Healthcare is a problem for all of us to solve—my experience at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference

Just yesterday, I returned Toronto after a successful trip to Ottawa where the Ontario Medical Association participated in the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference. So often, we consider healthcare the jurisdiction of the provincial government, and legislatively this is true.  But today on The Doctor Is In we will discuss that while the provincial government is responsible for the legislation and funding of healthcare in Ontario, we are all a part of helping to make our system a success.  Our cities and towns do an incredible amount of work to keep our populations healthy.  After the last few days, I have a much greater appreciation for the work they do and the challenges they are facing in providing healthcare to their residents.

A healthcare system is only as good as the other programs and services around it.  For example, without a strong housing initiative in a community, people lacking access to safe and affordable housing find it very difficult to maintain their health.  Our municipalities in Ontario are often the first layer of government to see when a community is struggling because they are the local experts of their communities.  They are who Ontarians reach out to first when they are experiencing challenges.  

In the past few days, I have had the privilege of meeting with dedicated mayors and municipal civil servants, to learn about the challenges communities across Ontario are experiencing with accessing high quality healthcare.  While many of the themes are similar, including difficulty recruiting comprehensive family physicians and accessing specialist care, each community’s concerns are nuanced and unique depending on their individual circumstances.  

In some communities, the concerns are isolation and geography—other than the local hospital, it is very difficult for their residents to access care elsewhere and the hospital itself is understaffed.  In other larger communities who have access to more than one hospital, the challenges with residents accessing safe housing is causing increased strain on the healthcare system and the local community.  And with each community having different needs, this means that there will need to be local solutions considered at a community level across the province.  A service that works in the GTA may not be the right approach for a smaller community in Northern Ontario.

This means that local partnerships are critical to making healthcare initiatives succeed in a province as diverse as Ontario.  And these local partnerships need to include physicians.  If doctors help to develop recruitment plans, communities will be told by the doctors themselves what physicians are looking for when they choose a community to practice in.  If mental health and addiction outreach services are based on up to date, evidence based care provided by physicians, it is more likely to be successful for patients.  The same way that local leaders are experts in their communities, doctors are experts in providing healthcare.  And all municipal healthcare initiatives should have both local experts and health experts working in collaboration.

This means building relationships and partnerships with strong foundations that will continue to flourish over time.  It starts with attending meetings like the AMO conference and continues to develop with direct outreach, both to municipal leaders and to our members, the doctors of Ontario.  While I was in Ottawa, I had the immense privilege of spending time with our District 8 physicians.  We had an incredible evening of community-building and leadership discussion.  Dr. Chandi Chandrasena, our Chief Medical Officer of OntarioMD provided a fabulous talk about digital health in Ontario, reminding us that while technology is an incredible tool we can use as physicians to care for patients, it is people who provide healthcare, not AI.

I am thrilled that as president, I will have the opportunity to travel across Ontario, visiting communities where they can show me what physicians and patients are experiencing in their municipalities across the province.  

I am honoured to have met the incredible members of the local governments at AMO and I look forward to developing stronger partnerships with them throughout my year as president and beyond.  The most important lesson I will take from being the spokesperson of the OMA is that Ontario’s doctors are partners in your care—whether we are talking about our individual patients, our communities, or our system and province as a whole.  Work with us to improve the health of Ontario.