Ontario’s health minister made a quick stop in the region Friday to announce more than $9.8 million in funding to support primary-care teams across Simcoe County, Bruce County and York Region.
“Today is an expansion of what local health-care workers have been doing,” Sylvia Jones said during a news conference at the Georgian Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic in the city’s north end.
“Last year, our government introduced Your Health, a plan to make bold, innovative and creative changes to strengthen all aspects of the health-care system, making it easier and more convenient for Ontarians to connect to care closer to home," added Jones, who also serves as deputy premier.
Since 2018, more than 80,000 nurses have been added to the workforce, said Jones, adding 2023 was another "record" year, with more than 17,000 nurses registering to work in Ontario and another 30,000 nursing students studying at colleges across the province, including Georgian College in Barrie.
“Our government knows how important it is to make investments and expand community services, which is why today our government is announcing an investment of $9.8 million to connect over 34,000 people in Simcoe, York and Bruce regions to primary care,” she said.
“This is part of our government’s $110-million investment to connect over 300,000 people to primary-care teams that will add over 400 new primary-care providers as part of 78 new, expanded, interprofessional primary-care teams," Jones said.
These teams include family doctors, nurse practitioners, registered and practical nurses and other highly skilled health-care clinicians, the minister added.
An additional $20 million will provide a boost to all existing interprofessional primary-care teams to help them meet increased operational costs for their facilities and supplies so that they continue to provide quality care to their patients, Jones said.
While not in attendance at the announcement, Simcoe North MPP Jill Dunlop said in a release that's she's "immensely proud to extend my sincere congratulations to the health-care teams of both Couchiching and North Simcoe for securing this substantial funding, a testament to their unwavering commitment to community health.
The new funding will help establish two satellite clinics serving vulnerable populations in the North Simcoe, Couchiching and Orillia area.
"This significant investment will undoubtedly bolster efforts in providing timely access to care, improving the well-being of countless individuals within our communities," Dunlop said. "The dedication and passion of both teams serve as an inspiring example of collaborative excellence in healthcare delivery."
Ontario is the first Canadian jurisdiction to fund this “innovative model of care” consisting of nurse practitioners-led clinics, Jones added.
Interprofessional primary-care teams connect people to a range of health professionals who work together under one roof, including doctors, nurse practitioners, registered and practical nurses, physiotherapists, social workers and dietitians, among others.
“Locally, the funding will allow the Barrie and Area Native Advisory Circle to create an Indigenous primary-care team and a mobile clinic to serve the community, and a new nurse practitioner-led clinic in Innisfil,” she added.
Germaine Elliott, executive director of the Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin Primary Care Team, said this funding will allow for expansion of the Indigenous interprofessional primary-care team.
Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin has been in operation since June 2019 and has clinics in Barrie and one in Orillia, she said.
Its team incorporates traditional healing practices through community health initiatives, life promotion and the Red Road to Recovery program.
“It’s really taking the concept of interprofessional teams and moving it out into the community," Elliott said. "We recognize that the majority of the work in helping people to become healthy is to motivate them to do that. That is part of our philosophy, but it also builds on Indigenous concepts of healing and wellness, which is thousands of years old.”
Elliott said the new funding will allow the organization to add more clinical support to its team, such as a nurse practitioner, an additional registered nurse and a social worker, as well as the ability to hire administrative staff.
“When we started at Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin, we put all of our resources into service delivery and not a whole lot into how we’d manage that," she said. "This allows us to improve and support the work in management and co-ordination.
“I am so thrilled about it because that type of investment, to me, signals the ministry’s acknowledgement and recognition that health is holistic in approach," Elliott added. "I think in the past, health care has been siloed, so providing the resources to create these models of care … is absolutely amazing.”
Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin called today's funding announcement is a “game changer” for provincial health care.
“We have had the minister and premier understand … all of the unique and dynamic needs," Khanjin said. "Simcoe County is growing. A lot of people want to come and they want to raise their kids here, but … they want to make sure they have good health care."
