P.A. Herald: New HIV/AIDS program to come to Prince Albert
New HIV/AIDS program to come to Prince Albert
P.A. Daily Herald
Published on May 15th, 2010
Angela Hill
SASKATOON — Prince Albert is going to be the new site for a satellite office of AIDS Saskatoon, an AIDS service organization serving central and northern Saskatchewan.
“AIDS Saskatoon has just received money from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop a satellite office in Prince Albert,” said Nicole White, executive co-ordinator of AIDS Saskatoon.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, the public health agency expects AIDS Saskatoon to take its 25 years of experience and combine it with local knowledge to create a sensitive and successful venture, she said.
Already there have been meetings with staff from the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region.
“We’re really hoping to get things going over the next three months,” White said.
A possible idea is to bring a model based around the 601 Outreach operated by AIDS Saskatoon, a place that provides people-at-risk with computer, telephone and service access.
There could be ongoing programming such as nutrition.
“It’s really and truly this holistic approach to health care,” White said.
The 601 saw about 9,000 visits in the last year.
“We do believe in partnerships and we do think that AIDS Saskatoon can bring some resources and skills to help us because our communities are interlinked,” Dr. Khami Chokani, medical health officer for the local health region.
White said she hopes a team will come up to Prince Albert to look for space over the next couple of weeks. There is enough funding for a one-year pilot project of the satellite office.
“(We hope that) eventually it will grow and grow and grow and will be an independent agency,” White said.
Currently AIDS Saskatoon is working to put together a proposal that identifies programming needs within Prince Albert, so they can be included within the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region’s HIV strategy.
“The thing that is valuable about AIDS Saskatoon is we do the preventative work, we create the education, the preventions, better drug use strategies, how to have safer sex — it’s the preventative pro-active approach,” White said.
This approach will be combined with local knowledge to create a Prince Albert-appropriate set-up and function, said Chokani.
“We are trying to look for an innovative solution for P.A. We are unique in our ways and we will do what’s best for the people,” he said.
