Flack announces 1,000 in local healthcare funding

Flack announces $961,000 in local healthcare funding

The Ontario government’s recent $110 million provincial healthcare investment – including $961,000 for Elgin County and St. Thomas – is forecast to connect up to 328,000 people across the province with primary care teams.

“This investment by the Province in the Thames Valley Family Health Team (TVFHT) … will significantly grow our primary care capacity in Elgin County and St. Thomas,” said Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack, associate minister of housing. “This is great news for our region and will serve nearly 1,200 residents in our community.

“Hospitals get a lot of attention, as they should, acute care, but primary care and public health care are a necessary part of the healthcare system,” added MPP Flack at a media conference held March 1 at the TVFHT office on Talbot Street, in St. Thomas.

MPP Flack shared the credit for the funding injection with the many lobbyists who’ve helped him define the community’s healthcare needs.

“It’s important for politicians and government to act, but it’s just as important for politicians and government to listen,” said MPP Flack. “We listened and we’ve now acted.

“The economy is important, but healthcare is as important,” he said. “It’s a pretty nice bump to what (lobby groups) have been advocating for.”

While Ontario currently leads the country with 90 percent of people connected to health care providers, according to MPP Flack, about 1.3 million people in the province are still not linked to primary care services.

To address that shortfall, he said the government is also committed to investing another $90 million to add over 400 new primary care providers on 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams. Ministry of Health modelling forecasts these initiatives will help connect up to 98 per cent of people in Ontario to primary care in the next several years.

“This is a substantial investment in primary care in Elgin County,” said TVFHT Executive Director Mike McMahon. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an investment like this.”

TVFHT is one of the largest family health teams in Ontario, with more than 120 physicians at 18 sites across London-Middlesex, Oxford and Elgin counties, providing team-based primary health care to over 162,000 patients.

Primary care teams connect people to doctors, nurse practitioners, registered and practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and dieticians, among a wide range of health professionals.

Access to primary care, according to MPP Flack, helps people stay healthier, longer, with faster diagnosis and treatment and more consistent day-to-day care that relieves pressures on emergency departments and walk-in clinics.

“The funding we are receiving today,” added Mr. McMahon, “is a testament to the dedication of our teams, our stakeholders, and to community partners, all who help make this possible.

“This expansion is really about people,” he said. “It’s about the people that will provide the services by adding … capacity to provide patient-centered, team-based primary care to vulnerable persons, and those without healthcare providers. (Also benefiting is) … our ability to collaborate with emergency departments in hospitals to enhance access to primary care.”

Mr. McMahon said the funding will increase Elgin County residents’ access to healthcare services “more timed to when they need it, almost like walk-in programming.” It will also better serve “those that are in need of attachment (and) people whose health is at a greater risk.” These folks will now be “attached and rostered” at local primary care homes.

“Everybody needs a primary care home,” added Mr. McMahon. “With the support we’ve received here today we’re well positioned to make a lasting impact on health and wellbeing in this part of Ontario.

Dr. Kellie Scott also attended the media conference, noting that over 11,000 people in Elgin County do not have family doctors.

“Supporting people who are most at risk and vulnerable and don’t have ready access to a primary care provider is going to be one of the most impactful outcomes of this collaborative effort,” said Deanna Huggett, Executive Director, Eglin Ontario Health Team.

“This is a community investment,” added Ms. Huggett. “There’s one organizational name on the funding cheque, but really it is a community investment and we’re all committed to making sure that we do work together, come out of our silos and work well together as a community.”

Joe Konecny, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Aylmer Express

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