‘A GP for Me’

BCMA president Dr. Shelley Ross joined Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid in launching a new province wide program, A GP for Me. This program is based on a successful pilot program that matched patients with doctors. As well, a separate and complementary program is being created to support hospitalized patients in receiving care from family physicians.

The innovative approach to improving primary care services and finding family physicians for patients was piloted in the communities of Cowichan Valley, Prince George and White Rock-South Surrey. The approach has already matched more than 9,000 patients – who did not previously have GPs – with family doctors.

In the pilot communities, through the collaborative local efforts, new primary care clinics were opened for patients, more doctors were recruited, and more multi-disciplinary teams were developed, which included nurse practitioners and mental health workers.

The new programs being launched throughout the province are initiatives of the General Practice Services Committee, which is a partnership between the Ministry and the BCMA.

Read: Government and doctors partner to improve primary care at BC Government Online NEWSROOM

Seniors’ Advocate

Do you think this ‘new’ seniors’ advocate will be helpful, or do you think it is just window dressing. www.facebook.com/notes/news-british-columbia/seniors-advocate-position-weakened-without-independence/536520313046024

Also: www.thinkhealthbc.ca/topics/223

We will let our readers decide for themselves, but I am curious to hear if Gloria Levi has anything to say about this on Monday February 25.

Princeton Community Healthcare Consultation & Action Plan

These are the results of the Princeton and Area Healtcare Community Consultation, which took place on January 29, 2012.

Prepared by: Barbara Pesut PhD, RN

Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair, Health, Ethics and Diversity School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus

Background
Rural healthcare delivery is complex. Each community, shaped by a unique history, geographic location and social context, has strengths and needs that collectively make up its capacity for care – capacities that shift in relation to population and resources. When healthcare needs outweigh capacities, communities reach critical points requiring focused attention. Such has been the case in the community of Princeton, British Columbia. As Interior Health and strategic partners seek to solve the complex healthcare issues, various advocacy groups have arisen in the community to better understand and support the necessary change. The Save our Hospital Coalition has been one such advocacy group. As part of the work of this Coalition, members sought to better understand the perceptions of the community regarding healthcare delivery. A community based consultation was organized to solicit the perspectives and experiences of a group of Princeton citizens. This was not a fact finding mission in that no attempt was made to verify participant’s claims. Rather the purpose of the consultation was to glean the ‘story’ from the community’s perspective, recognizing that this story is an insight into the collective wisdom that forms an essential part of the solution to such a complex
challenge.

The report covers 19 pages. We have posted the Summary and Conclusion below, but you can view or download the rest of the report here.

Summary and Conclusion

The purpose of this consultation was to gather collective community wisdom and perceptions about the strengths and challenges of healthcare delivery in Princeton. The consultation revealed a number of strengths that support capacity for innovation and change. Five priority challenges were identified: physicians and 24/7 emergency room coverage; escalating downsizing of services; emergency medical services; the impacts of commuting for care; and conflicts in responsibilities and accountabilities for healthcare. Participants shared a number of potential innovations to address these
challenges.

Conversations that fostered the sharing of information and the correction of misinformation were an important aspect of this consultation. Participants brought a variety of perspectives, and information was shared that was not known by other participants. Many were not aware of the work that was being done on their behalf by healthcare leaders. This consultation is one contribution to a much larger strategy to solve the identified issues. The willingness of citizens to participate, and the conversations that occurred, revealed the degree of engagement of the community. Engagement at this level is a powerful resource for change, which bodes well for the future of healthcare delivery in Princeton.

SOHC Action Plan

Based on the concerns and issues identified in the Community Consultation Summary, SOHC developed an Action Plan to act as a roadmap for the development of an improved health care model for Princeton. To view the Action Plan, click on the following link:

pdf Action Plan – Community Consultation

Survey by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

SOHC received the following information from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. This will give Princeton and Area residents a say in what they want their health care tax dollars to be spent on. Deadline is February 18.

This year, as part of CCPA’s Alternative Federal Budget project, we’re asking how innovative health care funds should be distributed in your community. We’ve created a participatory health innovation fund so that you can show us what kind of health infrastructure would reflect and serve the priorities of your community.

Visit http://www.policyalternatives.ca/AFB_Community_Health_Innovation.htm and submit your answer by Monday, February 18th. The results of this consultation will be included in the 2013 Alternative Federal Budget.

