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Last updateThu, 19 Sep 2024 5pm

Over 2,000 COVID-19 swabs performed locally

drumheller health covid swabbing station

The COVID-19 assessment centre at the Drumheller Health Centre has completed more than 2,000 swab tests since it was opened.
On April 27 an assessment centre was established to perform COVID-19 swab testing. Before that, Drumheller residents requiring testing had to travel to other centres. From April 27 to September 2, the Drumheller site performed 2,013 swabs.
Expanded testing is an important part of the effort to contain COVID-19 in our province. Testing will tell you whether you had COVID-19 at the time your swab was taken, even if you were not showing symptoms at that time. Testing will not tell you whether you have previously had COVID-19. It will also not
tell you whether you have any immunity

to COVID-19,” said Melissa Ballantyne Central Zone manager for AHS communications and community engagement.
She explains the assessment centre is typically open five days a week and performs an average of 21 swabs a day. On July 20 it recorded its highest number with 58 tests in one day.
Ballantyne says testing numbers have increased in August to 27 - 34 tests a day. While AHS tracks data for symptomatic and asymptomatic swabs, it does not track the reason for testing such as back to school.
Offered by appointment and free-of-charge, testing is easily booked online at www.ahs.ca/covid. There are eight assessment centres established in the Central Zone for COVID-19 testing – in Red Deer, Camrose, Drumheller, Stettler, Drayton Valley, Rocky Mountain House, Wainwright, and Lloydminster.


Rosedale Post Office temporary closure

IMG 7741

The Rosedale Post Office has been closed temporarily.
According to a statement from Canada Post, “Due to unforeseeable circumstances the Rosedale Post Office is temporarily closed until further notice. A notice was posted today to advise our customers.”
In the interim, mail can be picked up at the Drumheller Post Office located at 96 Railway Ave. East, Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:45 am and 5 pm. Customers must provide government-issued photo identification to pick up their mail.
We apologize to the residents of Rosedale for the inconvenience.

Minister of Community and Social Services visits Drumheller

Horner and Sawhney

Rajan Sawhney, minister of community and social services, spent last week visiting a number of towns across Southern Alberta, wrapping up with a visit in Drumheller on Friday, August 21.
Minister Sawhney spent the day with Mayor Heather Colberg and members of the Drumheller Valley Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), Drumheller and Region Transition Society (DARTS), and local Drumheller-Stettler MLA Nate Horner.
“We talked a lot about the program itself and what DARTS does for the community and all of the community relationships that exist,” Minister Sawhney told the Mail. “Similarly the FCSS visit with the staff was a good overview of everything that Drumheller does as a community with their FCSS dollars.”
Sawhney has visited Drumheller numerous times with her children, though this was her first visit in her capacity as minister.
Sawhney, a born and raised Calgarian, received a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, and a master’s of business administration from the University of Calgary. Prior to entering the political field, she spent more than 20 years in the oil and gas industry while also balancing family life as the mother of four children, and as an avid volunteer.
As minister of community and social services, Sawhney said her office was “very anticipatory of the fact we would see increased needs” stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know once federal support runs out with CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) that we will have some issues with income tax filing. Those are things I hadn’t anticipated,” she said.
Mental health, addictions, family and domestic violence, and homelessness are concerns which have an effect on a provincial level, rural communities and urban centres often handle these social concerns in very different ways. Minister Sawhney noted part of her motivation for visiting with rural communities was to get a better understanding of their specific needs.
In Sawhney’s constituency of Calgary-North East, many social concerns are due to language and cultural barriers faced by newcomers to Canada. Locally, and in other rural areas, the concerns come from struggles to access services as there are often fewer providers available.
Although services may not be as abundantly available as in urban and city centres, Sawhney noted the services accessible rurally often “collaborate and synergize” more effectively than their urban counterparts.
Minister Sawney added the services provided locally by DARTS is important for the community saying, “It’s so critical to serve persons with developmental disabilities and they (DARTS) are probably the gold standard of what I have seen across the province.”
FCSS also is a very crucial part of providing social service needs to communities, serving more than 200 municipalities in Alberta. Sawhney noted the visit across Southern Alberta will help her better understand the different needs of municipalities and to better tailor the services to fit the needs of their communities.


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