Oceanside PCN Update

Health Connect Registry: The latest Ministry of Health attachment data reports that approximately 9,200 patients are waiting for a primary care provider.  The latest Oceanside total population is approximately 53,000 (Census 2021).  This equates to approximately 17.35% of our population waiting for a primary care provider.  1,297 patients have attached to a local provider since the HCR roll-out.

Team-based care: We have four RNs and one pharmacist working across six practices to support PCN providers with increased patient attachment and patient access.  On behalf of the PCN, Island Health has posted two full-time social worker positions to join this initiative.  In the coming weeks, plans for social worker clinic implementation will be rolled out to those clinics who expressed interest in this resource. 

Rural patient medical home: As of last week, the clinic floorplan has been finalized.  The equipment list is almost complete.  Kinetic Construction has won the renovation bid.  Next up will be the clinic operating model planning and finalizing.  The clinic is expected to open in October 2023.  Please reach out to Kristie if you would like to see the final floorplan.

Priority Response Team (PRT): The PRT GP and PRT OT resigned at the end of December 2022.  PCN leadership has recognized this opportunity to reposition the PRT to reach Service Plan deliverables and better serve the local community of primary care providers.  Over the next month or two, an updated PRT plan will be presented to the Steering Committee for discussion, review, and approval. 

Flowerstone Family Health Clinic: Patient attachment continues.  Recruitment of a contract physician and a fee-for-service physician is ongoing.

Indigenous Health Team: A Sni’wut (Helper) role has been mobilized for Qualicum First Nation and Snaw’naw’as First Nation effective November 2022.  Next up is the hiring / implementation of a Wellness Advocate for the two First Nations.  Also upcoming is identifying needed resources for the local Mid-Island Métis Nation and requesting appropriate support from the Ministry of Health.

Evaluation: A patient survey will be distributed to PCN clinics over the next few weeks.  The next phase of evaluation will likely be individual PCN provider interviews.

Should you have any feedback, questions, or curiosity about becoming a PCN provider, please reach out to Kristie Lamirande, PCN Manager, at 250-203-7545 or PCNmanager@cidivison.ca

First Nation Engagement and Shared Care Update

Maternity Care, Oceanside

Dr. Kelly Hadfield is taking any referrals for perinatal care for Oceanside. More details to come but if you have any pregnant women in your panel in Oceanside, please consider referring to Dr. Hadfield, as she is local.

Shared Care Port Alberni

Shared Care project has begun in Port Alberni bringing together Specialists and GPs. This project will focus on offering support to remote First Nations surrounding Port Alberni and the West Coast.

For more information and if you are interested in participating, please get a hold of Tina Biello at tbiello@cidivision.ca

Referrals for Murray Coughtrey, RN

Oceanside RN Murray Coughtrey has opened a space on Jensen St. for any referrals to come in for shockwave therapy for musculoskeletal conditions. Please contact Murray at primarycarens@gmail.com

PLEASE JOIN US in a conversation about Community Virtual Care and how it can support your practice

Date: MARCH 8th 5:30 – 6:30 PM

Location: ZOOM - details to be sent to attendees closer to the event

WITH Presenter:
Emma Payton
Clinical Engagement & Quality Lead
Seniors Health & Community Virtual Care

Sessionals will be paid to CIDFP members for attending

Community Virtual Care (formerly known as Home Health Monitoring) is a free, innovative Island Health program that uses remote patient monitoring, virtual visits and the telephone to support patients from the comfort of their home. A Registered Nurse monitors patient symptoms and, with coaching, the patient will improve their ability to manage their health in the comfort of their home.

RSVP to jskuse@cidivision.ca

Longitudinal Family Physician Payment Model

Please click here to view the BC Family Doctors article.

Compassionate Leadership Training

Please see the information below. If you have an interest in forming a cohort for this excellent training opportunity, please let me know as soon as possible.

In collaboration with RCCbc, workshops are being organized with self-selected cohorts for Compassionate Leadership, a partnership with Shawn and Heather Atleo that blends Indigenous and Western pedagogy in a leadership program designed to increase compassion and improve cultural safety and humility in both clinical and leadership practice.

There is funding from JCCs to deliver up to 25 cohorts by November 2023. As the focus is mostly on rural, groups from rural areas will be prioritized.

The work is relationship-based and training agendas are co-created so there is intent to engage directly right from the start to understand the cohort’s needs and how this training can serve work, partnerships, and the networks in the area.

There are lots of different shapes a cohort can take; it really depends on the need and the current state in the community/communities.

Please know that there is NO COST to participate in the program. JCC funding covers all sessional costs as well as travel for in-person components, and there is no registration fee. People who have done the training are talking about its transformative power, and there is a lot of interest in this training.

For further information please reach out to a Division staff member or contact me directly at eclark@cidivision.ca or 250-703-6159.

