Covenant Health Canada

📢 We are thrilled to announce that Tim Spelliscy will take on the role of Board Chair for Covenant Health, effective January 1, 2025! With an incredible career spanning 42 years in broadcast media, a remarkable track record of community service and seven years of dedicated service on our Board of Directors, Tim is uniquely positioned to guide us through the opportunities and challenges ahead. His deep understanding of our mission and his unwavering commitment to compassionate care will be invaluable as we continue to strengthen our healthcare services and build vibrant health communities across Alberta. We are also deeply grateful to The Honourable Ed Stelmach, who has been an exceptional leader as our Board Chair. Ed will remain on the board as Past Chair in 2025, ensuring a seamless transition. Please join us in welcoming Tim as our new Board Chair and supporting him in advancing our mission of compassionate care and vibrant health communities. 👏

The NICU team at the Grey Nuns hospital are advocates for skin-to-skin care. 🤝 Skin-to-skin care, where a newborn is placed directly on the parent's bare chest, is well-known for its physical and emotional benefits. Research from the Canadian Paediatric Society has shown that it stabilizes the baby’s: 🟣 Breathing 🟣 Heart rate 🟣 Body temperature It also strengthens the bond between parent and child, reducing stress and fostering emotional well-being. A new chair being used at the hospital allows fathers to continue skin-to-skin contact while their newborn is transported and admitted to the NICU. Read more: https://bit.ly/4h6v8Kb

One year ago, we transformed emergency care—today, we celebrate the impact on our community. 👏 We're commemorating one year of operations after opening the doors to the new emergency department at the Misericordia Community Hospital in November 2023.  This ambitious project was made possible through partnerships with: 🔵 Rockliff Pierzchajlo Kroman Architects 🔵 Alberta Health Services 🔵 Alberta Infrastructure 🔵 PCL Construction This collaboration resulted in a state-of-the-art healthcare facility built with patient experience as the core focus. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3ZqME3q

“When Terry spoke of Indigenous cancer patients hitchhiking to and from chemo, it brought tears to my eyes,” says Bonnie (Bucher) Tejada, chief mission and ethics officer for Covenant Health. Listening to Métis Knowledge Keeper and breast cancer survivor Terry Gardiner speak about her experiences gave Bonnie a vivid picture of the barriers beyond the hospital or clinic that many Indigenous patients face. This helped Bonnie expand her perspective and challenged the assumption that our healthcare services are user-friendly and accessible. “We sometimes focus on what we offer within our four walls and less on how people can access what we offer. Learning about some of the specific barriers increased my perspective on some of the unique care needs.” Addressing Indigenous healthcare inequities is an essential goal for Covenant Health on which everyone agrees, says Bonnie. The organization acknowledges that it is in the beginning stages and wants to do this work properly. “To be fostering places to learn the truth and to explore our own truth in terms of providing institutional care in Alberta is incredibly relevant as a Catholic healthcare provider,” says Bonnie. “There is a moral imperative to be doing reconciliation in tangible ways. Awareness is increasing each year in the organization, and I’m happy to say we are moving forward with a community engagement plan over the next few months.”

Fun times at the OTC Christmas Mingle! ✨🎄 From festive treats to wonderful conversations, we truly felt the warmth of the One Twelve Campus community. A special shoutout to everyone who helped organize this memorable event – your hard work brought the Holiday spirit to life!

“Calling them ‘schools’ is a deception,” thought Sharlene Kerner when learning about residential schools. Sharlene, a secretary in rehabilitation medicine at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital, has been exploring her own Indigenous heritage and believed the unit desk challenge created at the hospital for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day was a great way to further her understanding. When she was asked by a colleague to participate in the unit desk challenge, Sharlene explained that she didn’t really know anything about being Indigenous. “It wasn’t spoken of much growing up. My great grandma raised her kids white for lots of reasons,” shares Sharlene. As an artist, she wanted to do a painting. “When I started researching, the first article that came up on Google was one saying that the 215 anomalies that were found by the ground-penetrating radar weren’t all bodies, and I got really mad! Because that’s not the point — those kids were taken from the homes. There shouldn’t even be one.” Her painting, titled The Façade, was born out of a realization of how different her first day of school was when compared to that of Phyllis Webstad, the founder of the Orange Shirt Day and Every Child Matters campaign, and of other Indigenous children who were forced to go to residential schools. “I wasn’t forcibly taken away from my home, my family, my community and my culture — the very essence of what every child needs to thrive. Nobody took away my new clothes or shoes. Nobody cut my hair. Nobody forced me not to speak in the language that I knew. And I got to go home at the end of the day,” says Sharlene. There are 215 orange lines in the painting, upright as they enter a residential school and lying prone on the ground after they leave it.

Volunteers don’t just make a difference; they are the difference. For Kyung and Tea Park, Wednesdays are more than just another day—they're a chance to give back together. At St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital in Edmonton, this retired couple volunteers side by side, enriching the lives of residents through exercise programs and social activities. Their story is a heartwarming example of how shared service can strengthen both community bonds and personal relationships. Discover how the Parks and other families are making a difference at St. Joseph’s, and learn how you too can get involved. ➡ https://bit.ly/3B0IIyq ✅

As a clinical nurse educator, Natalie Camarta firmly believes in integrating learning into practice. “Awareness and education are a great first step. They increase knowledge and understanding of not only what happened but what we can do to make things better,” says Natalie, who works at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital. Over the past few years, Natalie has worn an orange shirt on Sept. 30 to show her awareness and support for residential school Survivors. This year, she took her commitment further by attending the drumming ceremony at the Grey Nuns for the first time to learn more and become more culturally sensitive in her practice. When she got there, she was surprised to find that it wasn’t just about observing but actively participating. “It was a wholesome experience. Everyone was included. I saw staff, patients and families participating, getting close to one another, holding hands. It was therapeutic and rewarding." Gaining a better understanding of the cultural practices, along with additional education about the generational impacts of residential schools and the healthcare challenges the Indigenous community still faces, is helping Natalie be more culturally sensitive and inclusive in her practice. 🧡

Looking for a fulfilling role in a rural community? 🌾 We’re hiring occupational therapists! We're searching for compassionate, skilled occupational therapists to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those we serve in Camrose, Alberta. Why join us? ✅ Work for one of Alberta's Top 80 Employers ✅ Be part of a mission-driven organization ✅ Professional growth opportunities ✅ Comprehensive benefits Bring your dedication, expertise and heart for healing to a team that values making a difference every day. Ready to take the next step in your career? 🚀 Apply today: https://bit.ly/3QpBZBA

What matters most to patients and their families? We’re asking—and acting on it. In the Summer of 2024, the Patient and Resident Engagement Program initiated a pilot project in Patient Experience, in collaboration with Covenant Health’s surgery program. Patients in one of the surgical wings at the Misericordia Community Hospital are interviewed each week about how their journey through surgery has been, with the following goals: 🔵 Collect patient feedback 🔵 Find out what matters to them 🔵 Improve patient outcomes and experience Our amazing volunteers engage our patients in these crucial conversations. This is part of our ongoing commitment to keep patients, residents, families, and caregivers at the center of their healthcare journey while integrating their perspectives into our programs and initiatives. To all those who have worked with us to make this vision a reality, including our volunteers, we are so grateful for all you do! 💙 If you or someone you know would like to join us in important work such as this, please reach out to us at [email protected]. 📧