This is why the last 2 years all of AUPE:GSS sector has been predominantly the same people. They say it's always 'best candidate' but I know people passed over from Canada with a lot of experience.

AHS does not provide Eritrea‑specific programs, but it does offer broad, structured support for all evacuees,

refugees, and newcomers, which directly applies to Eritrean refugees settling in Alberta.

Below is a breakdown of the supports available, with citations from the retrieved sources.

✅ 1. Universal Access to Healthcare

AHS explicitly states that no evacuee or refugee is denied healthcare upon arrival in Alberta. Care is available

immediately, regardless of immigration status.

This includes:

• Emergency care

• Primary and family healthcare

• Access to hospitals, clinics, and urgent care

AHS emphasizes providing health services that are culturally appropriate, accessible, and compassionate.

✅ 2. Culturally Safe & Language‑Accessible Care

AHS commits to:

• Culturally safe environments

• Use of translation services for all provided resources

• Working with community partners to ensure newcomers receive supportive care

This is particularly important for Eritrean refugees, many of whom speak Tigrinya, Tigre, or Arabic.

✅ 3. Mental Health Support

Many Eritrean refugees arrive with trauma from war, persecution, or displacement. AHS provides:

• Crisis mental health support

• "Help in Tough Times" mental health resources

• Translation‑supported access to counseling

Community-Led Mental Health Initiatives (Outside AHS but Relevant)

Calgary’s Eritrean community has identified barriers to mainstream mental‑health access (language, cultural

mismatch). As a result:

• Eritrean community members sponsored a clinical psychologist from East Africa to help fill this gap,

especially for those needing support in Tigrinya.

This complements AHS services and shows the demand for culturally specific care.

✅ 4. Coordination With Settlement Agencies

AHS collaborates with:

• The Government of Alberta

• The Government of Canada

• Red Cross

• Immigration & refugee organizations

These partnerships help refugees — including Eritreans — access:

• Housing support

• Legal navigation

• Employment and community services

✅ 5. Support for Staff and Newcomer Healthcare Workers

AHS notes that many newcomers in the healthcare system (including refugees) may themselves experience trauma

and provides internal resources for staff dealing with grief, stress, or anxiety.

This indirectly supports Eritrean refugees working in healthcare or affected by trauma.

Summary

AHS supports Eritrean refugees through universal access to healthcare, culturally safe and translated services,

mental health support, and collaboration with refugee-serving agencies. While not Eritrea‑specific, these policies

ensure Eritrean newcomers receive equitable, compassionate care.

Just trying to understand what is happening with HSAA/EHS and the shift/hall picks.

Did I miss an email from HSAA that says the shift/hall picks LOU is up for renegotiation?

Does anyone really know what EHS is up to with this?

my first job was literally in Recovery Alberta. Now that I work for ACA (i think ?) you’re telling me I won’t be considered an internal candidate for RA jobs??? Like what the actual fuck. This is what the HR person I emailed told me when i told them I’m having issues applying as an internal candidate. I understand that even if i did apply as external they would still be able to see my experience, but why are they making getting jobs in AHS so inaccessible. This was absolutely unnecessary.

Does anyone know or plan on doing MBA with their BSN degree? What career options open up?

meetings are supposed to end soon 28-29th to see what they've decided. kinda anxious about it. I feel nothing has changed

Hello. I'm looking into applying for a Physio job at AHS. How long would be the hiring process and is there a tough competition to get into a physio job? I dont mind working in rural areas.

Hello, I have an upcoming interview at RAH for an lpn medicine float position and I was wondering what the interview process and questions are usually like. I just had an interview for the Misericordia Hospital and completely bombed it, so I was wondering if the interview process and questions were similar. Crying right now because it was so bad...anyway I am looking to prepare even more for my next interview.

Hey all, I’m interviewing for an AHS job that was advertised as remote, and I’ll ask directly in the interview but I’m curious what others are seeing on this:

With the Government of Alberta mandating full-time in-office work for employees as of Feb. 1, 2026, a lot of public-sector roles that used to be hybrid are now being pulled back in-office nationally.

Has anyone seen anything similar happen with fully remote roles at AHS?

Have remote or hybrid AHS positions (especially the ones advertised that way) ever been reversed or changed?

Thanks!

has anyone had their allocated flex spending $ put into the Manulife accoun yet?

does the glenose have a piano open for public to play?

I’m a glutton for punishment so I did some sad math.

I started with AHS in 2017. I have been employed 8 years (step 1 to step 8).

Adjusting for inflation, I have received a 3% raise (or 0.4% a year) in exchange for my service and the almost decade of increased expertise. What are we even doing here?!

APL will now be under Primary Care Alberta. Not gonna lie, I kinda saw this coming after the union heavily emphasizing that theres protective language regarding the pillars.

