Scaling up team-based primary care in BC
Community health centres (CHCs) have been an effective model for delivering team-based, community-governed primary health care in Canada and the US for decades. Last year BC's provincial government announced that CHCs will play a key role in BC's strategy for primary health care reform in the province.
For many organizations and communities across the province, this is exciting news. CHCs have the capacity to fundamentally transform the ways that we organize and deliver primary health care, and CHCs provide the kind of care that so many in BC want: care that is holistic and responsive to our needs as communities as well as individuals.
The province’s commitment to CHCs is a valuable opportunity for the public to shape primary health care at the community level and raises some important questions:
What can we learn from other jurisdictions where community health centres are integrated into the broader primary care system? Why are CHCs particularly effective in addressing the unmet needs of under-serviced and vulnerable populations (in particular Indigenous, rural, low income and newcomer communities)? How can we work together to ensure they play a similar role in BC?
Join us for an evening of discussion and sharing about the experiences of community health centres in Canada and abroad and how we can work together to make sure CHCs play a transformative role in BC.
Date: Friday, February 1, 2019
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Alice MacKay Room, Vancouver Public Library – Central Branch (350 West Georgia St, Vancouver, BC — view map)
Register: ccpabc.ca/chc_public_talk
Speakers:
- Lisa Clatney, Executive Director, Saskatoon Community Clinic (Saskatoon, Canada) — Hear from a leader of the largest primary care clinic in Saskatoon. Saskatoon Community Health Centre has been providing services since the early 1960’s and played a key role in the fight to establish Medicare in Saskatchewan.
- Gil Muñoz, Chief Executive Officer, Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center (Hillsboro, Oregon) — Learn about why Community Health Centres are recognized leaders in Oregon’s efforts to reform primary care. CHCs in Oregon and across the US provide care to some of the highest needs patient populations, and despite this their per patient per day costs are lower than other primary care delivery models.
- Simone Thibault, Executive Director, Centretown Community Health Centre (Ottawa, Canada) — Ontario’s Community Health Centres preform better than other primary health care delivery models in supporting people with chronic conditions and those with severe mental illness, providing community outreach services, and reducing the use of emergency services despite the fact that they serve higher needs patient populations. Hear from Centretown’s Executive Director about their innovative work to support some of the most vulnerable communities in the heart of Ottawa.
This is a free, public event, but space is limited. To reserve your spot, please register at: ccpabc.ca/chc_public_talk
This talk is sponsored by the BC Health Coalition, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Health Sciences Association.
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