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Augmentative Communication and Educational Technology Service (ACETS)   at
Alberta Children's Hospital
Specialty: Rehabilitation
Connect Care Department: CGY ACH ACETS
Estimated time to routine appointment: Within 6 months
Alberta Health Services - Calgary Zone
SERVICE DESCRIPTION
Provides assessment and consultation services to children and adults who experience verbal and / or written communication difficulties. Serves clients who are unable to meet their daily communication interaction needs through verbal speech, writing, and/or computer access.Provides three streams of service:
  • clinician-to-clinician consultation
  • assessment and recommendations regarding augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools and strategies
  • assessment and recommendations regarding alternate access
Does not assume a primary therapy team role. ACETS requires active participation from the client's community therapy team (e.g., therapist, family, educator, school team member).

ACETS (Augmentative Communication and Educational Technology Service) is an assessment center to assess for funding eligibility through Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL) Speech Generating Communication Devices (SGCDs) Benefit Area. For details on the SGCD Benefit Area, please refer to the Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL) website.
Provides assessment and consultation services to children and adults who experience verbal and / or written communication difficulties. Serves clients who are unable to meet their daily communication interaction needs through verbal speech, writing, and/or computer access.Provides three streams of service:
  • clinician-to-clinician consultation
  • assessment and recommendations regarding augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools and strategies
  • assessment and recommendations regarding alternate access
Does not assume a primary therapy team role. ACETS requires active participation from the client's community therapy team (e.g., therapist, family, educator, school team member).

ACETS (Augmentative Communication and Educational Technology Service) is an assessment center to assess for funding eligibility through Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL) Speech Generating Communication Devices (SGCDs) Benefit Area. For details on the SGCD Benefit Area, please refer to the Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL) website.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Referral Criteria for all referrals
  • Client and family understands that an SGCD is a computer-based communication device, and are interested in working with technology to augment verbal communication
  • Client has a primary therapist, support person or homecare case manager involved in their healthcare team who can support device use
  • Client is able to use a low-tech augmentative/alternative communication system
  • Client makes choices between preferred & non-preferred 80% of the time 
  • Client has sufficient level of alertness to participate in communication interactions
  • Client can use at least 10 picture symbols to communicate 
  • Client communicates for at least 3 different reasons (e.g. greet, request, comment, protest)
  • Client consistently follows one step directions
Referral Criteria for all referrals
  • Client and family understands that an SGCD is a computer-based communication device, and are interested in working with technology to augment verbal communication
  • Client has a primary therapist, support person or homecare case manager involved in their healthcare team who can support device use
  • Client is able to use a low-tech augmentative/alternative communication system
  • Client makes choices between preferred & non-preferred 80% of the time 
  • Client has sufficient level of alertness to participate in communication interactions
  • Client can use at least 10 picture symbols to communicate 
  • Client communicates for at least 3 different reasons (e.g. greet, request, comment, protest)
  • Client consistently follows one step directions
Referral instructions for primary care, community care, private
providers etc. who do not send referrals via Connect Care.
REFERRAL PROCESS - FOR NON-CONNECT CARE USERS
Complete the referral form and fax or email it to the service using the contact information in this profile.
Community speech-language pathology and occupational therapy service involvement is strongly encouraged.
Complete the referral form and fax or email it to the service using the contact information in this profile.
Community speech-language pathology and occupational therapy service involvement is strongly encouraged.
REFERRAL PROCESS - FOR CONNECT CARE USERS
Send an Internal Referral using the Ambulatory Referral Order to Rehabilitation, type CGY ACH ACETS in the “To Department” section and complete order.
Select Epic- Patient Care- EncounterSelect your patient
    1. Click “create an encounter”
    2. Choose “orders only” from the drop down
    3. Select “+ ADD ORDER”  and type in “ambulatory referral to rehabilitation”
    4. Complete the ACETS referral by completing the following fields.
    By provider: use your provider name 
    To Department specialty:  leave as rehabilitation
    To dept: CGY ACH ACETS
    To provider: leave blank
    Priority: Leave as routine unless you like your patient has urgent needs. 
    Type: Leave as consultation
    Reason: enter assessment of needs  
    Patient current status: select stable unless another choice is appropriate
    Is the referral for a new problem: yes
    Comments: use the smartphrase: .ACETSREFERRAL and complete ALL fields (to add smartphrase: go to smartphrase manager, Smartphrase lookup, type ACETSREFERRAL and accept, +add me).
    TIP: click on the magnifying glass or press F3 to enlarge the comments box.
  1. Accept and sign the order
  2. Sign encounter at the bottom
Send an Internal Referral using the Ambulatory Referral Order to Rehabilitation, type CGY ACH ACETS in the “To Department” section and complete order.
Select Epic- Patient Care- EncounterSelect your patient
    1. Click “create an encounter”
    2. Choose “orders only” from the drop down
    3. Select “+ ADD ORDER”  and type in “ambulatory referral to rehabilitation”
    4. Complete the ACETS referral by completing the following fields.
    By provider: use your provider name 
    To Department specialty:  leave as rehabilitation
    To dept: CGY ACH ACETS
    To provider: leave blank
    Priority: Leave as routine unless you like your patient has urgent needs. 
    Type: Leave as consultation
    Reason: enter assessment of needs  
    Patient current status: select stable unless another choice is appropriate
    Is the referral for a new problem: yes
    Comments: use the smartphrase: .ACETSREFERRAL and complete ALL fields (to add smartphrase: go to smartphrase manager, Smartphrase lookup, type ACETSREFERRAL and accept, +add me).
    TIP: click on the magnifying glass or press F3 to enlarge the comments box.
  1. Accept and sign the order
  2. Sign encounter at the bottom
REFERRAL PROCESS - FOR SELF-REFERRAL
Please call or email the service using the contact information in this profile.
Please call or email the service using the contact information in this profile.
ADDITIONAL SERVICE DETAILS
ACETS Service types
Patient Consult Option
  • Includes clients who do not meet referral criteria for SGCD ACETS intervention
  • SLP Consultation for clients needing low-tech AAC tools and strategies
  • SLP Consultation to determine appropriate AAC intervention
  • OT consultation for clients needing tools and/or strategies to access their device(s). For adult this may also include personal computer access (community OT is required).
  • Can be general information or specific clinical case discussion.
  • Where a case specific consult is requested, the consult must have the client and caregiver present. Prior to referral to client/parent/caregiver must consent to the consult. Recommendations from the ACETS therapist will be documented in the health record and shared with the referring provider.
  • Consultation by phone, email, zoom, teams
  • Consultation to community therapists, family members, or other team members
  • The patient consult option is intended to be collaborative with the goal that the referring therapist with gain insights, knowledge and skills from the collaborative interaction.
  • The ACETS therapist will advise if further consults are required for the case to be completed. In some situations, up to 3 consultative visits may be required.
Assessment for new SGCD Option
Includes clients who have demonstrated, specific communication needs, and communication and functional abilities required to use a communication device with software applications.
Assessment and application for Speech Generating Communication Device (SGCD)
  • Identification of communication goal(s)
  • Assessment of skills and abilities related to use of SGCD
  • Provision of SGCD, mounting and access peripherals for trial
  • Submission of funding applications ( AADL or other)
  • Where applicable assessment or consultation with OT for clients need alternative equipment or strategies to operate and phone or computer
Collaboration and training with the client’s team to support implementation of SGCD

