Hello Everyone,
It is with great pride that we send out this message of gratitude to all of you who worked on the Primary Health Care Opioid Response Initiative (PHC ORI). Over the last two years, through the combined efforts of our partner organizations and the teams and individuals that made things happen at the provincial, zonal, PCN and local levels, we achieved so much, and we built lasting friendships. We were an amazing team!
A special thanks is deserved for to the amazing people with lived experience that leaned in to assist us in getting it right. The value of their perspective and passion was so critical to our work.
To all the family physicians and teams who continue to build the management of opioid use disorder and chronic pain into your practices, thank you for demonstrating the value of family medicine to your patients, communities, and the health system. You are the most trusted point of care for so many Albertans.
A fully integrated health system that can respond effectively and efficiently to crisis requires us to continue to look for ways of working together, to share successes, to build trust and collaboration, and to drive policy and legislation that allows for resource reallocation and patient centred strategies. The people that joined forces to respond to the opioid crisis recognize the value of this integration, and we need a system that supports this ongoing way of working together.
While the grant is officially complete, our hope is we can continue to harness the passion, commitment and relationships we have built with each other, our communities and with our patients to continue to advance this work and other emerging priorities beyond today.
Thank you to all of you who had a formal or informal role in the success of PHC ORI! We made a difference.
Sincerely,
Terri Potter, PHC ORI Executive Lead, ACFP
2 Responses
Terri, I am not sure if you know how relevant this article is.
The opioid response was the test case for our Provincial/zonal PCN structure. In Calgary Zone we felt like we nailed it operationally.
The opioid success laid the groundwork for the Calgary Zone Pandemic Plan. This was based on the PMH at the heart of the COVID-19 response. It was a hard sell at upper levels of AHS/AH
The Cargill outbreak forced the Plan into action in Calgary Zone and we were amazing. The fallout is a provincial uptake of aN AHS/PCN partnership to bring the PMH to the heart of COVID-19 care across the province
It all started with the opioid response. Thank you!!
Adam,
Thank you for your note. The Calgary Zone PCN opioid response continues to be an amazing example of how the system can integrate and create a collective impact on a public health issue or crisis. I am happy to hear that you see the opioid response as a great test case that prepared us as a province to respond to COVID-19 pandemic.
I am seeing that several other Zone/PCNs are using the tools and pathways that Calgary is working hard to build with primary care input around the COVID response. The spread and scale of best practices is yet another testament to the networks, relationships and communication channels that were built in the last 2 years. I am so pleased to have been involved in the evolution of primary care and AHS community services toward a common goal. I hope we can hold on and create new momentum to get through the challenges ahead.
Cheers,
Terri