In honour of Alberta Rural Health Week, the Viking Retention and Attraction Committee sponsored a barbeque on Monday, May 27, behind the hospital.
The free luncheon was designed to express gratitude for the work of local healthcare workers and others who are part of rural health care services in the area.
Also attending were members of RhPAP, or Alberta Health Professions Action Plan, which works to help local committees like the one in Viking to attract and retain health care workers in this rural area.
RhPAP brought along signs bearing statements like, “Rural health matters,” and “We keep healthcare close to home.” People could poke their heads in the middle with messages reaffirming rural health care’s importance framing their faces.
On hand was Dr. Kate Overbo, chair of the Viking committee, who is spearheading the attraction of doctors to the area by having medical students attend practicums at the clinic. Medical students are more likely to return to set up a practice in a community once they have previously worked there.
Hospital staff, Extendicare and Vialta Lodge staff, the RCMP, and other helping organizations within Viking were represented and thanked for their work through the barbeque.
Patricia Harcourt
Editor
