Hello and Happy Spring

Nurse Practitioner Clinic

It’s becoming clear we’re not alone in thinking that giving nurse practitioners (NPs) increased scope to provide primary care is a good idea. The Alberta government just announced a new funding arrangement to permit NPs to set up independent practices or join existing ones. They will be paid salaries based on projected patient rosters of 900 or more.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, there appears to be less progress being made. Recent announcements by the provincial government did not include any measures to provide seniors in Ottawa with primary care. In addition, Premier Ford suggested that the Canada Health Act prohibits NPs from setting up practices and billing OHIP. This despite the existence of several clinics in the province that employ salaried NPs. 

SHIH seeks to convince Ontario Health East and Minister Sylvia Jones that:

Seniors are especially vulnerable without primary care. Over the next ten years, about half of the baby boom generation will enter the age range where frailty takes hold. Without an accessible and informed provider, patients’ health can deteriorate quickly. This is both bad news for seniors and a catalyst for the escalation of institutional costs generally. 

We proposed a demonstration clinic in our submission to Ontario Health East in partnership with Centretown Community Health Centre and Perley Health. The idea was to show that having nurse practitioners provide primary care for seniors who don’t have a provider could be cost-efficient and worthy of support. Nurse practitioners could make up the gap in primary care much more quickly than trying to supply more doctors.

OSCA (Old Ottawa South Community Association) has just endorsed the clinic, and we are hopeful that other community groups (seniors groups, church groups, community associations, etc.) in central Ottawa will also come on board.

Many of you have written letters to the minister. Thanks for that. If you have any other way of supporting the proposal – e.g., writing to Jeanne Thomas at  Ontario Health East, putting a message on Facebook or other social media, or asking your community association or other organization to support the proposal – please do so. A template letter on the SHIH website includes information that can serve as a guide.

Seniors Intergenerational Housing Village for Confederation Heights

We have a small group discussing housing options. One of the group’s early ideas is to develop a multi-purpose “village” on the federal Confederation Heights property. With the RA Centre, shopping centre, excellent transportation links and the universities nearby, this venue could provide cooperative housing, mixed-income rentals, co-living and retirement residence options, as well as research and professional training opportunities. If you wish to become part of a group exploring innovative housing ideas, please contact Terry Hunsley. If possible, please indicate what role you would like to play. We need people to help with research, proposal development, writing for media, liaison with organizations, financial analysis, and more.

Home Care/Community Support

A small group of volunteers have been meeting to further the goal of developing an innovative approach to home care and community support. To better understand the existing services, we have partnered with Abbotsford Seniors Centre to hold a Speaker Series Presentation on September 25, from 1 to 2:30 pm. Speakers are Kevin Babulic, Director, Champlain Home Care and Community Support and Amy Boudreau, Carefor’s Vice-President Strategy, Performance and Partnerships. Writer and consultant on healthy aging, Peggy Edwards is the moderator. 

We are concerned that the health system has been and remains too reliant on unpaid family members and friends to keep people out of institutional care. But times have changed and old strategies are becoming less effective. Families today are smaller than they used to be, and often scattered. Current and future family caregivers are more likely to be the same age as those receiving care and may have health issues themselves. Add to that the expected increases in the number of people in cognitive decline, and the situation is poised to deteriorate quickly.   

SHIH Website

Please visit our developing  SHIH website and browse around. We would like to hear what you think. Are you able to learn what you wanted to know about us? Do you have ideas on content or design? We are volunteers, learning as we go, and we want our online presence to be helpful. Please reply to this email with your suggestions; your feedback is more than welcome.

And – PLEASE!! – we are still hoping that someone with website and/or social media skills will come forward to give us a hand in this area.  

And finally:

If you don’t feel you can contribute at the moment but wish to remain in the loop – well, that’s good too. We’re grateful for your continued interest.