Device repair or replacement
When a communication device stops working correctly or does not charge or hold a charge, the first step is to contact the manufacturer. This information will have been provided with the device when it was delivered and set up.

The manufacturer will attemp to troubleshhot the issue(s). This might mean that the client has to send the device to them. The manufacturers representative will contact the ACETS team to let them know that they need to help with this. This could mean help with shipping or an AADL approval for parts.
 
If the device is too old or too expensive to repair the manufacturers representative will contact ACETS to let them know. This means that a new device is neeed. ACETS will create a referral and start the process for assessment for a new device.
 
There is a possibility that a temporary device could be loaned to the client while the repair/replacement process is happenening. This is not always possible. Let the representative know that this is what is needed.
ACETS Service types
Patient Consult Option
  • Includes clients who do not meet referral criteria for SGCD ACETS intervention
  • SLP Consultation for clients needing low-tech AAC tools and strategies
  • SLP Consultation to determine appropriate AAC intervention
  • OT consultation for clients needing tools and/or strategies to access their device(s). For adult this may also include personal computer access (community OT is required).
  • Can be general information or specific clinical case discussion.
  • Where a case specific consult is requested, the consult must have the client and caregiver present. Prior to referral to client/parent/caregiver must consent to the consult. Recommendations from the ACETS therapist will be documented in the health record and shared with the referring provider.
  • Consultation by phone, email, zoom, teams
  • Consultation to community therapists, family members, or other team members
  • The patient consult option is intended to be collaborative with the goal that the referring therapist with gain insights, knowledge and skills from the collaborative interaction.
  • The ACETS therapist will advise if further consults are required for the case to be completed. In some situations, up to 3 consultative visits may be required.
Assessment for new SGCD Option
Includes clients who have demonstrated, specific communication needs, and communication and functional abilities required to use a communication device with software applications.
Assessment and application for Speech Generating Communication Device (SGCD)
  • Identification of communication goal(s)
  • Assessment of skills and abilities related to use of SGCD
  • Provision of SGCD, mounting and access peripherals for trial
  • Submission of funding applications ( AADL or other)
  • Where applicable assessment or consultation with OT for clients need alternative equipment or strategies to operate and phone or computer
Collaboration and training with the client’s team to support implementation of SGCD

Device repair or replacement
When a communication device stops working correctly or does not charge or hold a charge, the first step is to contact the manufacturer. This information will have been provided with the device when it was delivered and set up.