Rural Subsidy Agreement Data and Detail

The Division continues to have communications with JSC regarding the changes in the rural subsidy for both Oceanside and Port Alberni. Here is the information supplied to us from Docs of BC. The Division is following up with Dr. Bigelow to see if there is something further that can be done to clarify this situation.

Here is the information supplied to us from Doctors of BC.

New Toxicology Conference

The BC Drug and Poison Centre’s medical toxicologists will discuss recent changes in the management of drug overdose. Highlights include presentation of difficult management cases and discussions of controversial management areas. Toxicologists will demonstrate why the management of each case is difficult and emphasize key management strategies while focusing on pearls and pitfalls in clinical management. 

What’s New in Toxicology? What Every Acute Care Practitioner Needs to Know

Date and Venue: Apr. 1 (Sat) | 8 a.m. – 4:10 p.m. | In person only | Paetzold HEC Multipurpose Room, Vancouver General Hospital

Audience: family physicians, emergency physicians, internists, hospitalists, pediatricians, residents and students.

Overview: The BC Drug and Poison Centre’s medical toxicologists will discuss recent changes in the management of drug overdose. Highlights include presentation of difficult management cases and discussions of controversial management areas. Toxicologists will demonstrate why the management of each case is difficult and emphasize key management strategies while focusing on pearls and pitfalls in clinical management. 

Up to 7.0 Mainpro+/MOC Section 1 credits

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER 

Speaker Highlights

• James Chomin, MD, FRCPC | Clinical Instructor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
• Christopher DeWitt, MD, RCPSC | Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UBC 
• Jesse Goodwin, MD, FRCPC | Clinical Instructor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UBC  
• Daniel Ovakim, MD, FRCPC | Critical Care Physician, Victoria, BC; Toxicologist, BC Drug and Poison Information Centre
• Roy Purssell BSc, MD, FRCPC, ABEM, FACMT | Medical Lead, Drug and Poison Information Centre, BC Centre for Disease Control; Interim Co-Head and Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UBC
• Adrianna Rowe, MD, FRCPC | Clinical Instructor, Department of Emergency Medicine, UBC                                                          

UBC CPD Faculty of Medicine
The University of British Columbia
Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Traditional Territory
City Square, 200 East Tower
555 W 12th Ave
Vancouver BC V5Z 3X7
CPD.info@ubc.ca | ubccpd.ca

Join the next “Providers Thriving Together” Wellness Conversation Series

Come participate in the March edition of our conversation series!

Connect and experience peer support and camaraderie with other rural healthcare practitioners in the service of activating our collective resilience.

Healthcare is crashing! Relaxing into System Change Using the Two-Loop Model  
The Two-Loop Model is inspired by looking at the growth and death cycle of living systems, and its powerful insights can be applied to how we address the complexity of our rapidly changing healthcare system. If you're interested in learning more about the Two-Loop Model and its application to healthcare, be sure to join the session.

Date: March 6, 2023 (via Zoom) 7–8:30 pm PT
Presenters: Drs. Rahul Gupta and Bob Woollard
Facilitator: Dr. Blair Stanley
Register for entire series: Register for the Providers Thriving Together Series

Learn more about the Thriving Project

FASD respite funding will help families in need of relief

Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS) is working with the Vancouver Foundation and the Ministry of Children and Family Development to distribute funds to families of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The purpose of these grants is to support families with children experiencing the effects of FASD, to provide respite or relief needs in a wide variety of forms – including time away (funding for care), special events, groceries, physical and/or mental wellness supports, etc.

Grants will total $3080.00 per year for two years to selected families. 402 two-year grants are available in BC, divided between Vancouver + lower mainland and the rest of the province.

The application process will be low-barrier (simple, confidential forms, no supplemental medical documents, formal diagnosis not required). CSFS will gather/receive grant applications
from across BC, including all regions OUTSIDE the lower mainland. Successful applicants will be selected by way of a randomized selection process.

For more information (and the site where the forms will be live on February 9th), please click the following link: https://www.csfs.org/
 

Criteria:

• Funding is per family, not per child
• For ages 0-19 (under 19)
• Must live in BC (for funding from CSFS, must live outside the lower mainland)

Timeline

• Feb. 9 – 8:30AM Applications open & accepted two ways: online and over the phone
• Mar. 2 – 4:30PM Applications close
• Mar. 2 to Mar. 9 – Randomized selection occur

(Media only) Contact Person: CSFS Communications:
phone: 778-349-1676
email: communications@csfs.org

Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS)
www.csfs.org

BC Throne Speech

BC Throne Speech
Dear Premier Eby,

The BC Rural Health Network and the Centre for Rural Research at UBC were delighted to have been invited to the Throne Speech on February 6th, where we had the opportunity to exchange information with the members of your Rural Caucus, including your newly appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health, Jennifer Rice and the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development, Roly Russell.