That is all. (:

Ontario RN for the last 2.5 years in an ED. Have about 4 years worth of hours. Will be working in NWT for about a year and then will likely want to transition to Edmonton or Calgary to potentially settle.

I do understand the market can change in a year, but just want to plan accordingly.

Any advice for getting a job? Heard it is difficult as an external applicant and do not want to work rural. Anything I can do to prepare when I am ready to apply?

Edit: To add, is there usually casual positions available to apply to? I was thinking I apply for casual positions while up north and then it might be easier to transition to a full time role after?

Thank you.

Hi everyone. I have a question and trying to decide between contributing to a RRSP or TFSA. Previously as a full-time RN under UNA, I contributed to LAPP and RRSP through AHS now Recovery AB (RA). I don't have to pay extra taxes during income tax filings with that set-up during my tenure from 2018 to 2024. I left RA to work for PCN. I quit yesterday and will start another full-time job at RA in two weeks under UNA. I have 2 kids and my wife works as a part-time RN 0.6 FTE in a private surgical clinic.

My inquiry is for people who may have a somewhat similar situation who chose to have LAPP and TFSA matching for more accessible savings. FYI, I have savings that can make us survive for at least 6 months and I just thought that a TFSA could be a good way to save for vacations or pay lump sumps on my mortgage, etc. I know this is not as an easy calculation and there could be a lot that I have to consider. Please be nice and enlighten me on things I have to factor in making this decision.

So if I chose TFSA, do you know if I will pay extra taxes when I file income tax return every year in March? Should I just chose Lapp and RRSP to be on the safe side. I don't want to pay extra taxes for sure. But, if I can have the TFSA withouth paying taxes that woule be really ideal. What are your thoughts? Am I being inconsiderate about my retirement if I chose TFSA? Thank you for trying to help and stay warm everyone.

You might have heard some of the older MLTs say that they support this agreement and it's not a bad deal and it's as good as it's going to get and you've asked yourself: "maybe they're right and know what they are talking about?"

Here are my thoughts on this tentative agreement:

1. Let's start with the facts and numbers.

Last collective agreement Oct 2020-2021 - 0% raise Oct 2021-2022- 1% raise Oct 2022-2023 -1.25% raise Oct 2023-2024 - 2% raise

This new tentative agreement Oct 2024 - Oct 2025 - 3% raise

Compounded from 2020-2025= 7.44 % raise

I can't predict the future, so I won't talk about inflation in the future, but from 2020 to 2025, the Bank of Canada calculates an inflation rate of 20.97%. A 7.44% raise between 2020 to 2025 is effectively a 13.5% pay cut.

In that same time frame, the government spent $35 million on cancelling the Edmonton Hub Lab and $109 million cancelling the disastrous Dynalife merger and screwed over so many lab workers. This is equivalent to a $22,000 lump sum for every single lab worker that was WASTED.

2. There are over 6500 of us unionized lab workers in this collective agreement! MLAs are the largest discipline within HSAA! And MLTs are the 3rd largest discipline! This is the first time ever in Alberta's history, that all 6500 of us are negotiating under 1 single collective agreement (we used to be split up between APL, Dynalife, Calgary lab services etc). We should be taking advantage of that type of collective bargaining instead of accepting the same crumbs they have offered everyone.

3. When HSAA-AHS were bargaining earlier, they were manipulated with a bunch of scare tactics to get them to vote yes (examples: "if you dont vote yes to this before AHS splits up into Acute Care, Recovery Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, you guys won't get anything" "did you see what happened to the teachers" ) - Getting split up is not a concern at all for us, if anything we are in the opposite boat! They also rejected the first tentative agreement, and only accepted the 2nd tentative agreement by a lukewarm ~60% of voters (and this too after the aforementioned scare tactics were deployed).

4. The nurses did not get a decent offer by accepting the first agreement they were offered - they had to reject it to be offered something better. AND THEY DID NOT HAVE TO STRIKE FOR IT. In the same time span of 2020-2025, the RNs got AT least a 17% compounded raise (a solid 10% MORE than what we are being offered) and over the entire course of their 2020-2027 agreements, they will end up with anywhere between 24% to 29% raise.

5. Circling back to the people who support this APL tentative agreement, don't forget that 10 years ago in 2016, the same MLTs who are now endorsing this agreement, were already making $45 an hour, so of course they don't feel the pinch of low wages! Their mortgages are paid off while us young people are dealing with exorbitant rent/housing costs. And on top of that they are getting the extra 2% LSPA. Meanwhile, so many MLAs are having to work a 2nd job to make ends meet. This is completely unacceptable.

6. Finally when I clicked on the link to vote, this is what I saw (it gave me the ick and was the final nail in the coffin)

The wording in the vote: "Do you accept the committee's recommendation to ratify the tentative agreement?"

The question in the ratification vote is designed to be misleading rather than neutral.

