The government of Alberta is working to collect and distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) to non-Alberta Health Services sites and workers as quickly as possible.
In a news release Tuesday, the province said many organizations had already received PPE shipments “over the past weeks.”
Non-AHS facilities could include pharmacies, disability service providers, social service and civil society groups as well as independent medical clinics.
Anyone requiring PPE is asked to submit a request via email to pessecc-logistics@gov.ab.ca.
The province said requests will be quickly processed through the Provincial Operations Centre based on specific needs.
“We do have processes in place,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said Tuesday.
“Some physicians’ offices may receive their equipment from their local primary care network, but we do have processes in place for folks to let us know what the requirements are, what their needs are so that we can get that equipment distributed to them as quickly as possible.”
Some concerns about PPE supply for non-AHS workers were raised after the government of Alberta announced Saturday it would be sharing some of its PPE with other provinces in need.
“This province has enough PPE, including the N95 masks, in our modelling and our estimates, what we’re going to need for this pandemic and our response to it,” Shandro stressed during the daily update Tuesday with chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
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Hinshaw added that N95 masks are not necessary in most cases, even in health-care environments.
“N95 masks are a particular kind of mask that’s used for protection against aerosol-transmitted infections,” she explained. “Those masks are needed in very particular settings where an aerosol-generating medical procedure would be happening and most often those are in hospitals. So for example, when someone isn’t able to breathe and they’re intubated… that would be a process that would generate aerosols. And so the health-care workers who are doing that procedure would require N95 masks.
“However, N95 masks are not required when someone is providing typical care to a patient…even in health-care settings.
“The most common type of mask — a surgical or procedural mask — is what’s needed to protect against droplet spread.”
Hinshaw said Alberta health officials are responding to all requests with the appropriate PPE.
“Our Provincial Operations Centre and Alberta Health Services are working very closely together to make sure that anyone who’s asked for some kind of personal protective equipment supply gets the supply that they need that’s appropriate to the interactions that they have with people who may be infected.
“Not everyone who asks for an N95 mask needs that, and really, for the most part, people in general settings would need a procedural mask.”
The government said PPE is being procured through traditional methods and the Alberta Bits and Pieces program, which is sourcing equipment and other supplies closer to home.
The province said the operations centre would distribute more than 1,500 orders of PPE in “the coming days.”
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Those shipments would include about 400 municipal first responder agencies, which will receive one million masks and one million pairs of gloves.
More than 1.5 million masks are being distributed to 941 long-term care, designated supportive living, and addiction and mental health facilities.
In addition, “a large order of PPE” is currently being distributed to the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association for 1,400 pharmacies, according to the government.
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