We are grateful for the additional focus on healthcare and housing in the Throne Speech, as well as the recognition of the challenges faced by our healthcare system due to the pandemic, record respiratory and flu season, toxic drug crisis, aging population, and rapid growth in communities that requires additional resources. However, we were disappointed that there was no specific mention of the unique challenges and inequities faced by rural communities in accessing healthcare.

We are appreciative of the appointment of Jennifer Rice to the role of Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health and Roly Russell's continued efforts in Rural Development. We have found our interactions with members of the Rural Caucus this week to be very positive. We have also met with other members of your rural caucus who were not available for this meeting, including Ministers Conroy and Cullen. We found these meeting to be positive and a good indication that rural voices are being heard.
To optimize health outcomes through best policy and decision-making processes, our charity is eager to improve the collaboration between rural communities and policy makers, but we need resources and support to do so.

As an apolitical, non-partisan group, we believe that health is a non-political area that should be focused on solutions. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of investment in community outreach and input into the public health system, which has led to a disconnect between rural residents and policy makers. We hope that Jennifer Rice's focus on Rural Health will finally create the much-needed connection with rural communities and bring rural solutions to the forefront.

Rural communities face unique challenges that cannot be addressed through the same solutions applied to urban settings. We need system changes that are created through a rural lens and include the lived and living experiences of community members (residents, health care providers and community leaders). While the important investment has been made in including rural physicians, patients, Indigenous peoples, and municipality representatives in health planning, no investment has been made to represent rural communities themselves.

Investing in authentic rural community engagement will result in improved health outcomes and restore trust in the public health system. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the divide between rural residents and the government, and without engagement at the grassroots level, this divide will continue to grow. We urge the government to prioritize community engagement and investment in rural solutions, and we stand ready to assist in any way we can.

With respect, we also remind the Premier of the Canada Health Act, which states that every province must provide insured services that do not impede or preclude reasonable access to those services for insured persons. This includes availability, accessibility, accommodation, medical liability protection, and comprehensiveness. We hope that Jennifer Rice will champion this cause and work towards ensuring equitable access to healthcare for all rural residents.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours in health and wellness,

Paul Adams
Executive Director
BC Rural Health Network

The BCRHN is the healthcare voice of the rural residents of British Columbia and seeks better health outcomes for all people, through solutions-based approaches with governments, and information provision to residents.

The BCRHN is grateful to live, work, and be in relation with people from across many traditional and unceded territories, covering all regions of British Columbia. We are honoured to live on this land and are committed to reconciliation, decolonization, and building relationships in our communities.

cc: Minister Conroy, Minister Dix, Minister Cullen, Minister Whiteside, Minister Osborne, MLA Russell, MLA Anderson, MLA Babchuk, MLA Rice, MLA Routley, MLA Sandhu, MLA Simons, MLA Bond, MLA Furstenau, Peggy Skelton, Colin Moss, Bob Storey, Jude Kornelsen.

Rx for Health

A great way to get patients started with physical activity and social connection. Ideal for the whole family, the Rx for health offers $40 off the registration of an RDN Recreation Activity or Active Pass..

Please click here for the RX for Health Package.

Please click here for a poster for your office.

Therapeutics Initiative

Please visit our website (click here) 

Therapeutics Letter (click here)

This is a bimonthly publication targeting identified problematic therapeutic issues in a brief, simple and practical manner. The process leading up to publication involves a rigorous, systematic literature review by different working groups of the Therapeutics Initiative, the creation of a draft which is circulated for comment among a sizeable group of over 100 local, national and international specialists with expertise in the particular therapeutic area and the commission of original artwork/illustration. The message is developed collaboratively by different working groups of the Therapeutics Initiative. The current Editor in Chief is Dr. Tom Perry, Chair of the Education Working Group of the Therapeutics Initiative.

Self-Management BC

Please note that workshops are scheduled on an ongoing basis throughout the year. For more information, please click here. 

In addition to our 6-week Self-Management Workshops, we offer the following:

• Self-Management Health Coach Program: this is a 1 to 1 telephone support program for individuals needing the extra support to achieve health goals. Each individual is paired with a coach and receives a weekly, 30-minute phone call for 3 to 6 months. Coaches are volunteers who may be living with chronic health conditions, and are passionate to help others to achieve wellness. For more information, please click here.  

If you have any questions regarding our programs, please email us at: selfmgmt@uvic.ca

Oceanside Hospice Society

The Oceanside Hospice Society serves individuals and families experiencing end-of-life, care-giving and bereavement in the area stretching from Deep Bay to Nanoose, and west to Errington and Whiskey Creek

We strive to provide links in the continuum of care by supporting care giving at home, in hospital or the palliative care unit at Trillium and at community care facilities.

Please contact us at 250.752.6227 or visit www.oceansidehospice.com for further information.

Divisions Dispatch

The latest news from the provincial team and complementary organizations.
https://divisionsbc.ca/provincial/news-events/divisions-dispatch

Divisions in the News

See what is going on in other divisions around BC:
https://www.divisionsbc.ca/provincial/news-and-events/in-the-news