Waddington Mount

Community Update - Issue #5

www.viha.ca/about_viha/community/mt_waddington.htm February 2015

More than 75 people – including First Nations representatives,

local government officials, Island Health partners and staff,

members of the Mount Waddington Collaborative Working

Group and area residents – braved a wintry wind on January 22

to celebrate the completion of the new Port Hardy Primary

Health Care Centre.

The crowd warmed up by joining the dancers in the First Nations

blessing and ribbon-cutting ceremony before touring the

beautifully designed, modern and well-equipped building.

Accessible primary health care and wellness for Mount Waddington

residents was the theme of the celebration and the collaborative

efforts of this community-led project were acknowledged by

speakers and guests, as was the instrumental role played by

former mayor Bev Parnham.

The health care centre, located at the north end of the Port Hardy

Hospital property, will be fully operational by spring 2015.

Primary health and some community care services will be joined

in one convenient location.

The cost of the project is $2.6 million, with Island Health

through the Province providing $1.84 million and the Mount

Waddington Regional Hospital District contributing $760,000.

The centre will house an integrated primary health care team

including physicians, nurse practitioners and staff providing

overall care coordination for clients. There is also space for

visiting medical specialists and visiting community practitioners.

For more, please visit: http://www.viha.ca/about_viha/news/

news_releases/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/islandhealth

Celebrating Port Hardy’s new primary health care centre

Chief Calvin Hunt, Kwakiutl First Nation, prepares guest dancers with eagle down to join a First Nations blessing at the new Port Hardy

Primary Health Care Centre. With Chief Hunt, left to right: Jean Wheeler, Island Health Board member, Dr. Jeff Beselt, Executive

Medical Director, Geography 1 and Alison Mitchell, Director of Health Services, Mount Waddington/Strathcona.

Port McNeill Collaborative Clinic’s team approach

www.viha.ca/about_viha/community/mt_waddington.htm Page 2

Residents of Port McNeill have improved access to integrated health

services thanks to a new collaborative focus by health care providers

in the region.

The medical clinic in Port McNeill has added “collaborative” to

its name to reflect an inclusive, team-based approach of providing

health care that benefits both patients and health care providers.

After a recent renovation by the clinic owners that increased the

number of exam rooms and a leasing arrangement with Island

Health, community-based Mental Health and Substance Use staff

and a social worker are rotating through the clinic. They work

alongside the clinic’s physicians, nurse, staff and Island Health’s

nurse practitioner to offer enhanced access to health care and an

expanded, broader range of services in one location.

“The future of health care, especially rural health, is collaboration.

Here at the Port McNeill Collaborative Clinic we are looking at ways

of doing this effectively,” said Dr. Dave Whittaker, a

physician-owner. “We know that it is more than just working in the

same building but we are hoping that over time our patients will

start seeing the benefits.”

Just as before, residents can call the clinic at 250-956-3377 to make

medical appointments. Additional Island Health services are

expected to be relocated to the Port McNeill Medical Collaborative

in the coming months.

Island Health social worker Kirsten Kucy experienced the benefits

of being based at the Port McNeill Medical Collaborative as soon as

she relocated to the facility at 2161McNeill Road. “I was able to

work with Dr. Dave Whittaker and Nurse Peta Kelly, and the whole

team was better able to support our clients in getting the care they

need,” Kucy said.

Wellness Tip >>>

Meet the Port McNeill Medical Collaborative (Clinic) team. From

left to right: Lorraine Lines, Nurse Practitioner; Peta Kelly,

Primary Health Care nurse; Sue Bell, Port McNeill clinic medical

administration; Kirsten Kucy, Social Worker with Island Health;

Dr. Dave Whittaker; Joanie Hoddenott and Tanna Wesner,

Medical Office Assistants. Missing from the photo are Dr. Prean

Armogam, Judy Mitchell, Annetta Murgatroyd, Tina Slater and

Karen Bonnell, Mental Health and Substance Use.

Here are some tips to help you stay

healthy during flu season.

Know the symptoms Flu symptoms can include fever, head-

ache, muscle pain, runny nose, sore

throat, extreme tiredness and cough.

Children may also experience nausea,

vomiting or diarrhea.

Take care of yourself Wash your hands often with soap and

water or alcohol-based sanitizers

Stay home when you are sick or have

flu symptoms

Do not cough or sneeze into your

hands—use your upper arm or a tissue

Avoid touching your eyes, nose or

mouth

Avoid close contact with people who

are sick

Get immunized Influenza vaccine is the most effective

method we have to prevent getting sick

from the flu or passing it on to others.

For more information about influenza

and the flu vaccine visit:

http://www.viha.ca/flu/

stayinghealthy.htm

Photo by L. Mollinga

Stay healthy during flu season Welcome to the Mount Waddington community newsletter

This quarterly publication will keep

you up to date on health services in

northern Vancouver Island.

Is there a health topic you would like to

see in this newsletter? Please email

your suggestions to Debra Wall:

Debra.Wall@viha.ca.

For other useful information, please

visit: www.viha.ca/about_viha/

community/mt_waddington.htm

Welcome >>>

www.viha.ca/about_viha/community/mt_waddington.htm Page 3

More from the Port Hardy Primary Health Care Centre celebration >>>

Island Health has an easy way for you to get answers to

your questions about health services in Mount Waddington.

