November 24 COVID-19 Update
This message includes:

  • Telephone Town Hall with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and Dr. James Silvius: Discussing current measures in place to protect residents and staff at long-term care facilities
  • Letters from Dr. Deena Hinshaw for Residents, Families, and Staff of Long-Term Care Facilities: Regarding the rise in COVID-19 cases
  • Impact and Insights: COVID-19 and Alberta's Community Disability Services: Report available to ACDS members
  • COVID-19 ACDS Updates: for members only from December 2020 onward 
Telephone Town Hall with Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and Dr. James Silvius
Alberta Health Services (AHS) is hosting a Telephone Town Hall for long-term care facilities on Wednesday, November 25 and Friday, November 27 to discuss the pandemic and current measures in place to protect both residents and yourselves. The town hall will be directed by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer of Health and Dr. James Silvius from AHS.

As COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise, please consider what challenges and barriers you are experiencing and what solutions you would propose as we enter the winter months. AHS is also interested in your answers to the following questions:

  • What are your observations on how COVID-19 is entering facilities?
  • What are your observations on the spread within facilities?
  • What do you think may be some solutions?
  • What has been working well so far?

As you think about potential solutions, AHS asks you to keep in mind that resident quality of life and staff quality of work-life considerations must inform and balance the measures for continuing care.

Register by clicking the link below for the session that works best for you.
Letters from Dr. Deena Hinshaw for residents, families, and staff of long-term care facilities
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Chief Medical Officer of Health has released two new letters for staff, residents and families of long-term care facilities regarding the rising COVID-19 case numbers in Alberta.

These letters discuss the critical role that staff in long-term care facilities take in keeping residents safe, coping mechanisms, and additional reminders on current restrictions and best practices in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
Impact and Insights: COVID-19 and Alberta's Community Disability Services
In October 2020, ACDS published a report titled, Impact and Insights: COVID-19 and Alberta’s Community Disability Services. 

This important paper—informed by numerous data sources—synthesizes how service providers in the Community Disability Service sector were impacted during the first six months since the COVID-19 public health emergency was declared. It also summarises the insights gleaned from those experiences. The intent of the report was to document emerging learnings, including promising new practices to retain and build upon, and highlight the chronic issues that must be addressed for the sector to be effective and sustainable in a challenging post-pandemic social and economic reality. 

The document is available to ACDS members and can be accessed here.

Contact acds@acds.ca for assistance logging in to the ACDS member portal
COVID-19 ACDS Updates: for members only from December 2020 onward 
ACDS currently releases two sets of electronic communications: 
 
  • The Umbrella: A public newsletter, issued quarterly, offering news and information about ACDS and ACDS programs and services, including training and development opportunities, accreditation services, and more. This publication is targeted to ACDS members, non-member Community Disability Services sector organizations, and other organizations and groups with an interest in the sector. These groups can also receive timely updates about our programs and services by visiting our website and following us on our social media platforms.  
 
  • ACDS Member Updates: High-level advocacy, policy, and program updates for members only from the Desks of Andrea Hesse, CEO; Nilima Sonpal-Valias, Director, Strategic Initiatives and Engagement; and Clova Lehr, Director, Accreditation and Services.   
 
While ACDS updates related to advocacy and public policy are reserved for members only, we made an exception when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March, and have since shared COVID-19 Updates—that typically include key advocacy updates—more widely through our e-communications, and have also posted updates on our public-facing website. It was important to ACDS to offer these updates more widely due to the uncertainty and complexity of issues in the initial months of the pandemic. We appreciate the positive feedback we received from many of you, sharing how helpful these updates have been to your organizations, or to you individually. 
 
As the pandemic continues, we continue to advocate strongly for the sector on related issues, at the same time as addressing the ongoing, systemic issues impacting the sector. All our advocacy work is directly supported by, and informed by, our members. We rely on our membership fees to advance our advocacy work and other core programs and services, including our strong training and development programs, and industry-leading accreditation services. More importantly, we rely on our members’ input and engagement to inform our advocacy work, and indeed inform all our programs and services. 
 
Therefore, we have made the decision to revert to offering the ACDS COVID-19 Updates to members only from December onward. If you are not currently an ACDS member, we encourage you to explore our membership opportunities, including opportunities for organizations and for individuals. Membership is accessible and affordable, and offers many benefits, such as the ability to: influence and advance policy related to the sector; access timely and comprehensive ACDS research reports and information relevant to the sector; benefit from reduced-cost programs and services. 
 
Visit the ACDS website for more information on the many additional membership benefits, and how to apply. 
 
ACDS COVID-19 Contact Email
Service provider input and engagement is critical to helping ACDS advocate on behalf of the sector. Service providers can report their issues, concerns and questions to our dedicated email, and a member of the ACDS Leadership team will respond:
Follow us on social media for more updates

Alberta Council of Disability Services