regina Centre Crossing to do
the outreach clinics. Often, a
Family Medicine Resident will
accompany her to the clinics to
obtain the valuable experience
of providing health care to these
at-risk youth who are most
impacted by the determinants of
health.
Beaurivage gets to know the
patients and their history,
similar to care they would
get from a consistent family
physician. Because she works
regularly with at-risk youth
Youth at Balfour Collegiate's
Shirley Schneider Support Centre
have access to primary care,
conveniently provided at the
centre through the Academic
Family Medicine Unit's Nurse
Practitioner Barb Beaurivage.
and adolescents, she is able to
understand their specific needs
better. They may come to her
for a sore throat, but they never
leave without a discussion about
safe sex, contraception, drug or
alcohol use.
The needs among this high-risk
group varies. They may seek
primary health care services to
get birth control, STI testing,
mental health or other health
issues. The nurse practitioner
provides care for patients in the
form of assessment, diagnosis,
treatment, prescriptions and
health education.
At the Street Culture Project, the
key to beginning engagement
with youth is meeting them in
an environment that they are
comfortable and familiar with.
“It is important to provide
accessible care to at-risk youth
because engagement of any
kind for youth begins at the
relationship level,” said Dustin
Browne, Executive Director,
Street Culture Project Inc. “They
are much more likely to seek the
care that they need in spaces that
are convenient, comfortable and
where trusted adult allies exist.
The Balfour High school SSSC
has on-hand Community Health
Nurse Raylene Witt, Public
Health Nurse Joy Haroldson
from the East Office who
provides immunizations, and
Nutritionist Morgan McKellar
from Al Ritchie Health Action
Centre who provides prenatal
classes and the Babies Best
Start program. There is also a
registered nurse from Planned
Parenthood there one morning
per week.
“Students are far more likely
to access services before an
emergency arises when they
can make an appointment
with someone they know,
in an environment that feels
safe,” said Nancy Felstrom,
Shirley Schneider Support
Centre Coordinator. “Barb is
very knowledgeable, skilled,
and endlessly patient with a
population that presents many
challenges.”
Beaurivage explains that the
outreach clinics wouldn’t be
possible without the support of
her team.
“The physicians at the Family
Medicine Unit are extremely
supportive of my outreach work,
and quite frankly, I could not
do it without their support,”
said Beaurivage. “They take
on prenatal care of any of my
pregnant patients while I am
providing care to high-risk
youth, and they help advise me
if something is beyond my scope
of practice. They also collaborate
with me on cases and situations
to help ensure that my patients
get the best evidenced-based care
possible.”
January 8, 2015 - page 3
It means that these youth, who
typically do not have a family
physician, have access to a nurse
practitioner they can see for
their health needs. Often, when
youth do not have a primary care
provider, they end up going to
different medical centres. When
this occurs, the care they get can
be disjointed, as no central clinic
has all their health information.
Providing accessible health care
services to youth keeps them
and the communities that they
occupy safer, reduces risk to all,
and keeps them healthier.”
Annual General
Meeting: A Strong
Safety Culture –
March 25
Health care employees
are invited to attend
a one day conference
for the Saskatchewan
Association for Safe
Workplaces in Health
Annual General Meeting.
Location: TCU Place
Saskatoon Gallery C&D
National immunization poster
contest winner
Ainsley Linnell of Summerberry, a grade six student at Dr. Isman
Elementary School in Wolseley, is the provincial winner for
Saskatchewan in the National Immunization Poster Contest for
grade six students. On behalf of the Regina Qu’Appelle Health
Region, congratulations to Ainsley!
For information on the importance of immunization, visit http://
immunize.ca/en/default.aspx or www.rqhealth.ca/programs/comm_
hlth_services/pubhealth/influenza.shtml.
Client portering appreciation
This note of appreciation is long overdue,
but after my last encounter I thought
I should finally acknowledge the
appreciation I have for the Client Portering Department.
bouquet
We had a client pass away on Unit 3E at the Regina General
Hospital. When a client passes away, we make arrangements to
have the remains brought down to our Healing Centre to allow
the family to have privacy and time to grieve.
A very important part of the process is having the porters bring
the deceased down to the centre. This has been going on for
many years, and the client portering staff have been impeccably
professional and kind the whole time.
Each and every time this happens, the portering staff are
respectful and compassionate to the family, often extending their
sympathy. I cannot begin to tell you how important this is for
families. Families may not say anything to the portering staff in
their time of grievance, but the portering staff should know that
every stage of passing and grief is culturally critical, and they set
a solid example of excellent care. They are much appreciated.
Submitted by Brent Robison, Native Health Services
Closing speaker:
Michael Kerr, Hall of Fame
speaker known as the
“Workplace Energizer.”
For complete event details
and online registration,
visit www.saswh.ca.
Seating is limited, so
register today (free for
health care employees) at
https://s235.z2systems.
com/np/clients/s235/
eventRegistration.
jsp?event=1&.
Promote
your event on
Business Board
If you’re raising funds for
a good cause, you can
promote it on the Public
Service Announcements
section of the RQHR
Business Board (http://
rhdintranet/ultimate/
cgi-bin/ultimatebb.
cgi). Send your request
to communications@
rqhealth.ca. All requests
will be reviewed for
suitability before
publishing.
January 8, 2015 - page 4
Ainsley Linnell of Summerberry, a grade six student at Dr. Isman
Elementary School in Wolseley, is the provincial winner for
Saskatchewan in the National Immunization Poster Contest for grade six
students.
Keynote speaker:
Jan Wachter, CSP, CIH,
Associate Professor,
Safety Sciences
Department of University
of Pennsylvania