AOHC welcomes NDP announcement to expand access to Community Health Centres

September 14, 2015 (TORONTO) The Association of Ontario Health Centres (AOHC) welcomes today's announcement from the federal NDP that it is committed to expanding access to Community Health Centres and called on other federal parties to make similar plans. "To improve people's health and ensure the health system sustainability, Canada must do a better job preventing avoidable illness," said AOHC CEO Adrianna Tetley. "So we're very pleased the NDP is committed to Community Health Centres --- a proven solution to make this happen."Ontario's 75 Community Health Centres currently serve approximately four percent of the province's population, the majority of whom are people most at risk for poor health.  They are governed by community members and combine medical services with a wide range of health promotion and community development services. Even though Ontario's Community Health Centres serve people with complex needs, research from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences shows that compared to other primary care models, they are more effective keeping people out of emergency departments.  Today's announcement from the NDP will find strong support in many Ontario communities which currently cannot access Community Health Centres' interprofessional teams, even though the need is high.  During the federal election campaign, AOHC echoes theCanadian Association of Community Health Centres which is calling on all federal parties to move forward with a strategy and funding for a pan-Canadian network of Community Health Centres.  "In Ontario and across this country there are so many people and communities who can't access the comprehensive health services they need," said Tetley. "For this reason we hope our next federal government, whichever party leads it, will work with Province to expand access to Community Health Centres.  This is a model that highly effective connecting services with people who need them most."