The manufacturer will attemp to troubleshhot the issue(s). This might mean that the client has to send the device to them. The manufacturers representative will contact the ACETS team to let them know that they need to help with this. This could mean help with shipping or an AADL approval for parts.
 
If the device is too old or too expensive to repair the manufacturers representative will contact ACETS to let them know. This means that a new device is neeed. ACETS will create a referral and start the process for assessment for a new device.
 
There is a possibility that a temporary device could be loaned to the client while the repair/replacement process is happenening. This is not always possible. Let the representative know that this is what is needed.
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
  • Referral receipt to referring source within 5 days.
  • Acceptance via appointment details or wait list status letter to referring source and patient within 14 days.
  • Wait list status update every 90 days.
  • Appointment outcome to referral source within 30 days.
 
PHONE
403-955-7912
FAX
403-476-7756
REFERRAL PHONE
403-955-2920 ACETS Program Facilitator
REFERRAL FAX
1-403-476-7756
REFERRAL FORM
The referral form has changed. Please do not use older versions of the referral form.
We are currently experiencing difficulty linking our referral form and it is currently NOT linked to the ARD page. We apologize for any inconvenience.

If you are not on Connectcare and require a referral form please call the ACETS program facilitator using the contact information in this profile. Please leave your name and email address and the form will be sent out the same or next business day. 

Completed forms should be faxed to 403 476-7756 or emailed to acets@albertahealthservices.ca
The referral form has changed. Please do not use older versions of the referral form.
We are currently experiencing difficulty linking our referral form and it is currently NOT linked to the ARD page. We apologize for any inconvenience.

If you are not on Connectcare and require a referral form please call the ACETS program facilitator using the contact information in this profile. Please leave your name and email address and the form will be sent out the same or next business day. 

Completed forms should be faxed to 403 476-7756 or emailed to acets@albertahealthservices.ca
LINKED SPECIALISTS
CLICK + TO VIEW REFERRAL GUIDELINES
+-
Routine Reason for Referral
Access Targets convey the clinically appropriate timeframe patients should be seen within, by reason for referral and priority level.
Access Target
Required Information/Investigations
Investigation Timing
Additional Details
+-
Communication impairment
3 Months
Past medical history
 
Within 1 month
Planned seating appointments
 
Within 1 month
Medication List (dose, frequency, route)
 
Within 1 month
Educational, vocational and/or home setting descriptions
 
Within 1 month
Current or prior use of augmentative or alternative communication strategies including SGCD trials
 
Within 1 month
referral form
 
Within 1 month
+-
Fine motor impairment
Past medical history
 
Within 1 month
Planned seating appointments
 
Within 1 month
Medication List (dose, frequency, route)
 
Within 1 month
Educational, vocational and/or home setting descriptions
 
Within 1 month
Current or prior use of augmentative or alternative communication strategies including SGCD trials
 
Within 1 month
+-
Uses high technology communication device
Past medical history
 
Within 1 month
Planned seating appointments
 
Within 1 month
Medication List (dose, frequency, route)
 
Within 1 month
Educational, vocational and/or home setting descriptions
 
Within 1 month
Current or prior use of augmentative or alternative communication strategies including SGCD trials
 
Within 1 month
+-
Urgent Reason for Referral
Access Targets convey the clinically appropriate timeframe patients should be seen within, by reason for referral and priority level.
Access Target
Required Information/Investigations
Investigation Timing
Additional Details
+-
Degenerative disorder
< 10 Days
Medication List (dose, frequency, route)
 
Within 1 month
Past medical history
 
Within 1 month
Comprehensive referral
 
Within 10 days
PATIENT APPOINTMENT INFORMATION
Email
Print
 
MISSED APPOINTMENT GUIDELINES
Missed appointments are minimized by requiring a re-referral after two missed appointments. (ACH Outpatient Principle in Practice, 6.8)
Missed appointments are minimized by requiring a re-referral after two missed appointments. (ACH Outpatient Principle in Practice, 6.8)
 
HOURS OF OPERATION
Monday: 8:00 am - 4:15 pm
Tuesday: 8:00 am - 4:15 pm
Wednesday: 8:00 am - 4:15 pm
Thursday: 8:00 am - 4:15 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 4:15 pm
   
 
ADDRESS
Lower Level, Rehabilitation Services
28 Oki Drive NW
Calgary Alberta
T3B 6A8
PATIENT APPOINTMENT INSTRUCTIONS
 
