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Your Independent Local Newspaper Established in 1918 VOLUME 104: ISSUE 36
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2022
Local CARC receives RhPAP trophy
RhPAP awarded the 2021 Rhapsody Community Award this past week
Community Attraction and Retention Committee (CARC) for Tofield, Ryley, and Beaver County West members seen here with the trophy. Also present is Colleen Lindholm, RhPAP Rural Community Consultant (right). Missing members: Charlotte Thompson and Katherine Gagnon. SUBMITTED PHOTO/PhPAP MOUSH JOHN Editor
Community Attraction and Retention Committee (CARC) for Tofield, Ryley, and Beaver County West won the 2021 RhPAP Rhapsody Community Award, and was finally awarded the trophy on Wednesday, May 4. The award ceremony planned in 2021 was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions. The event was hosted to celebrate the win and had RhPAP representatives present, including Colleen Lindholm, the RhPAP Rural Community Consultant who had written the letter of support for nominating the local CARC in 2021. According to Lind-
holm, one of the “highlights” was the Post-Secondary Weekend that the committee had hosted in April 2019, which made them a frontrunner. “This event received extremely positive feedback from everyone involved, especially the students. Each piece of the weekend was successful in showcasing the value of working, living and playing in a rural setting. The hospital was an amazing partner, planning the various skills stations which were led by passionate local instructors.” CARC Chair Cyndy Heslin also added what the award meant to the community. “We are very excited for getting the award be-
cause it recognizes our efforts to date,” Heslin said. “Although CARC is just four years old, we have been quite active since day one. Our communities collaborated together with the goal of not only attracting healthcare professionals but more importantly, retaining them. This is why we were recognized with this award.” She added that CARC is ruled by the saying: ‘Instead of thinking outside the box, let’s just throw away the dang box!’ and that’s what they did. “When we were told that we couldn’t host a Skills Weekend inviting medical and nursing students in the community because we didn’t have large enough hotel ac-
commodations for the students, we made sure we could do exactly that and challenged the status quo,” Heslin explained. “We used good old-fashioned billeting, with students staying in homes of residents in the communities of Ryley, Tofield and Beaver County for that weekend; it was a lot of work but went very well.” Heslin also noted that the committee always tries and make healthcare professionals feel appreciated by celebrating milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries. “We want healthcare professionals to feel appreciated, wanted and valued, and we try to do that as often as we can,” she said. “There are lo-
cally made resin signs posted at the Tofield Health Centre so that as employees come into work they see the signs thanking them in many different ways for just showing up to work and making a difference in all our lives; we change out these signs about every two months.” The award ceremony was hosted at the Moonshine Cafe who was in charge of refreshments and beverages that evening, while the entertainment was provided by a local music group called Almighty Twang. CARC presented RhPAP CEO, Tracy Sopkow with a metal plaque commemorating their 30th anniversary for serving Albertans in the ru-
rual communities. “After two years we were able to sit together and visit, catching up on what’s happening in our communities and finally moving past the pandemic,” Heslin stated. “We would like to thank all of our supporters, Town of Tofield, past Village of Ryley Council and Staff, Beaver County West, Tofield and Area Health Services Foundation, Busy B, and most of all, our volunteers for all their hard work and dedication for helping us attract and retain amazing health care professionals to our communities. “Also none of this would be possible without RhPAP, especially Colleen Lindholm, our area representative.”