New Westminster city council is keen on the concept of having a community health centre in the Royal City.
A delegation of medical professionals and professors from the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University recently appeared at a city council meeting to encourage New Westminster to support the creation of a community health centre in the city. While there are many community health centres across Canada, there are fewer located in British Columbia.
“The main attributes of a community health centre involve community governance, community engagement and community accountability,” said John Calvert, an associate professor in the faculty of sciences at SFU. “They involve using an interdisciplinary team of health-care professionals that try and ensure the services that are provided are integrated and are very broad in scope in terms of the types of professionals involved. Community health centres deal with the whole issue of the social determinants of health and wellness.”
Instead of treating people once they’re already ill, Calvert said community health centres help people through prevention, outreach, community education and health advocacy.
The centres provide a range of services including medical care by physicians and nurses, dentistry, pharmacy, counselling, social workers, immigrant and refugee services, multicultural family services and community outreach.
According to Calvert, there are more than 300 community health centres across Canada. He said research done in Ontario showed the centres have done a good job of reducing demand on emergency departments because people are able to get more of the services they need in the community without having to go to the hospital for a crisis that could be better handled at a community health centre.
New Westminster resident Agnes Black, a registered nurse and a health-care researcher, said she works at St. Paul’s Hospital and is well aware of what happens when community health centres aren’t available to meet people’s needs.
“People end up in the emergency department when those needs could be better be met by an interdisciplinary team at a place like a community health centre,” she said. “I’d love to seek one in New West.”
During the 2017 provincial election campaign, the NDP indicated community health centres were an important part of its health-care reform package, Calvert said.
“Strong local interest may be a factor in encouraging the provincial government to say, ‘Yes, New Westminster is a good place for us to consider placing one of these new centres.’ That’s our pitch here,” he told council. “We think this is a great model that has huge potential.”
City council will approach the provincial government about establishing a community health centre in New Westminster. Council also supported a motion by councillors Bill Harper and Jaimie McEvoy to direct staff to support the province’s initiative to establish 20 centres across the province and to direct the Union of B.C. Municipalities to consult with the province and health region to develop proposals for implementing the centres in municipalities interested in hosting new community health centres.
Harper said he’s personally experienced the community health model, as his youngest son was born at REACH in East Vancouver.
“The community health centre model is like a one-stop shopping,” he said. “It’s one that actually facilitates the total health of the patient. That’s what appeals to me the most.”
