Community Health Centres across the country gathered in Ottawa for a national conference Sept. 16-18 hosted by the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres.
This national association is the voice for “people-centered,” primary healthcare in Canada, including the local Centretown and Somerset West community health centres. The CACHC aims to raise the Canadian public’s concerns to the federal level and educate the public on the services available to them.
“There is significant room for improvement and Community Health Centres are an important part of this improvement at the level of frontline care,” says CACHC executive director Scott Wolfe.
CHC representatives attending the conference shared their knowledge and concerns on issues such as prescription medication, a national Pharmacare program, poverty and access to affordable housing.
“Canadians want more than five-minute, one-issue-per-visit care appointments. They want access to care that meets their needs and they know that it takes a team,” says Wolfe. “Community Health Centres are the key to meeting Canadians’ demand for more accessible, timely and responsive local health services.”
With a federal election coming up, the conference offered a timely opportunity to raise important policy questions.
“We’ve got to look at those social determinants of health,” says Jack McCarthy, executive director at Somerset West CHC on Eccles Street in Chinatown. “We’re agents of care, but we’re also agents of change. We want to change health policy in this country and change the way that it provides better service to Canadians right across the board.”
CACHC invited representatives of all federal parties to attend the formal discussion panel to discuss healthcare on a global and national level.
This year’s conference focused on “the twin pillars that distinguish Community Health Centres: Providing high-quality, appropriate healthcare as well as sparking positive social change through health and community development programs that build local capacity for health and economic stability,” says Wolfe.
Employees and board members of CHCs from across the country were offered workshops in their specific areas of expertise.
“It’s really good because we all wear different lenses, so (the workshops) will be helpful,” says Simone Thibault, executive director of Centretown Community Health Centre on Cooper Street and board member of the national association.
“They are responsible for bringing back their learning to the centre, so we can all share what they learned from the conference and how it can push in certain areas, or to change things if they’ve learned something that’s happening with another community health centre,” Thibault says.
Officials from other centres across the globe such as Australia, France and the U.S. were expected to attend as well.
Thibault said research from the U.S. has shown that community-based healthcare models have not only proven beneficial to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, but are also cost-effective.
“The goal at large is all about building healthy, vibrant communities,” McCarthy says. “We don’t cherry pick our clients. We pay particular attention to those people who have barriers to accessing healthcare, whether its language, income, whatever.”
This conference was described as a celebration of sharing successful ideas and a call for the public to be a part of the discourse and to raise awareness.
“We have an opportunity to change the channel. The science and the research is there, so it’s just a matter of implementation at this point,” says Thibault. “They’re the ones who get to talk to their politicians who go to their door, so I’m hoping we can raise the issues so they can speak to it as well.”