Mar. 11- AFHTO members were among the inaugural winners of The Change Foundation’s 20 Faces of Change Awards. The awards honour those who have inspired positive, patient-focused change in Ontario's healthcare system. Dr. Ed Kucharski, Sherbourne Health Centre FHT Dr.

Feb. 25- The Superior Family Health Team is collaborating with community partners to reduce the amount of drug misuse, drug-related crime and incidents of overdose in the Algoma region with the Fentanyl Patch 4 Patch Exchange Program. The program is a collaborative effort between area physicians, pharmacists, and agencies, including Algoma Public Health, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, Group Health Centre, A New Link, Sault Area Hospital, the North East LHIN, and Dr. Alan McLean and the Superior FHT.

Feb. 25 - On The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Claudia Mariano, Nurse Practitioner at West Durham FHT and AFHTO Board Member, appeared on the show to discuss the need for increased support for recruitment & retention in primary care. The program, "Health Care in a Time of Austerity" focused on primary care reform in a time of fiscal restraint.

Feb. 19- Espanola and Area FHT’s Care of the Elderly Program is a pilot in which the team’s family physician, Dr. Hama Abdel-Salam pays an average 40 house calls a week to frail elderly patients. This results in better health outcomes for them, and reduced ER visits and lengths of stay at the hospital.

Feb. 17 - Nunatsiaq News interviewed Akausivik’s executive director, Connie Siedule on the team’s significance for the Inuit community and its recent independence from the Tungasuvvingat Inuit community health centre. The only Inuit FHT in Ontario, they address the often complex needs of their patients (in Inuktitut if needed or desired), diverting them from emergency care where most Inuit patients would go before they opened.

Feb. 17 – Provincial funding for Barrie and Community FHT’s pilot project, Most Valuable Player (MVP) Clinic was announced last Thursday. The clinic gives priority to unattached medically complex patients. Each patient (the MVP) is supported through a process that provides an example for interprofessional collaboration. Click here for the Barrie Examiner article.

Feb. 5 - Almost overnight, 51 AFHTO members have taken up a new tool to extract data from any custom forms in PS Suite EMR, something that was not possible for teams to do previously. The tool emerged from the Innovation project developed by the East Wellington FHT and has spread like wildfire via Quality Improvement Decision Support Specialists (QIDSS) in family health teams. As a result, Dr.

Feb. 4- Researchers at the Centre for Family Medicine FHT conducted an environmental scan of 102 FHTs with the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Waterloo to gain a better understanding of the current use of physical activity as medicine among Ontario’s FHTs. Their findings were published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. Click here for further details.

Feb. 3 – Global News profiled “Reach Out and Read”, a literacy program launched by St. Michael’s Hospital Academic FHT in partnership with the Toronto Public Library. The initiative aims to start children reading earlier in life to aid in their physical and mental development. Click here to see the video.

Feb. 3 – Premier Kathleen Wynne helped open a new pregnancy clinic in Thorncliffe Park, an initiative driven by South East Toronto FHT and their partners. The neighbourhood has the highest birth rate and highest proportion of children under age 14 in Toronto. Partners include The Midwives Clinic of East York — Don Mills, Toronto East General Hospital, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Flemingdon Community Health Centre and South Riverdale Community Health Centre.