Bigger Font 
Smaller Font 
Community Care | 34 Cambridge St. S., 2nd floor |
Health Centre | Lindsay Ontario K9V 3B8 |
City of Kawartha Lakes | Phone: 705-324-7323 |
City of Kawartha Lakes has inched closer to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's recommended number more...
The Community Health Centre (CHC) for the City of Kawartha Lakes continues to move forward towards becoming a reality. more...
Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe & Mail, recently stated that Community Health Centres’ approach to care may be the ideal model of health care for the future of this nation. Worthy of implementing in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Community Care Health & Support Services feels.
CHCs in Ontario use an “interdisciplinary approach” to providing primary care. The core of the success that CHCs are experiencing all across the province lies in that approach as well as a collaborative practice model, says Bill Davidson of the Association of Ontario Health Centres.
What is meant by “interdisciplinary care?” It is client-focused - the needs of the individuals being served at health centres are wrapped around them on a case-by-case basis, and it is a model that brings together a range of health providers, promotion, and human resource staff to work as a team. “They will work collectively with the community in a mutual relationship that supports and improves health, addresses illness and chronic disease and health conditions, and responds to the unique needs of the community,” says Davidson, who is the Executive Director of Langs Farm CHC in Cambridge.
In other words, interdisciplinary care means connecting individuals to the health services they need. Community-centred primary health care, such as what will soon be offered at the City of Kawartha Lakes CHC, may be the wave of the future for many. It’s certainly a very attractive model to many physicians who enjoy practising at a CHC instead of operating a private practice.
Dr. Kevin Mandell, family physician with the Rexdale CHC, is very positive about the model. Working in a salaried position, rather than a fee-for-service situation allows doctors much more time to spend with their patients, to really provide the services that they need, he says.
Other CHC physicians concur, and add that without the restrictions of having to worry about salary, they can “do what I need to do, when I think I need to do it, and not have to think about all the other things” involved with a private practice, says Dr. Itamer Tameri of Stonegate CHC, Etobicoke.
“It also lets me have a lot more flexibility with respect to my practice - whether I want to do procedures in the office that can take a lot of time (and frequently fee-for-service physicians don’t get compensated well for that), I can now do them if I think it’s necessary instead of having to send that person off to see somebody else to get that done, Dr. Tameri adds.
With health professionals at the CHC maximizing their scope of practice and working collaboratively and communicating regularly about general challenges or specific cases, the CHC team will function effectively and efficiently.
Such communication approaches will hopefully lead to strong health outcomes for many health issues such as chronic disease management - a particular challenge for the City of Kawartha Lakes due to its very high seniors population and other factors contributing to significant chronic disease rates. The CHC model is such that it will address other determinants of health, such as income, housing, employment and environmental factors.
So, are Community Health Centres still a best-kept secret? For the residents of the City of Kawartha Lakes, hopefully not for very much longer!
With excerpts provided by “Family Medicine at Its Best,” Association of Ontario Health Centres.