Addiction and Mental Health - Community Services

Assessment and treatment includes learning about your past history, present situation, and identifying your goals. A counsellor talks with a client about different treatment options, including counselling to help them reach their goals. A counsellor helps clients choose goals and strategies, make suggestions, and reviews their progress with them.

Audiology and Children's Allied Health Services

Services are goal-driven; starting and continuing services is based on having functional reasons / goals for rehabilitation. The length of service will vary and is based on a child's needs and goals, and the availability of local programs. Assessment is part of rehabilitation and it comes in many forms. The purpose is to understand your child's strengths and needs. We will talk with you about next steps that guide the (rehabilitation) care plan. We will work together so you and your child are supported to move to the next developmental stage or between providers and services. Families and caregivers are actively involved as therapy may look like "play", depending on your child's age. We want to understand what's important to your child and family (what matters to you) e.g. daily routines, family and friends, activities you enjoy and we'll work with you to find home ideas that fit with your life. Services may be in-person, by phone, or videoconference. They may be in a group or one to one. Services provided are related to (neuro)developmental and / or medical conditions.

Team Based Services
Are provided for children with a variety of needs.
•hearing - responding to sounds, noise, voices, words
•moving - sitting, crawling, walking, coordination
•using hands - playing with toys, using utensils
•taking care of self - dressing, toileting, doing chores, sleeping
•equipment needs - wheelchair, splints, orthotics, walking aides, adaptive aides
•physical symptoms - pain, muscle / joint tightness, breathing, head shape, sensitivity to noise or touch
•managing emotions - behavior, becoming overwhelmed
•communication - understanding directions, babbling, using words and sentences
•clear speech - being understood by others, stuttering, voice quality
•eating, feeding and swallowing - coughing, gagging, choking, refusing to eat certain foods
•diagnostic clinic for queries on Autism Spectrum Disorder and other diagnoses in partnership with pediatricians

Audiology
Helps children and their families with hearing and hearing health, so they can participate in activities that are important to them.This service supports children's:
•hearing - screening and assessment to identify hearing loss
•management of hearing loss
•hearing health

Occupational therapy services
Supports children and their families with self-care; eating, feeding and swallowing; and motor development, so that they can participate in activities that are important to them.
•motor development
•self-care - dressing, toileting, sleeping, personal hygiene
•participation in activities typical for their development, such as play
•eating, feeding and swallowing
•specialized equipment - access and use

Physiotherapy
This service supports children and their families with development and movement, so they can participate in activities that are important to them.
•motor development
•movement and function
•specialized equipment (access and use)

Speech-Language Pathology
This service supports children and their families with communication and eating, feeding, and swallowing, so they can participate in activities that are important to them.
•communication (speech, language, voice, resonance and fluency)
•eating, feeding and swallowing

Available at some locations:
Child and Youth Developmental Specialists, Home Based Development and Social Work

Fluoride Protection for Toddlers

Children only need to have a few teeth to start getting fluoride. Applications are given 4 times, once every 6 months. For eligibility information visit our website.

At the appointment:

• The child sits on their parent's lap while staff apply fluoride on the child's teeth using a brush, which takes less than a minute.
• The child can eat and drink right after the treatment.
• The fluoride sticks to the teeth and protects them. It slowly wears off when the teeth are brushed.

If the child has asthma, bring his or her asthma reliever medicine to the appointment.
This provincial prevention service is available in all AHS (Alberta Health Services) zones.

Home Care Services

Helps people of all ages that live at home and need support, including:

• nursing services
• personal care services
• respite services
• palliative care
• wound care
• self managed care (SMC)
• living option assessments

Home Care team members meet with clients to assess their needs and create a care plan.

