The Health Council of Alberta released the results from its long-term care family experience survey this week, and Black Diamond's Oilfields General Hospital was ranked number one in the Calgary area and in the top seven across Alberta.

The survey asked families to rank key care measures like staffing, environment, food, communication and family involvement.

Carla Ralph, site manager at the Oilfields General Hospital, says she is pleased with the hospital's 9.2 out of 10 score.

"I think the biggest thing from our perspective was knowing that this was completely something that we didn't have input into. It wasn't a measurement of something specific that we were doing that we were contributing to," Ralph says. "It was completely from a family and residence perspective."

While the largest concern across Alberta was staff challenges, Ralph took more away from the survey to make Oilfields long-term care that much better.

"I think one of our big areas is just ongoing communication, openness, and transparency with our families, and making sure that they are involved in everything that is happening on the unit."

However, Ralph doesn't contribute the success of this survey to just herself and her team, but also to the families of the residents.

"I think the families are all very excited for acclimating that is happening from this survey. They very much feel a part of this community and this unit. I think they take a lot of the ownership for what's happening and the fact that we have such good relationships reflects in the fact that they own this result as well."

Eight thousand families in 160 facilities took part in the survey. The average score across Alberta was 8.3 out of 10.

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