Submitted by: June Crandall, Contributing Author
I ended Part 2 of this series by stating that I have heard from several people in the community who have no primary care…either a physician or nurse practitioner. In this issue, I will talk more about how I got involved in bringing a version of healthcare to the Elgin community.
I ended Part 2 of this series by stating that I have heard from several people in the community who have no primary care…either a physician or nurse practitioner. In this issue, I will talk more about how I got involved in bringing a version of healthcare to the Elgin community.
I approached the Community Developers for our area, Amy O’Keefe and Alannah Pearson who sit on the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) on which I am a member, with the idea of some kind of low-level health clinic in Elgin. These individuals work for Horizon Health and play a significant role in liaising between the community and Horizon Health in the province. To better understand what a Community Developer does, I found this quote from Ronald Okoth which I think best describes the nuances of the role. According to https://www.academia.edu/12996664/COMMUNITY_DEVELOPMENT_FOR_SOCIAL_CHANGE. “The role of community development is to support people and community groups to identify and articulate their needs, and to take practical, collective action to address them. Those who practice community development come from a range of backgrounds and gain their skills and knowledge both from formal qualifications and through practice. Community development can – and should – be practiced in all sectors, whether public, private or voluntary.” This fit Amy and Alannah perfectly.
Amy and Alannah were very interested in pursuing this idea of some version of health care in the rural community. Incidentally, another individual on the CAC is Mr. Joe Gallant who is the Manager of the Horizon Health Centers in Petitcodiac and Salisbury. Having Mr. Gallant’s voice in this proposed endeavor, as the Health Center Manager, was/is very important. Additionally, and coincidentally, at that time, the CAC included UNB Nursing Moncton Clinical Instructor, Mary-Lee Gillis. We formed a team to discuss the proposed idea and what the clinic would look like. During our discussions, we addressed the level of support from Horizon Health throughout, the role of the UNB Nursing Program, the role of the new Municipality – the Community of Three Rivers, my role as a community advocate and leader, where to hold the clinic, advertising and promotion, supplies, the frequency of the Clinic, and reporting, etc. We had several virtual meetings over the course of about three months where we identified specific roles for each member of the team and set a date and time to launch the first Adult Health Screening Clinic.
Be sure to read the next instalment in this series when I talk about community engagement, advertisement, and supplies.
Amy and Alannah were very interested in pursuing this idea of some version of health care in the rural community. Incidentally, another individual on the CAC is Mr. Joe Gallant who is the Manager of the Horizon Health Centers in Petitcodiac and Salisbury. Having Mr. Gallant’s voice in this proposed endeavor, as the Health Center Manager, was/is very important. Additionally, and coincidentally, at that time, the CAC included UNB Nursing Moncton Clinical Instructor, Mary-Lee Gillis. We formed a team to discuss the proposed idea and what the clinic would look like. During our discussions, we addressed the level of support from Horizon Health throughout, the role of the UNB Nursing Program, the role of the new Municipality – the Community of Three Rivers, my role as a community advocate and leader, where to hold the clinic, advertising and promotion, supplies, the frequency of the Clinic, and reporting, etc. We had several virtual meetings over the course of about three months where we identified specific roles for each member of the team and set a date and time to launch the first Adult Health Screening Clinic.
Be sure to read the next instalment in this series when I talk about community engagement, advertisement, and supplies.
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