The Alliance has developed 1- and 2-page reports about comprehensive primary health care. These were created to help support you in advocating for the sector when talking to policymakers, system partners, or other leaders and decision-makers. They define primary health care, demonstrate what we mean when we say it's the foundation of the health system, and provide evidence to support our claims that this model works.
What is primary health care? How is it different from primary care?
Primary health care includes primary care, but it is so much more. Based on our Model of Health & Wellbeing, primary health care is designed to help achieve the goal of better health for all.
This 2-page handout/information sheet describes how comprehensive primary health care addresses the many determinants of health and how it connects clinical, non-clinical, and community supports to create a comprehensive, wraparound system of supports for health and wellbeing.
#What do we mean when we say Primary Health Care is the Foundation of our Health System?
Primary care supports people througout their lives. Comprehensive primary health care, which incorporates and enhances primary care, can meet 70-75% of of health needs. Primary health care is key to managing care for people with chronic illnesses.
This 1-page handout/information sheet describes how comprehensive primary health care goes beyond the treatment and prevention of illness and is designed to enhances the ongoing health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and populations.
#What do Community Health Centres do? Who is on the team, and who do they serve?
Community Health Centres and other members of the Alliance for Healthier Communities are committeed to supporting the health and wellbeing of the people in Ontario who face the most significant barriers, including difficulty accessing health and social care, matierial deprivation, discrimination, and trauma. The people who experience these barriers are our moral owner and we are accountable to them in our work. Each Alliance member organization chooses local priority populations according to their communities demographics and assets.
Because of their commitment to people experiencing barriers, and because they deliver comprehensive, interprofessional primary health care, our members are particularly well equipped to support people with complex clinical and social care needs. According to recent data from ICES, CHCs within our Alliance see clients who have expected heath care needs that are 70% higher than the average in Ontario. T
Delivering effective support for a complex clientele requires the work of an interprofessional and coordinated team.
This handout provides a snapshot of who is on the team at Alliance member CHCs, what priority populations they serve, and how they are meeting their commitments to these populations through equitable access to care, support for capacity development, and a philosophy of harm reduction.
#The Model of Health and Wellbeing works! Here's how we know.
The Model of Health and Wellbeing (MHWB) is the common conceptual framework that guides our organizations and lays out our sector's foundational commitments.
This document describes how we measure the impact of our sector's work using the MHWB as our benchmark, and it presents research evidence from numerous sources which illustrate that the MHWB works. The research shows that our members deliver better health outcomes by making it easier to access preventive care and by expertly supporting the management of chronic health conditions; that they are helping to keep the health system sustainable by reducing hospitalizations and emergency department visits for clients with very complex health needs; that they are building communities and fostering a sense of belonging; and that they are delivering better experiences for both clients and providers.
Hyperlinks in the document lead to the cited research online. A list of references can also be found here (html with link to a PDF version).
For those want to print these up and share them as hardcopies, we've included a QR code on each one. This will take the reader back to the electronic version, so they can follow all the hyperlinks.