Prince Edward County News countylive.ca

At the ceremony, from left, are: Barinder Gill, Breanna Carr, Janice Hall, Cindy Jones, Jackie Dillon and Krystie Rosborough

The Prince Edward Family Health Team has been recognized provincially with a ‘Spotlight Award’ from the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario for the team’s work expanding access to team-based primary care.

The ‘No Resident Left Behind’ program provides access to care for all Prince Edward County residents, but concentrates on those without a primary care provider. The Prince Edward Family Health Team has been working to expand care for a little over one year. The team was honoured Oct. 24 at the Association’s annual conference, in Toronto.

“We are honoured to receive this recognition,” said Dr. Sarah Le Blanc, PEFHT Board President. “Community need for access to primary care has never been greater in our community.

“Primary care has been a part of our health care system that has been underfunded and inadequately resourced for quite some time. Our average age in the County is much higher than the provincial average and as our community ages and demographics change, the dependency on our local health care system increases.”

Le Blanc notes the latest announcement of the appointment of Dr. Jane Philpott as the Chair of the Provincial Primary Care Action Team “is encouraging news and we’re hopeful that we will finally see some of the change we’ve needed for years for patients and providers.”

In February of this year, PEFHT launched the Community Clinic for Unattached Patients, first designed to provide acute episodic care for a specified list of symptoms, then transitioned to provide problem-specific primary care as opposed to a short list of symptoms.

Patients who have accessed care through the Community Clinic are also able to receive care through one of the family health team’s specialized clinical programs such as diabetes education and lung health.

These twice weekly clinics are a team effort, being staffed by nurse practitioners, a family physician, nursing and administrative support and other allied health professionals. The hope is to scale up the clinic to seven days a week, as well as provide after-hours service.

“The success of PEFHT’s unattached programming that includes care for unattached newborns, residents discharged from hospital without a primary care provider and preventative care are a prime example of all that can be accomplished by working together in service to the community,” said Barinder Gill, PEFHT Executive Director.

Gill shares community clinic data showing more than 430 patients who received care
600+ unique patient interactions including follow ups
128+ patients referred to internal specialized PEFHT programs
43+ external specialist referrals
277+ lab requisitions
87+ diagnostic requisitions

“There is an inequity in our local health care system where some residents have access to public primary health care services and some do not,” said Gill. “The reality is, that we should all have access to the primary care we need and when we need it.

“PEFHT recognizes the importance of access to primary care and the role it plays in ensuring that residents have the best possible health throughout their lives. I am proud of the creative and innovative work that the team has done with the limited resourcing we have over the past year, but further resourcing is required to make the biggest impact.”