DIRECTIONS
Alberta Children's Hospital is located on the corner of 24 Avenue NW and West Campus Drive NW
Alberta Children's Hospital is located on the corner of 24 Avenue NW and West Campus Drive NW
 
PHONE
403-955-7912
 
PARKING INSTRUCTIONS
Rates apply 24 hours per day, and are in effect for all public parkers, including those with provincially issued placards for persons with disabilities.
Paystations accept Canadian coins, Canadian bills or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express).
Parking Office and Kiosk accept payment by cash, credit card, debit or cheque.
Rates apply 24 hours per day, and are in effect for all public parkers, including those with provincially issued placards for persons with disabilities.
Paystations accept Canadian coins, Canadian bills or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, and American Express).
Parking Office and Kiosk accept payment by cash, credit card, debit or cheque.
 
EMAIL
acets@ahs.ca
VIRTUAL APPOINTMENT INFORMATION
Most initial assessments are performed using Zoom virtual visits. A Zoom link will be sent to the client, family/caregiver and community provder(s) at the time of appointment booking.
Most initial assessments are performed using Zoom virtual visits. A Zoom link will be sent to the client, family/caregiver and community provder(s) at the time of appointment booking.
 
 
WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBILITY
Yes

This facility is wheelchair accessible and has an elevator on site


The primary purpose of the All Locations list is to let the user easily access any location of a healthcare service without going back to the main search screen.

The locations listed have 3 background colors:
  • Green means the healthcare service@location has referral information attached to it.
  • Brown means the healthcare service@location never had referral information attached to it, or it has unpublished referral information.
  • Red means
    • IA changed the healthcare service@location's status to something other than Current
    • It was deleted if it is an ARD healthcare service@location.
Green  and Brown are always at the top of the list. These are the Healthcare Service@Locations with the status of Current.
The Red list at the bottom consists of non-current Healthcare Service@locations that once had Published referral information in the ARD.
If the referral information was never published in ARD the Healthcare Service@location will not show in the Red list.

The secondary purpose of the All Locations list is to allow ARD Administrators to recover (copy) referral information from the non-current Healthcare Service@Locations to ones that are current.

Common Scenario:
A Healthcare Service moves from one location to another. In this case the IA Healthcare Service@Location record will be made defunct (non-current) and a new Healthcare Service@Location record will be created with a current status. In this scenario the captured referral guidelines in ARD can become "orphaned" as they are not attached to any current IA healthcare service.

Categories of non-current or orphaned referral guidelines: INDIVIDUAL and COMMON.
The REFERRAL GUIDELINES section of the profile has the prefix INDIVIDUAL or COMMON to help you choose the method below when transferring referral guidelines from a non-current Healthcare Service@Location to a current healthcare service@location.

Individual referral process
  1. Click on a non-current (Red) Healthcare Service@Location at the bottom of the All Locations list.
  2. The non-current referral info is displayed with the link Copy this Referral Process to another Healthcare Service@Location link on the upper right hand corner. Click on the copy link.
  3. Choose a current location (Green or Brown) from the All Locations list. This will be the Healthcare Service@Location you are pasting the referral info into.
  4. The system will display the Edit Referral Info screen populated with the referral info from the non-current Healthcare Service@Location you viewed in the first step.
  5. Click Save and the referral info is transferred from the non-current Healthcare Service@Location to the current one.
  6. Repeat these steps for each Healthcare Service@Location that needs attention.

Common referral process - 2 sub cases.
Case 1: At least 1 current Healthcare Service@Location with common referral info is with current status for this healthcare service; One or more Healthcare Healthcare Service@Locations where replaced by new one.
  1. Click on any current Healthcare Service@Location whether it has referral info (Green) or not (Brown).
  2. The healthcare service location opens in the Edit Referral Info screen populated with the current common referral info.
  3. Save it. 
  4. All locations will be updated with the common referral information, including all the locations that don't have referral info yet (Brown). The non-current referrals (Red) will also be updated.
Case 2:  All Healthcare Healthcare Service@Locations for a healthcare service are set to a non-current status and replaced by new ones. In this case there is no current additional referral info to copy from, so the only alternative is to pick up the non-current common referral process (Red). Follow the steps described in the section Individual Referral Process above to copy/paste the non-current common referral info to the current healthcare service locations.
Generally we want to replicate current common referral info to new or replaced healthcare service locations. We only resort to copying non-current common referral info if there is no other option.

Remember: Some fields can be location specific with the common referral process:
Parking Instructions, Directions, Parking Map, Wait Time, Referral Phone or Referral Fax.
To update these items you have to edit each Healthcare Service@Location separately.

ADDITONAL NOTES:
  • The info icon after the All Locations drop down will be visible to ARD Administrators.
  • The system doesn't allow you to copy referral information from one non-current Healthcare Service@Location to another.

 

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