1 | Getting started - background documents

The Alliance or Healthier Communities' vision is equitable health and wellbeing for everyone living in Ontario. Our mission is to advance comprehensive primary health care and advocate for changes in Ontario's health and social systems to address inequities. Our core values, described in more detail here, are Health Equity, Leadership, Collaboration, Knowledge, and Self-Determination.

Our Model of Health and Wellbeing outlines three guiding principles and eight core attributes of our model. It describes and guides the work of all our members. A companion Model of Wholistic Health and Wellbeing guides the work of our Indigenous members. 

Our Health Equity Charter guides our collective efforts recognizing and confronting barriers to equitable health. These efforts bring us closer to achieving our vision. 

• IPCT Expansion Implementation Plan Toolkit (Alliance for Healthier Communities, 2024) 

This 12-page document was developed for Alliance members in who had received new IPCT Expansion funding in Spring 2024, as  a tool to help them complete the mandatory planning template. You may still find it helpful if your organizations is developing or revising an IPCT Expansion plan. It provides important considerations and suggestions, including:

• Participants in the expansion process
• Governance structures and processes
• Strategies for optimizing the attachment of new patients to comprehensive care and/or interprofessional primary care
• Planning for community engagement and health equity
• Identifying and mitigating unintended consequences for other equity-deserving populations

Appendix A of the document presents a case study of an innovative intake project from the Merrickville District Community Health Centre (now part of Rideau Community Health Services). Their project, titled Better Health Innovation, was a response to a crisis of access that emerged in their community when the retirement of a primary care provider - and the sudden death of the successor who had inherited their patients - led to thousands of patients with complex needs being "orphaned." 

Those who are developing or expanding a primary health care organization that is Indigenous-led or has a focus on care for Indigenous people or communities will benefit from guidance and resources offered by the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC). You may wish to start with the documents linked below.

• Model of Wholistic Health and Wellbeing (Indigenous Primary Health Care Council)

The Model of Wholistic Health and Wellbeing (MWHW) was developed by IPHCC and is a counterpart to the Alliance's Model of Health and Wellbeing. The MWHW is rooted in a population needs--based approach to health care planning and delivery for the Indigenous population. It incorporates physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual elements of wellbeing and it is the belief that all elements must operate in harmony.

• IPHCO Development Toolkit: Guiding Document for Indigenous Leaders  (Indigenous Primary Health Care Council)

The IPHCC created this toolkit as a resource for the Executive Leaders of newly established Indigenous Primary Health Care Organizations (IPHCOs) who commonly have the title of Executive Director (ED) or Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This resource contains information relevant to the funding and structure of IPHCOs, key operational considerations and links to tools and resources to support their continued evolution. 

Given the practical nature of the recommendations it contains, this toolkit can also be utilized to the support the following: 

• The orientation of new Executive Leaders and other executive team members within existing IPHCOs;
• Providing support for existing IPHCO Executive Leaders; and
• Sharing information on the role of the Executive Leaders.

For example, the toolkit can provide IPHCO board members with an understanding of the wide-ranging and complex responsibilities of the Executive Leaders, thereby creating awareness of the types of supports that should be provided by the governing body to enable the Executive Leaders to successfully advance the goals of the organization.

• Principles for French Language Health Services (Alliance for Healthier Communities, 2022).

This document was created by the Alliance to help Ontario Health Teams ensure that French Language Health Services (FLHS) are planned, designed, delivered, and evaluated appropriately. Although it was designed for OHTs, these considerations are applicable at all levels.

Here's what you'll find inside:

• Links to supportive organizations and resources
• Principles for meaningful Francophone engagement, leadership, and governance
• Using the new Health Equity Questionnaire to identify your Francophone clients and intersectional identities
• Considerations for staffing, software, planning, and advocacy