A big step for First Nations communities in Alberta when it comes to vaccine-preventable diseases.
Nurses immunizing children in Siksika, Stoney, Maskwacis and Bigstone communities will have immediate electronic access to complete immunization records at the point of care, regardless of where in Alberta those immunizations were given.
Those records will then be integrated with the provincial registry.
For children vaccinated in those four communities, complete immunization records will be available to any health-service provider who participates in their care, anywhere in the province.
Officials say the move will help prevent delayed or missed immunizations, and avoid immunizing unnecessarily due to incomplete records.
“The Alberta government is committed to working with Indigenous peoples in Alberta to identify health needs and improve health outcomes, as part of our commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said Alberta health minister Sarah Hoffman, Minister in a news release. “Thanks to the Siksika, Stoney, Maskwacis and Bigstone First Nations for their willingness to work as partners, and to make life better for their children and communities by working to increase immunization rates and decrease vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Siksika Health Services says that First Nations children experience vaccine preventable diseases six to eight times more than other Canadians.
“Immunizations are the best way to protect First Nations families and communities and all Canadians from outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases that lead to serious illness and even death. I would like to congratulate the Community Health Program staff in these four communities for their success at achieving such a positive milestone in their work to capture this important immunization data” federal health minister Jane Philpott said in the release.
This is the first time in Canada electronic integration has been done between a point of care immunization and a provincial immunization registry.
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