Scaling up team-based primary care in BC

— A free public event —

NOTE: This event will be streamed via Facebook Live. If you would like to watch the livestream please go to the event Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/752875691754532/

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. BC's provincial government is currently moving to support a bigger role for CHCs.

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 what this could mean for the delivery of primary health care in BC.

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); President Elect, Oregon Primary Care Association; Board director, Northwest Regional Primary Care Association - 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 event is presented by: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Health Coalition, and Health Sciences Association