Mar. 12 - Rapids FHT in Sarnia has initiated the Momentum program to empower families to change their eating and behaviour habits so children become healthier. The program is the first of its kind in the region and brings the whole family together with a team of health providers to build meal plans, develop healthy habits and cope with social pressures. They’re currently seeking families to participate in the program.

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.

There is a compelling association between comprehensive primary care and system efficiency and effectiveness. The lifelong work of the late Barbara Starfield observed that an investment in primary care was associated with improved system quality, equity and efficiency (reduced cost)^{[i],[ii],[iii] ,[iv]}. In British Columbia this efficiency was quantified by Marcus Hollander.

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 – 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.