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Southern Alberta HIV Clinic - About the Clinic

 

 

Southern Alberta HIV Clinic

About the Clinic

About SAC | Donations

About the Southern Alberta Clinic (SAC)

The Southern Alberta Clinic provides medical care to all HIV-positive patients in southern Alberta. The multidisciplinary team includes physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, nutritionists, clerical staff and researchers.

History

In 1987 the Government of Alberta launched its plan "Education and Caring: Alberta's program for the prevention, management and control of AIDS". As part of the plan a working group on patient care services, with both government and field representation was struck to determine the needs of patient, community and health care systems in addressing the challenges posed by this new disease. In May 1989, the Minister of Health accepted a report from the group which recommended that two multidisciplinary outpatient care clinics to be established in the two metropolitan tertiary care centres; Edmonton and Calgary to serve the populations of northern and southern Alberta respectively.

Mandate

The expectation of these clinics was that they would provide not only outpatient care, but also act as centres of knowledge, research and education with regard to HIV. Access to the provincially-funded antiretroviral agents and the expensive technologies used for staging HIV infection were made available through these clinics. It was decided that inpatient care should be decentralized and be provided locally with a strong link with the regional outpatient care centre.

The Southern Alberta Clinic opened on October 1, 1989. This multidisciplinary clinic includes a medical staff with HIV-specialized physicians and nurses, and other professionals, including pharmacists, social workers, a dietitian, and researchers. Over 80 physicians have received hands-on, preceptored experience in the HIV clinic to facilitate providing optimal care in their own practices and hospitals in southern Alberta. Additional education has been provided through nurse training programs, social work practicum positions and dietetic internships. A strong community link has been established both through open forums with clinic patients, focus groups with special interest groups from the clinic population and formal meetings with the regional community groups. The original role and mandate of the two multidisciplinary, regional, outpatient clinic has recently been supported by a provincial review.

The next decade offers great challenges in addressing not just the shifting epidemiology of our HIV-infected population in southern Alberta, but also in using the recent advances in treatment for maximum benefit. The use of new technologies, such as this internet website, both to facilitate care in rural communities and to build strong mutual understanding with our patients and other health care workers of our activities, is one area we wish to develop during the next decade. The use of satellite clinics, when numbers are adequate, is another appropriate and successful means of fostering our regional role that will be supported over the next decade.

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Donations

All donations towards local work in HIV/AIDS are greatly appreciated. Such donations can be made directly to the addresses below. A receipt will be issued as donations are designated as tax deductible by Revenue Canada. The Southern Alberta Clinic also supports fundraising by "Small Change, Big Changes" and AIDS Calgary.

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