By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Minister of Health and Deputy Premier of Ontario, Sylvia Jones, visited the region on Monday to meet with party members and stakeholders.
“I believe strongly our government needs to show the changes we are doing,” Jones said of her reason for the visit. “My visit today is really just a reinforcement of some of the initiatives that we have put in place in the Province of Ontario, and we are already seeing the benefits.”
The immediate and obvious benefit, Jones said, stems back to earlier this year when the Province announced 78 new or expanded primary care and mental health care teams. One of which is located in Kingsville, which Jones said is wonderful news.
Information the Province released on this initiative notes the investment of $90 million will add over 400 new primary care providers and 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams across the province.
“Those are concrete examples of how we are making an impact and ensuring people get the services they need,” she said, stressing the importance of working with community partners to achieve goals and ensure the healthcare system improves.
The clinicians who work and train in Ontario are exceptional, Jones said.
“What people need and want are better access, and that is what PA Leardi and I are very much focused on.”
Essex MPP Anthony Leardi was pleased to welcome Jones to the area, as the newly appointed Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health.
She said she wants to ensure midwives, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and pharmacists can expand their scope of practice, “so people get the service that is most convenient to them.”
In speaking to municipalities wanting to expand access for after-hour clinic care, Jones urged communities to keep showing innovative ideas and collaborative projects.
At the recent AMO Conference, for instance, the Province announced a Hart Hub model, where individuals can get support for their addictions, but can also tap into help through social services, housing, or health care.
Information from the Province notes this is part of a comprehensive system of care that prioritizes community safety and focuses on giving people their lives back through treatment and recovery. In August, the province announced an investment of $378 million in 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.
“I made it very clear – and we have talked to many partners to say – submit a proposal that has all of your community organizations engaged,” Jones said, noting applications are now open and she is excited to see the community partnerships come to fruition.
She spoke of how, when she was Solicitor General, the province began funding mobile crisis intervention teams, a partnership between a mental health worker or nurse and a police officer.
Jones sees these types of partnerships as building local capacity, and that is why the Hart Hubs have a similar model in terms of getting the community to come together.
She also noted that in a little over a year, there were one million interactions of individuals going to a pharmacist for minor ailment treatments as a result of the scope of practice change the Ontario Government put in place.
Giving individuals another option, Jones said, is building capacity.
The scope of practice has also been changed for midwives. Those who have a direct and close relationship with their patients who just had a baby can offer infant vaccines in Ontario, Jones added.
Talks are ongoing with the 26 regulated health professional fields, and each have ideas on how they can better provide service to clients through scope of practice changes.
She spoke of Leardi, in his role as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health, as being engaged and will be helpful as the Province works on important files.
Later that afternoon, Premier Doug Ford was in Windsor to highlight the community commitment and involvement for the future acute care hospital.
Information provided by Windsor Regional Hospital notes the Solcz Family Foundation announced a $15 million gift for the new Windsor/Essex Acute Care Hospital.
“This is the largest single gift ever made in the Windsor-Essex region,” it states, adding the gift will provide critical funding for equipment and technologies.
“In recognition of the Solcz family’s exceptional gift, the Family Birthing and Paediatric Care Centre, as well as the Paediatric Emergency Zone, located within the Emergency Department, will be named after the Solcz Family Foundation,” a statement from the hospital adds.
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