Despite being the new vision for gold standard care across Canada, Patient Medical Homes remain scarce amongst clinic models. Riverside Medical has been officially recognized as Alberta’s third official Patient Medial Home,
The Patient Medical Home goes beyond Primary Care Networks by achieving 10 pillars of success grounded in patient-centered care, timely access, appropriate infrastructure incorporating technology such as e-prescribing and virtual visits, and constant quality improvement.
“Health care in our communities must change and evolve as our health care system becomes more complex and our patients more informed,” said founder, Dr. Rithesh Ram (born, raised and medically trained in Alberta).” Our mission at Riverside Medical is to stand strong on the 10 pillars of the Patient Medical Home by providing comprehensive care from people who care.”
Since Riverside Medical’s opening on June 1, 2017, Dr. Ram and his multidisciplinary team have worked together to achieve the 10 pillars that define the Patient Medical Home. Some examples of how they’ve achieved recognition include, but are not limited to:
• a team-based approach with a pharmacist in house, a Nurse Practitioner and Big Country PCN support;
• timely access with daily walk-in appointments and extended hours on Mondays;
• the use of web-based systems such as Ocean Patient Engagement and Brightsquid;
• going paperless with prescriptions, labs, and other investigations for the privacy of patient information;
• continuity of care by managing patients at the hospital as well as clinic;
• including a patient representative at clinic meetings to encourage constant feedback in office practices; and,
• engaging in social accountability by participating on community councils, such as the Drumheller Standing Committee on Health to improve care in town.
Riverside Medical continues to accept new patients and will have an additional full-time female Canadian born and trained physician with a full scope practice, providing care in English or French, starting in December 2019, Dr. Veronique Ram.
Moving forward, they hope to partner with visiting specialists, such as pediatricians, to enhance access to care in the community. Dr Ram has numerous leadership positions throughout the province, including AHS, AMA, Town of Drumheller and the U of C, allowing for unique partnerships to advance health.
In 5 years, health care in Drumheller, and Alberta, won’t look the same as it does today.

The Town of Drumheller will be operating the fountain at Rotary Park on a reduced schedule this summer.

The Town has had the fountain in operations this season however there are still leaks in the infrastructure. According to a release from the town of Drumheller when crews were getting the fountain ready for the season they measured a huge loss of water.

In 2018 significant leaks were discovered. The major leaks were repaired and some pipes were lined at a cost of $65,000. It was estimated that it would cost at least a further $180,000 to complete the work.

During the 2019 budget discussions council felt this was not a good use of public money and therefore instructed administration to keep the fountain running as much as they could through this summer and look at alternatives for 2020; such as an extension to the spray park.

"Unfortunately despite the work last year there are still significant losses of water and so we have decided run the fountain on a reduced schedule," explained Darryl Drohomerski, CAO of the Town of Drumheller. "The Public Works team: in partnership with Alberta Health have created a schedule of running the fountain Thursday morning to Monday morning every week over the summer, apart from holiday Mondays when it will run to Tuesday morning."

"We appreciate the fountain is an important part of the summer experience in Drumheller," outlined Dave Brett Director of Infrastructure. "However we take water conservation seriously and with the loss of 63,896 litres in a 25 hour period (that is 68% of what the fountain holds) we feel this is the best option available. On days the fountain is not running, the spray park will still be available for people to enjoy."