Immunization - Adult Services

This service provides routine immunization for adults. Suggested immunizations:

• a booster dose of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough)(dTap) every 10 years
• dTap vaccine for pregnant women every time they are pregnant
• Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) for unprotected adults born in 1981 or later. Some adults born before 1981 may need this vaccine if they are at risk for hepatitis B (e.g. health problems, type of work, lifestyle, contact with the virus)
• Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for adults up to and including age 26 years who did not get it in school.
• Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine for adults whose immunization records do not show the recommended number of doses of measles, mumps, or rubella vaccine.
• Chickenpox vaccine for unprotected adults
• annual influenza vaccine
• pneumococcal vaccine for all adults 65 years of age and older and adults with certain health problems
• shingles vaccine for adults 18 years of age and older who have had or are going to have an organ transplant

To find out which vaccines are recommended for you and to book an appointment for immunization, call your nearest community / public health centre. If you are not sure where your nearest community / public health centre is, you can call Health Link at 811. Bring any immunization records you have to the appointment, especially if you were immunized in another province or country.

For more general information about immunization go to ImmunizeAlberta.ca, Immunizations at myhealth.alberta.ca, or call Health Link.

Immunization - Infant and Preschool Services

Alberta Health Services provides routine immunization for infants and children across Alberta. Immunizations are free of charge for infants and children who live in Alberta.

Immunizations are recommended for infants starting at 2 months of age. Routinely recommended vaccines include: diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, polio, Haemophilus influenza type b, hepatitis B, rotavirus, meningococcal, pneumococcal, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and influenza.

For the routine immunization schedule, go to immunizealberta.ca.

Additional vaccines may be needed depending on your child’s health conditions or other risk factors.

Immunization is effective. Other than providing safe drinking water, no other health intervention works as well as immunization to reduce disease and death rates. Immunization protects whole communities. The more people who are fully immunized in a community, the safer everyone is.

Immunization is safe. It is much safer to get immunized than to get the diseases that vaccines protect against.

For more information, and to book an appointment, call your nearest community/public health centre. If you are not sure where your nearest community/public health centre is, call Health Link at 811. Bring your child’s immunization record to the appointment, especially if your child was immunized in another province or country.

For more general information about immunization, go to immunizealberta.ca,Immunizations at myhealth.alberta.ca, or call Health Link at 811.

Immunization - School Services

Each year, Alberta Health Services, Public Health reviews immunization records for students in grades 1, 6, and 9 to see what immunizations each student needs. A consent form is then sent home with an information sheet for each vaccine recommended for the student. No immunizations will be given in school without consent from a parent or legal guardian. Immunizations in this program include:

• Grades 1, 6, and 9: Any routine childhood and school vaccines that may have been missed according to a review of the students immunization record on file
• Grade 6: Hepatitis B (HBV) vaccine for students who have not already completed a hepatitis B immunization series and human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine
• Grade 9: diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (dTap) and meningococcal (Groups A, C, Y, W-135) conjugate vaccine

Public Health Nursing

Services provided by Public Health Nurses may include:

• immunizations
• communicable disease control (including Tuberculosis)
• prenatal / postnatal education
• postpartum caregiver / newborn support
• breastfeeding support
• health promotion / disease and injury prevention services
• school health services

School Oral Health Services

Services are offered to eligible schools and may include:

• fluoride varnish, provided to kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2
• dental sealants, provided to Grade 1 and Grade 2

A child diagnosed with asthma must have their short acting asthma reliever medication with them to receive service.

Travel Health Services

The Edmonton and Calgary clinics are currently closed.

If you are seeking immunization services, please contact a private travel health clinic, your doctor or local pharmacist.

If you are a post-secondary healthcare student seeking immunization and / or a tuberculin skin test for your healthcare training program, please contact your educational institution to confirm if provincially funded immunizations are available through this institution. Alternatively, you can contact a private travel health clinic, your doctor or local pharmacist to obtain immunizations for a fee.

Please note:ROUTINE CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATIONcontinues to be offered through community health centres / public health offices, at this time. Please call your local community health centre/public health office, for information.

Tuberculosis Testing

Offers free tuberculosis (TB) skin testing to eligible Albertans. The Mantoux skin test is not recommended to diagnose TB.

Testing is done at public health centres throughout the province:

• North Zone
• Edmonton Zone
• Central Zone
• Calgary Zone
• South Zone

If you are not eligible for free testing but still need to be tested there will be a charge for the test.

For travel or work related TB testing contact the Travel Health Services in your area. With the exception of Edmonton, you would contact the Immunization Business Unit to have school or work-related TB skin testing done.