Vital Signs report points to collaboration as key to community health

In the challenges of the COVID crisis, many of us adopted the mantra “We’re All in This Together” — stressing the point that all residents relied on friends and neighbours to handle the difficulties testing us.

When it comes to local health care and our community’s strengths, the same attitude continues to apply. It is only through cooperation and support that local health care providers are meeting the present and future needs of the community. And they agree that we’re all in this together – that we all need to work collaboratively.

Earlier this year, the Kawartha Community Foundation (KCF) and Kawartha Works Community Cooperative published the first local Vital Signs report ever conducted. Comprised of 11 major indicators of community wellbeing, the report collectively presents information and data that can be used as a tool for future strategic planning and decision-making by city council, local service providers, businesses and organizations large and small.

“Today, our community’s challenges are too complex for any single organization to tackle alone,” said KCF Executive Director Eric Smeaton.

“Collaboration can no longer just be a goodwill gesture; it must become our permanent infrastructure,” Smeaton said. “That is why the KCF’s partnership with the city … is such a privilege. We bring additional community-trusted conversations and real-time data, and the city provides an incredible wealth of data-sharing, as well as essential systemic infrastructure to scale those insights into long-term action.”

Health and Wellbeing is an important Vital Signs indicator. Strong health care and accessible providers are constant priorities for Kawartha Lakes residents of all demographics. With one of the highest senior populations in Ontario, health care receives particular focus here. Due to its older population, Kawartha Lakes has one of the highest crude mortality rates in Ontario. Local death rates exceed provincial averages across most age groups.

Through the spring, several local health care providers brought information about their services and programs to residents with a series of town hall style meetings and public presentations. They were opportunities for people to not only learn about services available to them, but to pass along experiences, ideas and expectations that can help shape the future of local health care. The sessions featured representatives from Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH), the Kawartha Lakes Health Care Initiative, Kawartha Lakes Haliburton Ontario Health Team, Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Service, the Coboconk

Summit Wellness Centre, the Kawartha North Family Health Team and Lakeland Public Health. All agreed on the importance of working together whenever possible.

Veronica Nelson, president and chief executive officer of RMH, outlined the hospital’s current master plan and $25 million fundraising campaign. Highest priority projects at RMH are expansion of the emergency department with a new mental health emergency services unit, growing critical care capacity in the intensive care unit, and ensuring access to leading-edge diagnostic technology and bedside tools.

Nelson said the purpose of the public information sessions was two-fold: to inform the community of progress being made at the hospital, and for RMH officials to be made aware of the public’s needs and wants. “We always want to make sure that we’re as close to the needs as we can get,” she said. Expansion of the hospital parking lot is scheduled for 2027 and work on the emergency department is to begin in 2028.

Collaborative effort with community partners is more important than ever, she added.

“RMH works closely with a broad range of community health partners to improve access to care and support people where they live.” Collaboration also takes place with local police forces on mental health crisis response and follow-up, and there are partnerships in addiction care through the Rapid Access Addiction Medicine clinic, regional co-ordination for stroke services, and integrated palliative care with Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes.

“We also work with community paramedicine to support patients at home and reduce unnecessary hospital visits. Together, these partnerships help facilitate timely care, better co-ordination, and improved health outcomes for our community.” 

While everyone has heard some negative reviews of how “the system” responded when needed, one local beneficiary of multiple levels of care is very positive about the support received through a recent health challenge.

“Marjorie” (real name kept in respect of privacy) is a local resident who “never expected to become an OHIP frequent flyer.” Last fall, she was diagnosed with cancer.

“I consider myself very lucky to have an amazing and local family physician who fit me in immediately when I knew something was wrong. The next day they had me in for an ultrasound at a local clinic and results were available the following day,” Marjorie explained. Following local tests, she was referred to Lakeridge Oshawa for an appointment at the end of November.

Care that Marjorie received was, “Pretty quick when all is said and done. My doctor also ordered a special CT scan and the Ross was able to fit me in within a week of the request. Amazing. When I saw the specialist in Oshawa, we were all hoping for good news. She did not think she could fit me in until after Christmas but by the time I got home, they called with a surgery date of Dec.11. Again amazing.”

Hope for a prognosis of a benign tumour was not to be. Chemotherapy followed a few weeks after surgery. Arrangements were made quickly and treatments were “smooth, fast, and easily accessible.”

With treatments finished, Marjorie feels “very fortunate to have the health care system that we have. I felt that my situation warranted a fast diagnosis and treatment and that I got.”

