The Grey County administration building in Owen Sound. (file photo)
Grey County is supporting the South East Grey Community Health Centre (SEGCHC) in its efforts to hire more staff and expand services.
During a meeting on June 8, the committee received a report from CAO Kim Wingrove. It recommended council provide a letter of support for the SEGCHC’s application to the Expanding and Enhancing Interprofessional Primary Care Teams program.
The report says the program the SEGCHC is applying to would support hiring an additional primary care provider as well as some additional allied health and health promotion staff. This would allow them to expand the scope of their services and see more patients.
The SEGCHC, a non-profit organization, provides primary care services and health programs to residents of Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey, Dundalk, and Feversham.
The report says in February, the province announced the Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care initiative. In May, the Ministry of Health announced they are moving forward with an expression of interest process to collect and evaluate proposals for new and expanded inter-professional primary care teams.
“The South East Grey Community Health Centre is preparing a proposal in response to the significant waitlist for primary care in their catchment area and in response to significant population growth in Grey Highlands and Southgate. The intention of the proposal is to obtain support for new resources to assist unattached patients with complex needs and people who are struggling with the social determinants of health,” says the report.
Proposals are evaluated on their alignment with a number of principles including increasing access to primary care services, reducing barriers to care for historically disadvantaged populations, and efficient, effective and skills-based governance.
“There has been some significant interest by a number of organizations and providers across Grey and Bruce. I think that being able to provide that letter of support would add some additional strength to the SEGCHC’s application, so I am hopeful that council will see their way clear to support providing the letter that the SEGCHC has asked for,” says Wingrove.