Keeping healthcare workers connected on the go: The Alex's story

About The Alex

The Alex is a comprehensive health care provider that has been operating in Calgary since 1973. They offer both clinical and social components in almost all of their programs, which include a large community health center complete with pharmacy, lab and wellness programming, a youth health center, seniors health center, mobile health and dental care buses, a series of housing programs, and a community food center.

The Alex is staffed by hundreds of personnel, and hundreds more volunteers and donors dedicated to offering high-quality care to vulnerable Calgarians. At The Alex, whole health is the goal – and you can’t be healthy if you are hungry, isolated, or experiencing mental health struggles. The Alex serves a community that often experiences barriers to care. They work with those they support on their journey from poverty to stability and from crisis to wellness.

The challenge

With thousands of people throughout Calgary relying on the services of The Alex, the organization uses a robust EMR (electronic medical record) system with over three hundred medical staff actively using the system. From case files to the medical history of patients, the system is integral in connecting staff to the community they serve, and any delay or system downtime could be disastrous.

In addition, many members of the Alex team work in an outreach capacity in community. They require stable technology solutions that keep them connected on the go. Community work and home visits require additional safety and security needs and protocols for Alex staff, particularly in instances when they are responding to situations that involve distress or behaviour escalation. The Alex team needed a reliable communications platform through which they felt safe and connected, yet could quickly alert authorities, if needed.

During the early phase of the coronavirus pandemic, there was also a heightened level of anxiety in the community, and with many businesses closed, people were more isolated. Now more than ever, The Alex had to have a network partner that was reliable and had experience dealing with rapid technology and service offering changes while its team worked quickly to reach members of the community.

Why Aware360

When The Alex began searching for a reliable network partner about five years ago, TELUS –widely experienced in providing mobile resource management solutions for a variety of industries– offered Aware360’s suite of mobile safety solutions. The Alex quickly realized that, in addition to the strength of the network, Aware360’s alternatives were exactly what they were looking for.

Aware360 includes four modules: SafetyAware, for lone and at-risk workers, a cognitive screening app called Aware4Duty, iDriveAware for driver behavior monitoring, and GoAware, which addresses the new COVID-19 contact tracing requirements.

The Alex was looking to integrate a tool to connect those working alone, and for teams deployed to potentially higher-risk situations that could require emergency response support. They also needed a way to log where they travelled to and to be able to pull up medical or historical files as well as check in with the office in order to follow safety and administrative protocols. The Aware360 system provided all of this, and more.

The Alex and TELUS have had a long-standing business relationship for many years, and share many of the same values, particularly regarding care and safety. It was natural that The Alex would explore work solutions available for their mobile staff. After a series of meetings, TELUS was able to prescribe a solution that not only was a technical fit, but also fit into The Alex’s budget as a not-for-profit.

The result

Today, The Alex’s EMR (electronic medical record) system operates on the TELUS network, with hundreds of staff members using Aware360, from doctors to outreach workers, to psychiatrists, pharmacists, and others.

Outreach teams can check in and out easily, schedule and log all on-site visits down to the second using GPS technology, and access medical files securely on their mobile app. In addition to the app, Aware360 is a cloud-based system with additional technology that makes The Alex staff feel safe and efficient, such as panic wristbands for outreach workers. They are able to monitor all of the data in the system across each of their centers, and across all employees and citizens.

Over the past two years, employee turnover and retention rate at The Alex has consistently improved. Technology solutions that streamline and enhance the work experience has played a role in this success.

During COVID-19, The Alex worked around the clock to completely change the way they served their community. Tapping into the resources at Aware360, the two organizations quickly strategized to develop ways to keep their community connected during the pandemic. They fast adapted to new methods of providing the critical support the Calgary community needed during this unprecedented time.