Healthcare service restoration for Fort McMurray continues

FORT McMURRAY – Residents of Fort McMurray now have access to almost all healthcare services that were available in the city before the wildfire.

This morning, Northern Lights Regional Health Centre returned to providing full comprehensive health care services, seven weeks after patients and continuing care residents were safely and successfully evacuated from the hospital.

This includes Ambulatory Care services such as endoscopy and exercise stress testing. Dialysis services will resume on Wednesday, June 22, and the first five long term care patients evacuated from the hospital on May 3 will return on Thursday, June 23.

A full timeline for when the Cancer Care clinic will reopen is not yet known. More information will be shared as it becomes available, however we anticipate that service will resume in early July.

Because of that, AHS continues to recommend that individuals receiving cancer treatments delay their return to Fort McMurray. In the meantime, please call the Alberta Cancer Line at 1-888-432-8865.

The latest phased reopening of services follows the return to core Regional Hospital health care services on June 13. That phase saw the resumption of medical and surgical inpatient, ICU, OR, obstetrical, pediatric, and inpatient psychiatry services.

Emergency Department, laboratory, and diagnostic imaging (XRay & CT) services returned on June 1st.

The Fort McMurray Medical Clinic (FMMC) at the Keyano Syncrude Sports and Wellness Centre (9908 Penhorwood Street) remains open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, and is staffed by physicians and nurses providing primary care and family medicine as well as physician psychiatry services. This clinic will remain open until at least June 30th.

Home care staff have returned to their office space at the Thickwood Medical Centre (#203 108 Wolverine Drive). We encourage home care clients to notify staff of their return plans so that services can be arranged. Staff are working to return the Adult Day Program to full operations, but there is no definitive timeline at this point.

All adult inpatient and outpatient allied health services, including occupational and physical therapy services, have returned to the NLRHC.

Therapy services run Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call the Allied Health Department 780-791-6016 for more information.

However, due to ongoing renovations to clinical areas of the unit at NLRHC as well as the significant loss of smoke damaged equipment, pediatric outpatient programs (including occupational therapy, speech language therapy and physical therapy) will not resume until these issues have been resolved.

For updates regarding service availability, please contact Allied Health at 780-788-1377.

Starting June 10th Public Health services moved back to the Fort McMurray Community Health Services building (113 Thickwood Blvd) on June 10. Hours are from Monday to Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and a more detailed list of services is available at http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/news/page13198.aspx.

Addiction and mental health services relocated to the Fort McMurray Queen Street Building (10217 Queen Street) on June 10th. Walk-in and scheduled appointments are available. Services are open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The roving Community Wellness team will continue to provide support throughout the city and team members are available from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. and on call overnight. The team can be reached by calling 780-370-0182 or 780-792-6378.

For the most up-to-date information about healthcare services including pharmacies, lab, diagnostic imaging, family physician clinics and emergency medical services in Fort McMurray please visit www.ahs.ca/wildfire. For non-emergency health advice, including information on your health care options, call Health Link at 811.

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

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