Future Physicians call upon Government of Canada to Improve Access to Health Human Resources

           From the Canadian Federation of Medical Students 

OTTAWA, Feb. 4, 2013 – The Canadian Federation of Medical Students (CFMS) is bringing tomorrow’s physicians to Parliament Hill for its annual Lobby Day.

Medical students from Vancouver to St. John’s will meet with Members of Parliament and Senators to discuss strategies to ensure that all Canadians have access to health care wherever they live. The CFMS believes that all Canadians – regardless of location – deserve adequate, quality care. According to 2004 Health Canada data, the doctor-to-population ratio in rural Canada will grow to over 1:1,800 by the turn of the next decade. This is compared to a ratio of about 1:500 for Canada as a whole. Moreover, the federal government does not currently have a system to predict how the number and type of physicians that will be required in the future to serve the diverse needs of Canadians. As such, provinces and regions continue to struggle with the appropriate distribution of physician location and specialty, especially in rural and remote areas.

The CFMS applauds the federal government for announcing that it will forgive a portion of Canada Student Loans for new family physicians working in rural and remote communities. However, ……….

For the full article, please go to:

http://www.cfms.org/attachments/article/113/CFMS%20Press%20Release%20-%20Lobby%20Day%202013%20EN.pdf

From an article by Gloria Levi on Integrated Care for Seniors

There is a rapidly changing demography of Canadians over the age of 65. In 1971, the Canadian seniors were 7.1% of the population. In 2006, they were 13.1% of the population. It is estimated that by the year 2031, they will be 23.4% of the population. Between the years 1996 and 2006, the number of people over the age of 100 has increased 50%. In 2011, the first baby boomers retired.

According to the report of the Special Senate Committee on Aging 2006, the rapid rise in health care costs are NOT mainly due to this dramatic population increase but can be attributed mainly due to rise in medications, technical advances, improved surgical techniques, and increased physician and patient requests for diagnostic testing.

There is a need for an integrated system delivering a seamless continuum of care so that people will be able to age in the place of their choice – best done on a provincial level, such as a health authority.

To read the full article, please go to:

http://www.bcrta.ca/news-items/integrated%20care.pdf

Gloria Levi will visit Princeton on February 25. For a presention on Senior’s Care and what programs are available in Princeton, join us at Riverside, February 25 @ 7:00 pm.

 

 

Gloria Levi to Speak in Princeton Feb. 25

On Monday, February 25th, the public is invited to attend a discussion on community seniors care to be held at Riverside Community Centre beginning at 7:00 pm. The presentation will be given by Gloria Levi, coordinator of Integrated Care Advocacy (ICA), a group of volunteers dedicated to comprehensive medical and non-medical home health care and support services for seniors in British Columbia. The title of her talk is A Vision of Community Based Health Care: Getting a Better Bang for Your Health Care Buck.

Gloria Levi

Gloria Levi resides in Vancouver and is much in demand as an advocate for senior care in our province. On October 3, 2012 she coordinated the Integrated Models for Delivering Care to Frail Seniors workshop held in Vancouver and she was a guest speaker at the BC Health Coalition’s Public Forum on Seniors Care, held in Vancouver on December 10. More recently, Levi spoke at a Seniors’ Town Hall Meeting in Comox on February 1st and on February 13, she will be featured at the monthly meeting of the Greater Victoria Seniors, Branch #191 of the BC Old Age Pensioners Organization. We are very fortunate to have Gloria coming to Princeton to share her knowledge in support of seniors’ care in our community. Hope to see you on the 25th.

I imagine Gloria Levi will have something to say about this on February 25, when she comes to Princeton to talk about alternatives to improve Senior’s Care.

British Columbians deserve a modern and procedurally fair adult guardianship process

Provincial Ombudsperson Kim Carter released today her latest report No Longer Your Decision: British Columbia’s Process for Appointing the Public Guardian and Trustee to Manage the Financial Affairs of Incapable Adults. According to the report, vulnerable adults can lose the right to make financial and legal decisions for themselves if a health authority issues a certificate of incapability under a law that is outdated and through a process that does not provide adequate procedural protection.

The report, executive summary, news release and fact sheet can be found at www.bcombudsperson.ca