Four students at Morrin School will be off to Germany in February after winning their school division’s inclusivity project initiative.

Madeline Cuncannon, Taylor Davidson and Thomas Chapin presented their project to a panel of judges at J.C. Charyk School in Hanna prior to the winter break, showcasing their work promoting LGBTQ inclusion in sports under the project #Sports4All. The initiative made an impact on social media where their project was spread around the world and even retweeted by Premier Rachel Notley, and culminated in a keynote address by former NFL-er and LGBTQ in sports advocate Esera Tuaolo.

“The main goal of the project is to make an impact on other people and we tried to do that as much as we could,” says Cuncannon.

This makes the second year in a row that students from Morrin School earned the prize. The students came back to their school to find an assembly of all students waiting for them.

The project was up against presentations from four different division schools, including J.C. Charyk’s ‘We’re All a Part of the Team’, Delia School’s Gay Straight Alliance Pride Day, and Youngstown and Delia’s Mental Health and Brain Injury projects.

“In my opinion, all the other projects were good and what they did was amazing but ours was I guess a little more advertised,” Cuncannon says, adding staff at the school have been incredibly supportive of their project.

“They’re very proud of what we’ve done, they’re probably more excited than we are. It’s a proud moment that our school division did so much and did something amazing in our own community.”

The students will be attending school in Germany for a two-week cultural immersion trip while staying with billet families, and will have opportunities to explore and sightsee there, including visiting a castle.

Alberta Health Services has launched a smartphone app to support those who are undergoing cancer treatment.

Last week Alberta Health Services launched the My Care Conversations App.  According to a press release, the application will allow patients to record their conversations with their cancer care team to help reduce the stress and assist with recall and understanding.

Dr. Rithesh Ram is familiar with the new App and while it is so new, he hasn’t seen any uptake just yet but sees it having a purpose.

“I think it can be very useful,”  said Dr. Ram.

Patients and families that use the app will be empowered to take a more active role in their healthcare by being able to record and re-listen to their conversations. Being able to record and re-listen to their appointments will help patients understand complex discussion points and clarify any misunderstandings. Patients can also choose to share their recordings with trusted individuals who were not able to attend the clinical visit with the cancer care team.

He adds the functionality goes beyond the recording aspect.

“I think the big aspect is the ability for patients to put their comments in, the plan they get, the questions they have going in and out to the doctor appointments, I think that is the biggest utility here,” said Dr.Ram.

He adds that while the My Care Conversation App is tailored towards cancer patients, he said any patient could benefit from the functionality of the app.

For those interested in using the AHS app, it can be found as a free download from the app store (for Apple devices) and on the Google Play store. The app has a tutorial that will walk you through the key functions of the app. In the tutorial there is information about how to prepare for your upcoming appointment, make a high-quality recording of your clinical conversation, re-listen to it after the conversation is done.