As we near the end of the year, I reflect upon the various activities that have occurred throughout 2018.
The ACFP has been a leader in the Opioid Response Initiative, a collaboration with the Alberta Medical Association and Alberta Health Services which included a grant from Alberta Health to fund an emergency response to the opioid crisis. With this funding, we are enabling Primary Care Networks across the province to improve capacity for providing opioid agonist therapy, providing education to providers and looking at ways to improve service delivery. It is a made in Alberta solution to a complex problem impacting many across the province and the country.
We had successful events including the earliest sell-out of our Annual Scientific Assembly (with an exciting rebranding announcement to Family Medicine Summit – March 1-3, 2019) and over 600 attendees in person and by webcast for our Practical Evidence for Informed Practice conference. Our First Five Years in Practice committee hosted their first event in June with a well received practice management session focusing on tax tips.
After hitting #200 towards the end of 2017, the continued dedication of our hard-working Evidence Based Medicine team has continued to provide high quality Tools for Practice summaries to assist with making informed decisions in our practices.
Our leadership registry, engageprimarycare.ca has continued to assist in placing primary care representation into settings across the province to ensure the voice of Family Medicine is heard in decisions impacting our health care system.
Our Board, committees and ACFP staff have continued to work hard to provide educational initiatives and advocate for primary care across the province. I thank them all for their ongoing dedication.
It has been a busy and successful year. I look forward to further accomplishments in the year ahead.
I wish everyone a joyous holiday season and best wishes for the new year.
Please contact me any time at acfppres@acfp.ca.
Vishal Bhella, MD, CCFP
President
Alberta College of Family Physicians