Woodville resident Steven Young also spoke positively about support received from the hospital. He was diagnosed two years ago with Meniere Disease, an autoimmune affliction affecting balance. He also has specific accessibility requirements that have led him to become a “Patient Experience Partner” with RMH’s Accessibility Planning Committee.

“Everything the Ross has done for me has been fantastic. If I had any negative comment about the health care system, it would be long wait times with doctors,” he said.

Many health care challenges, including those long wait times, are exacerbated by a severe shortage of family doctors. Kawartha Lakes is not unique in this circumstance, but access to primary care physicians or nurse practitioners in our area continues to complicate management of chronic conditions and addiction for many. Work of the Kawartha Lakes Health Care Initiative (KLHCI) has never been more important.

With a vision for all Kawartha Lakes residents to have a local family doctor, Health Care Initiative and Recruitment and Retention Co-ordinator Cindy Snider never stops striving to attract more practitioners to work and live here. She and her team actively recruit throughout Ontario, Quebec, the United States and in recent years, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“There’s a new trend in terms of looking for new doctors to come (from overseas),” she explained. Those who she talks to tend to be Canadians studying abroad but hoping to come “home” to practice here. 

At the spring town hall meetings, KLHCI said 46 family doctors have been recruited to Kawartha Lakes since 2005, but 10 have been lost since 2019. The community currently has 28 family doctors but our population should ideally have 43 to 46 –a shortage of 15 to 18.

“If we can get them to visit here, they start to realize that it’s a lifestyle choice. Getting them off the 401 corridor is key, and if many of the targeted individuals are from a rural background, it’s easier for them to see the benefits of coming here,” Snider said. Additional challenges present themselves when partners of medical candidates want to secure employment opportunities in their own fields.

Collaboration remains an important factor in the recruitment process for Snider. The Eastern Ontario Physician Recruitment Alliance tends to work collectively when recruiting.

“I want to recruit candidates who want to be in this community, and if they’re a better fit somewhere else in Eastern Ontario, I will help them make contacts with other communities. And vice versa.”

Yet another example of collaboration and shared resources to better serve residents is found in Coboconk. Organizers affiliated with the current construction of the Summit Wellness Centre appreciate co-operation, guidance and support received from health care organizations such as RMH, Community Care, and the Kawartha North Family Health Team as the project nears completion.

“It’s been all about community,” said the wellness centre’s Operations Director Jennifer Wilson. “All our local health care partners want to get local residents and groups to realize the handiness that this new facility will have for them. The co-operation, support and input that we have had from all sorts of health care and local service providers has been amazing. Everyone wants to see this centre succeed.”

Longtime Coboconk area resident Doug Paterson looks forward to the centre opening.

“I know all sorts of people who are looking for medical care here who previously had to travel to Lindsay and the Ross hospital. Having a world class state-of-the-art facility close by is going to be terrific,” Paterson said.

“I think that because many people here are aging, we will be more reliant on health and wellness services in the future,” Paterson said.

Wellness centre officials hope for a late summer opening. In addition to new medical facilities to serve the northern Kawartha Lakes, there could be many complementary services such as dental, physiotherapy, pharmacy, naturopathic, chiropractic and massage, counselling offices, community events and possible retail businesses.

Health challenges are not limited to visible problems. Though mental health issues have always afflicted many people, recent trends have brought the matter to the forefront.

“More people than ever are disclosing mental health challenges diagnoses,” said Jack Veitch, community engagement manager with the Canadian Mental Health Association’s

local branch. Disclosure helps people relieve the burden of hiding or trying to cope on their own and can lead to finding support. Concurrently, stigma associated with a “hidden disease” has been greatly reduced.

“In the last few years, all the work around decreasing stigma that comes with mental health has been good. A generation or so ago, conversations about mental health challenges and stigma associated with it would take place behind closed doors, in whispers,” Veitch said.

He sees positive trends as organizations and agencies adapt to meet changing needs.

“Here’s an indicator of how things have changed in our society as far as mental health is concerned: Many industries are now actively looking for ways to provide employee support, training on how to support co-workers. A generation ago, you wouldn’t see that. At last, employers are recognizing that a mentally healthy employee is a good employee.”

“Collaboration with all community partners may perhaps be the most important development. That’s how we’re going to meet the increasing needs,” Veitch said.

Smeaton said that moving forward, the Community Foundation’s role is to act as a data-driven bridge between grassroots need and municipal policy. The foundation considers Vital Signs to be an evolving initiative and has spent the past few months holding community presentations and conversations about the challenges and opportunities lying ahead for Kawartha Lakes

For further information about the Kawartha Community Foundation and the Vital Signs project, visit www.kawarthafoundation.ca