Primary Care Today | Lower Columbia Chc N

Primary Care in the Lower Columbia today:

Approximately 30% of residents are estimated to be without a primary care provider
Private practice is experiencing a loss of providers and persistent recruitment challenges
Patients with a primary care provider are facing difficulties accessing care due to clinic hours and wait times
Current system makes providing team-based care difficult

The time to act is now.

There is a desire from community leaders to engage more fully with the elements of Primary Care
A recent needs and assets study in the Lower Columbia Region found strong community support for CHCs
Neighbouring Divisions of Family Practice are pivoting to multi-clinic models
Recruitment and retention of primary care practitioners is near a crisis point in the region and will remain so in the coming years.
The BC government appears to be supportive of communities wanting to implement CHCs and communities must capitalize on this support.

With humility and in the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that our work in the Kootenay Boundary region takes place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Sinixt, Syilx, Ktunaxa, and Secwépemc First Nations, and is home to the Métis and many diverse Aboriginal communities