Town Hall with Alberta Health Representatives

Key Takeaways from the Town Hall with Alberta Health Representatives

February 22, 2021Team QuantumQ_recreation InformationLeave a comment

The ARPA, in collaboration with the Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation (SPAR) Branch with Alberta Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women hosted a Town Hall with Alberta Health representatives last February 11, 2021. The discussion aims to provide updates, clarifications, and answers to questions regarding the Step 1 Guidance of the Path Forward about recreation and sport. We have made a rundown on some of the key information discussed in the Town Hall.

  • A change regarding minors, 18 years old and younger, can take part in any indoor group training for teen sports or other activities with up to a maximum of 10 in a group. This group is inclusive of coaches and trainers. Each member should adhere to the mandatory 3-meter physical distancing. Coaches and trainers must always wear a mask, but participants can remove theirs when engaged in a high-intensity physical activity.
  • Spectators are not allowed, but young participants that need parental support may be paired up with an adult. The pair, however, will be counted as two people. Another update is that a single-family or one household can rent a single pool or arena without a trainer. The key requirement is for the family to rent the entire facility, arena or pool.
  • In the idea of shared equipment, where possible, a single piece of equipment should be designated to one person. When there is a need to share equipment to perform the activity, exercise hand hygiene first before engaging in the activity, then clean and disinfect the shared equipment after. It would also be better to minimize the number of people sharing the same piece of equipment. The 3-meter distancing must still be maintained throughout the activity.
  • Two groups of 10 can occupy the same facility if the space can accommodate the distanced activity among all the participants. Movements while doing the activity must also be considered in ensuring that the facility can accommodate multiple groups. It is up to the facilitator and all the participants to ensure that the 3-meter physical distance is always observed. One can also be involved in more than one group of 10, like with coaches. However, this also increases their risk because they interact with more people.
  • In terms of expectation on the Step 2 Guidance, the 3-week period is a time in between to engage with stakeholders, analyze the data, see the impact of each step and make sure that the trend is going in the right direction before continuing on the next phase.

There is a continuous study on these new measures and steps, and the Alberta Health representatives ensure that any decisions and updates made will be shared to the public as soon as possible. The guidance will not fit perfectly in every situation, but the intention is to make it work in most of the settings. It is also important to note that each of us has a role to play to support the successful implementation of the guidance.

Winter-Friendly Cities

Takeaways: Winter-Friendly Cities: Addressing Social Isolation in Winter

February 9, 2021Team QuantumEducationLeave a comment

Winter is a wonderful and challenging time of the year. The Wintermission project led by 8 80 Cities was set out to address social isolation, increase physical activity levels, and get cities and citizens to embrace wintertime.

A webinar was held to share the experiences and learnings from the program. We were inspired to hear about the success stories of the three participating cities: Buffalo, NY, Eau Claire, WI and Leadville, CO.

Here are some of the notable highlights from the event.

1. An inclusive engagement process is important.

It is a critical determinant of the overall success of each of the cities’ pilot projects. Bringing everyone in a room and ensuring that a wide range of voices and experiences are heard will have its challenges, but the cities managed it well by setting expectations and acting as conveners.

The community responded positively to each of the cities’ engagement strategies, the workshops, surveys, pop-up engagements and focus groups. From the results, they determined the public interests, ideas, existing barriers and challenges. Different experiences and relationships with winter also helped identify which are the most vulnerable groups to social isolation.

Based on insights from the stakeholders, the three cities were guided by their vision statement.

2. The pilot projects are inspiring.

It will serve as an inspiration to the other winter cities to do the same. It took collaboration, planning and persistence to make the pilot projects happen, responding to the main issues and opportunities raised during the engagement process. They came up with priorities in different areas. Still, they had an intersecting focus on better snow management, gear lending or sharing, winter accessibility and comfort, winter guidebooks and more inclusive winter events and activities.

These pilot projects brought collective ideas into action and engaging life into winter. It will also be part of the Winter City Strategy, which will shape future projects, programs and policies.

3. We are adaptive and capable of coming up with innovative alternatives.

In difficult times, we can be surprisingly adaptive. Covid19 happened, and the social distancing made it even more challenging for the winter cities. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop them from pushing community engagements and continued to focus on the goal.

They went to homes and distributed weatherization kits to community members. The “winter fun in a bag” that promotes family bonding activities and the volunteer programs that aim to help the most vulnerable group to social isolation were significant. The Wintermission social media plan was also a timely strategy to influence and spread positive information about winter.

It requires consistent effort and participation from all the residents, community organizations and stakeholders to reach the goal. The Wintermission and the three cities’ accomplishments will encourage others to develop their own unique winter city strategy for increasing social and physical activity in winter.