First funding to expand primary health care teams since 2005

Kay Ayres says she knows far too many people in Wellington County that don’t have a family doctor.

“They have to go to emergency or they have to drive to Toronto or Brampton for their care, so this is huge,” says the Mount Forest senior.

Huge, because the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team is adding two Nurse Practitioners, and a Registered Practical Nurse, to expand primary care to another 1500 people in their catchment area, thanks to $570,000 in funding from the provincial government.

“We’ll surround those new patients with our family health team programs and services, so it’s really quite an exciting win today for a rural community,” says the Executive Director of the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team, Shirley Borges.

The funding is part a $110 million investment to add 400 new nurse practitioners, physicians, and other primary care providers, to 78 primary healthcare teams across Ontario.

“It’ll help 300,000 people access primary care in their community. This is the first time, we’ve done an expansion of primary care teams since their inception in 2005,” says Perth-Wellington M.P.P, Matthew Rae.

It’s an “umbrella in a hurricane” according to officials with the Ontario Medical Association, considering there are 2.3 million Ontarian’s without a family physician or primary care provider.

Nurse practitioner treating patients. (Source: File)

“It is hard not to be disappointed by this announcement, given its sheer inadequacy. This funding is just another small band-aid solution that doesn’t do anything to get to the root of the problem,” says Dr. David Barber, Chair of General and Family Practice with the Ontario Medical Association.

But back in Clifford, there is unbelievable excitement about the addition of three new health care providers, to the Wellington County region.

“I get requests from patients weekly, can you take on my family member, can you take on my friend. This can be rapidly instated. We’ve got an office ready to go. I have Nurse Practitioner students who are saying, how do I get a job like this,” says Jodi Colwill, a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner with the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team, and Primary Care Director with the Nurse Practitioner Association of Ontario.

“We have a waitlist that’s arms length or longer. There’s going to be a lot of phone calls our receptionist will be fielding over the coming days, I’m sure,” says Chantelle Koeslhe, a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner based in Clifford.

Even though, she has a primary care provider already, no one is more excited about this news, than Kay Ayres.

“1400 people are going to get someone that they can go to other than emerg, because emerg is awful. Our hospital in Mount Forest has to occasionally close due to lack of staff. Well, that’s cause they are so darned exhausted from all week, seeing so many sick people coming in,” she says.

$822,000 was also delivered to the Listowel-Wingham region to help fund a mobile primary care clinic team, to expand primary healthcare to 2000 residents.