By Dr. Leah Phillips Pros, Cons, and Options Addiction, like many health issues, is complex. There are multiple reasons why people develop problems with substance use, however, evidence shows that mental illness and trauma are related factors. Canada’s opioid crisis disproportionally impacts people with lower incomes, the unemployed, those with disabilities, and Indigenous people who…
Read MoreThe Challenge of Complexity
By Dr. Cathy Scrimshaw & Dr. Leah Phillips To enlarge the image on the right, click here. Given the current precarious state of health care in Alberta, we are reminded now more than ever about the challenge of complexity. We are challenged by our patients’ conditions, by our health care system, and by our own…
Read MoreBehind the Scenes – Get to Know the CMN Coordinators
Over the past year, the CMN has grown to include more than 250 members from different professions and backgrounds with a passion for chronic pain and/or substance use. Behind every Virtual Collaboration Forum, educational event, member welcome email, and more are CMN Coordinators Kerri McNabb (pictured left) and Agatha Grochowski (pictured right). When you reach…
Read MoreUp Your Chronic Pain Game! – FREE Pain BC Courses
CMN members can take advantage of this accredited opportunity to help manage chronic pain in their practice. The CMN has partnered with Pain BC to offer three valuable courses to members, free of charge. These courses include “Pain Foundations for Primary Care” ($280 value), “Pain Foundations for Allied Health Providers” ($280 value), and “Gentle Movement…
Read MoreConnect Care: Centralizing Operational Processes – Updating Forms
July 6, 2021 – AHS Memo Alberta Health Services (AHS) has implemented a “Request for Provider/Prescriber Set-Up in Health Information Systems” form to allow community providers to advise different groups within AHS and affiliated organizations of new information or changes to: Provider/prescriber name; professional and Connect Care identifiers; practice location(s); locum status Clinic/location/client/office name, demographics…
Read MorePEIP 2021 Registration Now Open!
Celebrating 10 Years of PEIP October 22-23, 2021 The ACFP and PEER are excited to bring you another year of the latest information in primary care that is concise, relevant to family medicine, and free of industry bias. Standard Pricing – Ends September 30th at 11:59 pm (MT) Whether you attend in person or virtually,…
Read MoreChronic Pain – It’s Not About the Cure, It’s About the Context
By Dr. Leah Phillips “Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.” – Marcel Proust All people feel pain; pain is unavoidable. Yet for some, pain is an uninvited dictator in their lives. It taunts and angers them from the beginning to…
Read MoreA Patient’s Journey with Pain – Finding HELP AB
By Agatha Grochowski Tracy Fossum has been in a long-term relationship with chronic pain for as long as she can remember. Through the years, Tracy’s pain became harder to manage. “I felt very unstable. I didn’t know what it meant and where it was going… I didn’t understand what was happening to me.” Even with…
Read MoreThe (em)Power of Pathways
Better Care for Patients: Learning from Jocelan Yeomans, Individual with Lived Experience By the age of 23, Jocelan Yeomans found herself married with three children. With a difficult childhood behind her, she felt overwhelmed and ill equipped at this stage of her life. Things took a turn when a friend introduced her to crack cocaine,…
Read MoreRhPAP Feature – The CMN Benefits for Rural Physicians
Learn more about the Collaborative Mentorship Network experience from rural physicians Drs. Janine Karpakis, Joseph Ojedokun, and Dino Smilijic and how it has provided them peer-to-peer support and resources for treating chronic pain and addiction. For the full article visit the RhPAP Website:
Read More2021 ACFP Awards – Call for Nominations
Deadline to nominate: April 1, 2021 Honour the exceptional family physicians, clinics, residents, and medical students, who advance excellence in family medicine and contribute to the health of communities across Alberta. Nominate a colleague or peer today! 2020 ACFP Award Recipients Watch our 2020 ACFP Award Recipients who were recently celebrated at our Virtual Family…
Read MoreWhat is Connect Care?
bridge.connect-care.ca/2021/02/03.html(opens in a new tab) Original Post Date: September 27, 2019 Post Update: February 18, 2021 Call to Action for Primary Care and Community Providers: Connect Care Identifiers and Wave Sequencing Update Connect Care will launch Wave 3 at sites in the former Peace Region of North Zone on April 10, 2021. All community providers…
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