Alberta Health Services has unveiled its Health Education and Learning (HEAL) website designed to assist parents with the management of pediatric illnesses and provide direction on whether an emergency room visit is required.
The Alberta Children’s Hospital emergency room sees an average of 250 patients each day but less than 10 per cent of the children are admitted.
“We started noticing that a lot of the families had the same concerns that seemed to be a lot of information about what to do with illness, how to manage illness and when is it actually serious enough to come in,” said Stephen Page, a registered nurse who helped create HEAL.
HEAL aims to supply information and reduce the number of unnecessary E.R. visits while being mindful to the concerns of parents.
“We’re not here telling families that they need to diagnose or not come in,” explained Dr. Naminder Sandhu. “If you’re worried, we’re here. That’s the service we provide.”
“We just want to redirect patients who don’t need to be seen in the emergency department.”
Page, says HEAL is a reliable tool for parents amidst a sea of secondhand anecdotes and internet diagnoses.
“There was a lot of confusion with outside sources,” said Page. “Family and friends giving them one piece of information, the internet – Google -giving them other information and outside clinics giving them information.”
HEAL provides information on common ailments including:
- Coughs and common colds
- Croup
- Ear pain
- Nosebleeds
- Vomiting and diarrhea
- Fever
- Rashes
For more information visit Health Education and Learning
With files from CTV's Brad MacLeod