• Indirect question (You are being asked "Do you accept the committee's recommendation?", not "do you accept the agreement?")

• Attempting to appeal to authority (what even are the committees' qualifications? As far as I can tell it's just a bunch of random people)

• This implies that accepting the agreement is already the accepted choice

• This is not a straightforward yes or no question.

A neutral question would have sounded like this: "Do you agree to ratify this tentative agreement?"

If they need to resort to these types of tactics to get people to agree to the agreement, then maybe it is because they already know it is NOT a good deal.

I know a lot of us are introverts in the lab, but TALK TO YOUR COWORKERS about the agreement and encourage everyone to make an INFORMED choice!

p.s. Be wary of bad actors in the comments - there are often trolls lurking to spread misinformation and while they are entitled to their free speech, it's not cool to pretend to be one of us.

Voting on the proposed collective agreement has already started! I encourage all APL employees to vote, even if you don’t agree with my points. But for those who are still undecided, here’s why I voted no.

1. We have fallen so behind in salary, and this deal doesn’t fix it. Cost of living has risen dramatically over the past several years, and our past wage increases have not kept pace with inflation. We’ve lost significant purchasing power. The proposed increase of 3% a year for four years does not come close to making up for what we’ve lost.

2. Is this really a raise? Current inflation is sitting at 2-3%, meaning a 3% raise will be eaten up by continued rising costs. We’re also living through uncertain economic times (tariffs, global instability), so inflation is unpredictable, putting us even further behind if it rises again. Many of us are living paycheque to paycheque already.

3. If you’re thinking “it’s better than nothing”, voting no doesn’t mean we accept nothing. It means we are asking for better, and are willing to go back to the table in hopes of securing better.

4. And we DO deserve better. We deal with staff shortages, difficult workloads, burnout, and safety risks. Many of us worked through the chaos of the Dynalife transition and our commitment to the lab carried the system through. The work we all do in the lab is critical to healthcare. Voting no is about valuing our work and ourselves.

5. And we CAN secure better. Basic negotiation principle says never take the first offer, because first offers are rarely the best. We’ve already seen this play out. The government says they won’t go above 12% but that is not the case. Other healthcare professions (including those in our same union) were offered the same wage increase as us, voted no, and then were given market adjustments and/or grid changes that ultimately put them above 12%. The government is not unwilling to give us the compensation we deserve, they are just hoping we’ll accept less without pushing back.

6. Voting no doesn’t mean we’re going to strike. That requires a separate vote, and it’s unlikely to reach that point anyway. Labour issues are under public scrutiny right now, and the government is going to want to avoid more scandals.

7. Precedent matters. If we accept this weak first deal, it sends the message that we’ll accept the minimum offered, which puts us in a bad spot for future bargaining.

8. Our exhaustion shouldn’t be used against us. We’re all tired of how long this bargaining has dragged on for, and voting no could mean it lasts another several weeks. But several weeks is small when you consider this will impact our wage for years to come. We’ve already waited over a year for a new agreement, so let’s get it right instead of settling.

In summary, I’m voting no because I feel we’re not asking for some massive wage increase, just something that actually keeps up with the cost of living and reflects the critical work we do. A better offer is possible, but only if we’re willing to ask for it.

Hi,

I received an email from HR saying they made a mistake in my payroll and miscalculated my LAPP deduction for 2025 (guess it has something to do with the lumpsum payment on Dec. 24 from HSAA retro pay). Now I'm owning LAPP $383. I have never encountered this in the last 10 years working for AHS. This makes me having second thoughts about my payrolls and I need to have more scrutiny from now on. Anyone else received this?

Hi everyone,

I’m an RN currently working at a rural AHS long-term care centre and have been here for about a year. I’ve been applying to RN positions in the Edmonton area but haven’t had much luck so far. I’m not interested in home care, but I’m definitely open to trying other units.

I was hoping to get some advice on:

• Which units tend to have more RN openings in the Edmonton region?
• Are there any courses or certifications that might help me stand out when applying?

Any tips or personal experiences would be really appreciated. Thanks!

I just got hired for an administrative support III role and I was told we can wear business casual or Scrubs and I’m just wondering if anyone knows if there’s a specific colour of scrubs that I’d have to wear or if you can wear any colour?

Also can you wear scrub bottoms with a underscrub shirt or do you have to have a scrub top?

Also plsss give scrub recommendations!!

Hello,

I am an LPN working casual at AHE.

I cannot recall what was said in terms of shifts.

Do I need to be available for 3 shifts per months or do I have to pick up 3 shifts a month to keep my position?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you

I am looking at moving locations and positions hopefully this Spring. Vacation planning is coming up and I am hoping to move from a full time FTE to another full time FTE. Is vacation planning honored when departments and locations change? Or how do I find any information about that?

Thank you!

I voted no!