The Aspen Regional Health Authority #11 (Aspen Regional Health) provided rural primary healthcare services to its residents for the many stages of life in a variety of settings. Aspen Regional Health has a history of providing quality patient service as evidenced by the following measures from the 2002-2005 Aspen Regional Health Authority Business Plan.

• In a survey conducted by Alberta Health and Wellness, 73 percent of people rated the ease of access to services as 'easy' or 'very easy' in the Aspen Regional Health area compared to 65.5% province-wide.
• In the same survey, 92.5 percent rated the quality of service as 'excellent' or 'good', as compared with 86 percent province-wide.

Aspen Regional Health operates the following facilities within the GROWTH Alberta region:

Emergency Care Centres
Open 24 hours a day for short-term services required by patients for such things as an acute, chronic, or initial disease process requiring treatment. Swan Hills, Barrhead , and Westlock have centres for emergency treatment.

Healthcare Centres
Large facilities that accommodate a variety of patient services, including specialized services such as paediatrics, mental health and palliative care. Barrhead and Westlock host the two full service Healthcare Centres in the GROWTH Alberta region. Swan Hills has a small capacity Healthcare Centre with fewer services.

Facility-Based Care
Aspen Regional Health offers a wide range of services in long-term care centres for individuals who are no longer able to manage in a home setting. The Town of Barrhead and the Village of Thorhild each have one facility, and the Town of Westlock has two.

Health Services Offices
Health Services Offices provide population and educational health services for the community by delivering programs to prevent and protect citizens from disease. These offices are located in Swan Hills, Barrhead, Westlock and Thorhild.

Specialized Services
Citizens in the GROWTH Alberta region have access to some very special healthcare services such as cataract surgery at the Westlock Healthcare Centre, and a Stage 2 Chemotherapy Cancer Clinic located at the Barrhead Healthcare Facility. The healthcare centres in Swan Hills, Barrhead and Westlock are open 24 hours a day.

Additional information on health services in the GROWTH Alberta region is available on the Aspen Regional Health web site.