Chinook Health is part of

Alberta Health Services Alberta Health Services (AHS) which is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta is the single health authority for the Canadian province of Alberta and the "largest integrated provincial health care system" in Canada. AHS delivers medical care on be ...

, the governing body for healthcare regulation in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. Chinook Health administers public health services in southwestern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

; the region it covers is bordered on the south by

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

, on the west by

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

, on the north by

Calgary Health Region Calgary Health Region was formerly the governing body for healthcare regulation in an area of the Canadian province of Alberta. It was amalgamated with other regional health authorities in 2008 to become part of Alberta Health Services. The region ...

and on the east by Palliser Health Region.

Government

Until May 15, 2008 the Chinook Regional Health Authority was governed by a 12 member Board whose members were appointed from communities within the region. On May 15, 2008 the Board (and the boards of all the other 8 health regions) was dissolved by Health Minister Ron Liepert, with governance transferred to the province-wide

Board.

Demographics

The region is 25,947 km² and contains a population of over 150,000, which is 5% of Alberta's population. The population of Lethbridge makes up over half of the region's population. Persons over the age of 65 years made up over 1/10 of the CHR population in 1998. Approximately 10,000

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

live in the region, most of whom are of the Blackfoot Nations. The number also includes some Cree,

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which deri ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, ...

and other others. Additionally, roughly 15,000 Kanadier Mennonites live in the Chinook Health region. Numbers vary as groups migrate between home communities in Central America and the region.

Facilities

Chinook Health operates 12 hospitals, 15 community health centres, and 5 continuing care facilities in 14 communities.

Employment

The health region employs more people in Lethbridge than any other single organization. Employees include 3,500 staff and 200 physicians.

Services

Chinook Health provides the following services throughout the region: *Breast health *Cardiac rehab *Chinook Rehabilitation Program (CRP) *Community nutrition *Diabetes management *Emergency and critical care *Healing arts *Health protection *Health promotion *Laboratory *Medical imaging *Medicine and surgery *Mental health *Nutrition services *Oral health *Pharmacy *Physicians *Population health *Respiratory *Seniors' health *Social Work *Spiritual care services *Transitional care *Wellness services *Women's and children's health

External links

Chinook Health Services
Health regions of Alberta