You can now call 1-855-902-6048 or text 250-230-6048

and an Island Health staff person dedicated to answering

the numbers will help you find the services that are right

for you, your family members and loved ones.

Calls and texts are answered Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.

to 4:30 p.m. If the number is busy when you call, leave a

message and your call will be returned.

The information provided will be specific to services in

the Mount Waddington regional district boundaries and

you can call or text from anywhere in Canada.

The numbers are connected with the single referral

form—one form with all the information that you provide

that follows you from your initial contact until your care

is complete—that is used in the hospitals and clinics

across Mount Waddington.

The form and numbers are part of the work we are doing

to ensure that clients and patients are connected with the

health services they need.

Single number for health service enquiries

The numbers do not replace any existing numbers including 9-1-1 or 8-1-1 services.

Call 9-1-1 in a medical emergency or life-threatening injury.

“The opening of the centre is highly regarded as it

presents a unique opportunity for Island Health and First

Nations to work together and achieve the greater good

for all.” – Ross Hunt, Jr., Kwakiutl Band Council

“I am amazed that today, less than three years later from the start of talking about it, we have this building.”

– Alyson Hagan-Johnson, referring to the Mount Waddington Collaborative Working Group and its community-led plan aimed

at strengthening and stabilizing culturally safe health services in the Mount Waddington region

“This is really indicative of where we’re going as far as

partnerships with the Health Authority these days. We’re

in a different place than we were 10 or 15 years ago; this

is feeling really good.” – Dean Wilson, Gwa’sala-

’Nakwaxda’xw First Nation

Chief Hunt and the Kwakiutl singers and drummers lead the crowd

in a dance at the building completion celebration at the new centre.

“The centre represents Island Health’s continued

commitment to support accessible, culturally safe and

sustainable health care services for Mount Waddington-

area residents.” – Alison Mitchell, Director of Health

Services, Mount Waddington/Strathcona

Local Working Group and Service Integration Team updates

Local Working Group teams up to form the Collaborative Working Group

Over the last several months, the Local Working Group

Implementation Committee (LWG) conducted a review of

its goals and purpose in order to prepare for the next phase

of work to strengthen and stabilize health services in

Mount Waddington.

As a result of the review, the LWG has joined with the Mount

Waddington chapter of the Rural Division of Family Practice

to become the Mount Waddington Collaborative Working

Group (CWG).

The newly formed group will report to the Rural and Remote

Collaborative Services Committee (made up of the Division of

Family Practice, Island Health and the Ministry of Health) and

the Island Health Steering Committee.

The first meeting of the CWG took place on November 19

where it determined its co-chairs, Dr. David Whittaker and

Shirley Ackland, reviewed the membership and started

developing a go-forward strategic plan based on the outstanding

recommendations in the Mount Waddington Health Services

Stabilization Working Group report and current state of health

services.

The CWG will now look at the progress that has been made

toward solutions for a sustainable health system in the

Mount Waddington region, the work that still needs to be done

and how it can be accomplished.

Visit Island Health’s webpage Mt. Waddington Health Services

Stabilization Working Group April 2012 to review the report.

For information about the Rural Division of Family Practice,

visit: https://www.divisionsbc.ca/rural-remote/home

Service Integration Team

The Service Integration Team (SIT) is a collaboration

between Island Health staff, the Mount Waddington Health

Network, a patient and North Island First Nations. The SIT

meets monthly to further develop a multi-disciplinary approach

to improve the health of Mount Waddington residents and their

health care experience.

Here are some SIT accomplishments in fall 2014:

The Most Responsible Clinician/Huddle Working Group

is planning a small pilot of the most responsible role and the

process for cross-program care planning huddles to support the

care of a specific patient.

In the pilot, two staff—one each from Home and Community

Care and Mental Health and Substance Use—will act as the

most responsible clinician for one client whose care spans a

number of program areas.

The working group continues to explore what the most

responsible clinician and other clinicians would each document,

where and how the care plan would be shared and updated.

Professional Practice is being consulted regarding these questions.

Meanwhile, the working group is exploring how to bring the

most responsible clinician role and cross-program care planning

huddles to life more broadly.

An Evaluation Working Group has formed to evaluate all

of the work being done to integrate services in the region. The

evaluation will look at how all the service integration work,

once implemented, has influenced the health of people living

in Mount Waddington.

A Participatory Evaluation approach will be used where

stakeholders actively engage in developing the evaluation and

all phases of its implementation. Working group members are

orienting to a new toolkit that will provide them with a variety

of approaches such as photo voice, case studies, surveys,

interviews, focus groups, capturing stories, most significant

change and data review to evaluate changes.

The group members include Alison Mitchell, Sara Gogo,

Rebecca Olesen, Lisa Greer, Alyson Hagan-Johnson, Shelley

Tice, Sherry Gill and Karen Berezon.

Members of the Service Integration Team are partnering with

the Mount Waddington Health Network to participate in

community health network forums throughout Mount

Waddington. We will share our successes towards service

integration, revisit themes from the 2013 engagement events,

share updates and listen and learn from each other about current

interests and needs. Watch for the Health Network forum in your

community!

Integrating health and wellness >>>

Mount Waddington Community Update - An Island Health Publication