What is EEPA?

The Edmonton Emergency Physician Association (EEPA) is an organization comprised of emergency physicians from Edmonton zone hospitals including University of Alberta, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Misericordia Hospital, Grey Nuns and Sturgeon Community Hospital. It was started in the 1980’s by a group of Emergency physicians who felt it was important to have a voice in shaping the future of Emergency Medicine in Edmonton as a specialty. EEPA helped to bring to realization a residency training program in Edmonton, initially funding a program director, Dr. Terry Sosnowski, until the PGME came on board and recognized the importance of grooming well-trained emergency physicians.

Since that time EEPA continues to support medical education and teaching. EEPA helps to pay for some of the costs of the annual DEM teacher appreciation event and the DEM summer BBQ where emergency physicians from across the city have the opportunity to meet. In 2015 we hosted our first family friendly winter social at the Alfred H. Savage Centre and we plan to make it an annual event.

EEPA also made a splash in the media and politics when Dr. Felix Soibelman, EEPA president at the time, shined a light on ED wait times and the dangers it posed to patients and their health.

We continue to hold to our roots by financial supporting the residency program and educational needs and helping to recruit the best and brightest medical students into our residency programs (Royal College and FM-EM). At the resident retreat, EEPA sponsors a speaker for the educational component of this two-day event and we help with monetary funding of journal club. More recently, EEPA members have organized a conference for all members of the emergency community (physician, resident, nurses and other allied health, and paramedics) as a forum to learn about various emergency medicine topics. Finally, a new and upcoming need is for research in the community and so EEPA is happy to announce its first student summer internship for a city wide research project that will benefit every department in the city.