The Calgary Rural Primary Care Network (CRPCN) is continuing to promote mental and physical wellness in the Chestermere area with a variety of programming.
Throughout December, the CRPCN with Synergy and the Mental Health Coalition is offering a six-week mental health social media initiative, focusing on how to manage holiday stress, with topics highlighting finances, and social gatherings.
“We are seeing a lot of stress around the holidays affecting people’s mental health, people are feeling quite a bit of stress,” CRPCN Community Development Coordinator Leslie Racz said. “We’re really about the not-for-profits in the community pooling our resources.”
In the new year, the CRPCN is offering Happiness Basics, a mental wellness workshop focusing on how to improve mood, energy, and mental health.
“These are areas you’ll see improvement if you participate, it’s a really good course,” Racz said.
Anyone interested in Happiness Basics is asked to register for the workshop online or by calling the CRPCN clinic at 587-333-3751.
Happiness Basics workbooks are also available to pick up at the clinic that participants will need to use to complete the workshop.
In addition to Happiness Basics, the CRPCN offers courses about nutrition, exercise, mental wellness, and health and wellness.
“These programs are important because they are our prevention aspects, that are geared towards prevention of disease,” Racz said. “We’re trying to give people tools, so their mental wellness stays healthy, we’re trying to get people moving so their physical health stays active, and their nutrition what they are putting into their body is so important to the prevention of any chronic disease.”
The CRPCN works alongside Alberta Health Services (AHS), by offering programs focusing on managing disease after diagnosis in a healthy way.
“We try to not duplicate services, we try to combine our efforts. AHS works at treatment, usually, after the patient already has a diagnosis, and their programs are geared towards that much more than ours are, our programs are about prevention,” Racz said.
In the new year, the Chestermere Medical Centre in Kinniburgh will be providing walk-in services in the evenings and weekends and have prescribing pharmacists to treat minor ailments.
“That’s really a big plus, giving that power to the pharmacist. People know when they have something wrong that’s more minor, they don’t have to wait for a doctor, and these pharmacists are very qualified to make these decisions,” Racz said.
Racz is hopeful that eventually, the walk-in clinic will be open all day, seven days a week for anyone who needs it.
“This is a big need. We see it in our clinics, we see patients struggling a lot with health needs, and financial stress,” Racz said. “I do see a lot of support coming from the ministry of health.”
The Chestermere Lab is also now being run by DynaLIFE, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekdays. To schedule an appointment call 1-877-702-4486, book online.
Going forward, the CRPCN will continue to work with local not-for-profits to support the needs of the community.
“We’re very lucky in Chestermere we have a lot of not-for-profits working, and they are working hard in the community,” Racz said. “We’re working hard, we’re adjusting to a new system with Family and Community Support Services (FCSS).”
Visit the CRPCN website for more information on the programs offered.
