The March 9 session of the 2017 Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series is a presentation by Darren Tanke, Preparation Technician at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, entitled “Palaeontologists Can Be Archaeologists: Use of Palaeontological Plaster Jacketing Techniques to Collect an Archaeological Feature from Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta.”
The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology assisted the Royal Alberta Museum on two major archaeological projects in the summer of 2016. The first, near Elk Point, was the recovery of part of a stone hearth from the Fort George trading post from about 1792. The second project, at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Park near Fort Macleod, was the recovery of a 1,300-year-old First Nations roasting pit complete with skeletal remains of an uneaten meal.
Although both archaeologists and palaeontologists dig into the ground for artifacts or specimens, the disciplines differ in many ways in their field extraction techniques.
In his talk, Tanke explains how he trained the archaeologists in dinosaur skeleton collecting techniques and how to make large plaster field jackets to recover large archaeological features — a first for this type of collaboration in Canada. Both projects posed some unique technical challenges that Tanke had to solve on the spot using his nearly forty years of field experience with the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The Royal Tyrrell Museum’s Speaker Series talks are free and open to the public. They are held every Thursday until April 27 at 11:00 a.m. in the Museum auditorium. Past Speaker Series talks are also available on the Museum’s YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/RoyalTyrrellMuseum
Cutline: Darren Tanke…
to present at Speaker Series

A second medical clinic in the valley is closer to becoming a reality.

This comes after a week of turmoil in the Drumheller medical community that resulted in Dr. Rithesh Ram no longer being a member of Drumheller Associated Physicians.

He tells the Mail that he intends to still see patients at the Associated Physician Clinic and is in the process of setting up a location for a new clinic, and this process too is moving along.

Dr. Ram has secured a 10-year lease at the Riverside Health Centre Building in Drumheller at 180 Riverside Drive East (on the third floor, above Dr. Poznikoff's Riverside Dental Clinic).

Construction planning for Riverside Medical have already started with work to begin as soon as the permit is approved.

This comes after a week of transition. Dr. Ram tells the Mail he was forced from the Drumheller Associated Physicians, and he feels it is related to a survey he commissioned to learn more about patient experience in the valley.

“The impetus for the survey was that I have heard a lot, whether it be Facebook, my own patients, talk at the hospital or people that no longer live here, many had concerns. All of it was around access, around booking, being able to get in to see your doctor. These are things that are happening everywhere, but when you hear about it from people that haven't lived here for 20 years and it is still happening. So I was curious.”

It will be some time before he sees the results of the survey, however, he does know it has been well received by patients, with over 500 responses.

He said there was talk of expansion of the clinic, Dr. Buller, a female physician starting in July.  His spouse is currently studying Medicine and when she completes her studies, plans on setting up in the valley as well.

The report Dr. Ram has parted ways with the clinic began to circulate on social media around midnight on Friday morning and there was massive engagement from Drumheller residents, mostly in support of the doctor.

He plans to have the clinic running shortly.

“I don’t have a specific time frame but it will be as soon as possible and that depends on the support we continue to get from patients, the town, and the community,” he said. “We are thankful for it, and we are doing it for them.”

Dr. Ram graduated from the University of Calgary with a joint MD- Ph.D. degree from

the Leaders in Medicine - Epidemiology program. He was the recipient of the

2013 Award for Young Leaders from the Canadian Medical Association. He has been

practicing in the valley since July 2015.

To fill out Dr. Ram’s survey go to http://www.drumhellerhealth.ca/

As of press time, there was no comment available from Drumheller Associated Physicians.