Student town hall with AHS taking place Dec 10

By Kristy Koehler, December 9 2020—

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is partnering with the Alberta Students’ Executive Council (ASEC) to bring students a virtual discussion about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 Community Conversation will take place on Dec. 10 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. via Zoom. Dr. Kristin Klein, Medical Officer of Health with Provincial Population and Public Health, will be discussing several developments regarding COVID-19, and a portion of the session is being reserved for student questions.

According to the registration page, AHS is looking to discover how they can better reach students with important public health messages and whether or not their “Straight Talk” campaign messaging is resonating with post-secondary students.

Naomi Pela, director of operations and finance for ASEC, says that AHS reached out to the student organization to partner on the town hall. She thinks it’s a good opportunity for students to learn more about the pandemic.

“We all have a part to play and being informed leads to good decision-making,” said Pela. “We’re grateful to the AHS team for putting it together and taking the time to speak to our students.”

Pela says students from across the province have plenty of questions about what the future holds and hopes the event will help to answer many of those questions. She says student leaders have been working tirelessly to advocate for students on their campus, but sees this as an opportunity to “take that discussion to a provincial level and collaborate on a bigger scale.”

“The last few weeks and months have brought about a lot of change,” said Pela. “Things have shifted quite a bit. We’re looking forward to collaborating with AHS and developing a shared understanding of the situation.”

The Alberta Students’ Executive Council unites 17 students’ associations from all regions of the province, representing 110,000 students, including the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Bow Valley College. The University of Calgary is not a member, but the event is open to all post-secondary students.

Questions about the pandemic can be forwarded in advance to Community.Engagement@ahs.ca and students can pre-register online for the Zoom session.