HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-03-22, Page 7News
The Huron Expositor • March 22, 2006 Pope 7
Clinton docs working on proposal to join Seaforth FHT
Jennifer Hubbard
Slow and steady wins the
race.
It's a daunting task, but
local doctors are hoping to
submit a preliminary pro-
posal — highlight-
ing their plans
to have
Clinton join
the Huron
Family Health
Team based in
Seaforth — to
the provincial
government by
the end of
May.
The Clinton
Family Health
Network, com-
prised of local
physicians,
nurses and
nurse practi-
tioners, was
one of the first
to express an interest in the
Huron County Family
Health Team based in
Seaforth.
"They .approached us, we
approached them ... it was a
mutual agreement to
explore the possibility of
Clinton becoming part of the
team," Clinton's Dr. Keith
Hay explained. •
Last spring, Seaforth was
one of the first 52 family
health teams to be approved
by the province. Seaforth's
proposal aimed to look after
orphan patients throughout
Huron, starting in Seaforth
and eventually creating
satellite offices throughout
the county.
Goderich was also desig-
nated the Maitland Valley
Family Health Team.
"The (Ministry of Health
and Long -Term Care) has
the idea that things will be
better off if we work as a big
happy team," Dr. Maarten
Bokhout said.
"Personally, I've been
around long enough to know
that there's only one way to
practice medicine success-
fully and that's by working
together."
A steering committee has
been formed including rep-
resentatives from both med-
ical communities, with a
goal of providing compre-
hensive health care to the
Clinton and Seaforth region.
Hay said the
committee is in
the process of
putting
together
governance
documents
and a busi-
ness plan
outlining
how they
plan to pro-
vide services
within the
team for the
next few
years.
" W e
would like
to have the
preliminary
proposal wrapped up by
the end of May to submit
to the ministry. It's not a
final draft, but rather an
idea of what our direc-
tion is and what our
ideas are," Hay
explained.
"It's a really exciting
venture that at the pre-
sent time has the med-
ical communities in
Clinton and Seaforth
moving forward together
to try and enhance their
-ability to care for the
existing patients and try
to manage the needs of
orphan patients."
Both doctors agreed
that Clinton would bene-
fit greatly from joining
the Huron team, espe-
cially in the area of doc-
tor shortages.
Clinton currently has
six family physicians
and "would be really
happy if it could find two
more full-time doctors,"
Hay said.
Not only is the team
atmosphere more attrac-
tive to potential family
doctors, but it also frees
art
idea that
things will be
better off if we
work as a big
happy team.,' -
Dr. Maarten
Bokhout of Clinton
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up funding for nurse practi-
tioners and other "allied"
health professionals.
"Nurse practitioners can't
replace physicians, but they
can certainly do some of the
work that physicians do,"
Bokhout commented.
Hay said the FHT will
allow both communities to
hire other allied health pro-
fessionals, like social work-
ers and nutritionists, who
can work with physicians to
"enhance our ability to pro-
vide comprehensive medical
care."
"We're both small commu-
nities. In Clinton we can't
make use of a full-time
social worker, but between
the two of us there would be
enough work to hire some-
one full-time within the
team."
Bokhout said the crux of
the problem is that while
the costs of providing health
care in Ontario increases,
the number of people avail-
able to provide care is
decreasing.
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