Our Purpose
The purpose of the Federation is to support and promote health care co-operatives in Canada.
This has been an exciting year. While Canadians are becoming increasingly concerned about health care, health care co-operatives across the country are meeting the needs of their communities . With services ranging from home care to support for people with developmental delays to integrative primary health care centres, these co-ops respond uniquely and cost-effectively to the needs of the communities in which their member-owners live. Internationally they cover everything from primary health care in Japan to large hospitals, addiction recovery, ambulance services and hospices in countries as diverse as Italy, Brazil, and the USA.
In 2011, the Health Care Co-op sector in Canada took a major step forward. We recognized that we needed a much higher profile so that the public and government would recognize that we provide cost effective solutions based on the specific needs of each community, owned and controlled by each community, with care, not profit, as the motivation. We also want health professionals, the public and potential volunteers and supporters to know why our work in the health co-ops is so satisfying.
After much preparation by John Anderson and Mark Goldblatt of the Canadian Co-operative Association supported by Doug Wright of The Co-operators, arrangements were completed by mid-2011 for the formation of the Health Care Co-operatives Federation of Canada. Thirty representatives from Health co-ops from across Canada attended the inaugural meeting in Regina on July 9th. We had two days of getting to know each other, learning our challenges and successes, and taking the formal steps to establish the Federation. Health co-ops and organizations which operate in a co-operative manner even if they are not incorporated as co-ops from each province selected a representative to act as a Director for the Federation. We are currently discussing the option of also having three at-large Board members. Each Director is contacting health co-ops in her province to explain the work of the Federation and encourage them to join.
Our overall purpose is to promote and support health co-operatives.
Over the past four months we have met with health co-operatives and their friends across Canada, and benefited from the research and dedication of academics. We anticipate that our focus for the next six months will include sharing information about our own co-ops, learning about introducing new services, hearing what others are doing around the world, and telling our story as the Health Care Co-op sector of Canada.
With dedicated Boards and strong community support, health co-ops provide community leadership in achieving the basics of good primary health care. Many are moving towards integrative primary wellness care –identifying and dealing with problems at the earliest stages, and helping every individual to achieve optimum wellness. Health Care Co-operatives can take a larger role in meeting the important objectives of timely access to primary care, continuity in practitioner-patient relationship, and active participation by patients to maximize efficiency and minimize patient suffering.
Because co-operatives naturally focus on community benefits rather than personal profit they also offer an ideal environment for internationally trained health practitioners to integrate into our system, a great way to address the anomaly of well trained doctors and nurses being unable to serve their communities.
Health co-ops can play a much larger role in providing the appropriate, affordable, accessible care mandated in the Canada Health Act. We can shift the emphasis from “medical” intervention by professionals to “health and wellness” in which each of us acts for our own long-term health, surely a priority when we recognize the fact that we need to stay healthy for several decades longer than our parents and grand-parents.
To find out more about the Health Care Co-operatives Federation of Canada, or how a Health Care Co-operative can serve your community, please contact any of our Board members.
With best wishes for a new year of optimum wellness,
yours co-operatively,
Vanessa Hammond
Chair: Health Care Co-operatives Federation of Canada
Health Care Co-operatives Federation of Canada 2011 Board
Phyllis MacDonald, Pictou County Home Health Care Co-operative Ltd
244 Granville, New Glasgow, NS B2H 4Y7
902-558-1139 pbmacdonald@ns.sympatico.ca
Vice-Chair of the Federation. Covering Atlantic Canada, but seeking representatives from the other provinces.
Doug Dowhos, Team Werks Co-op,
St Joseph's Health Centre, 710 Victoria Ave E, Thunder Bay, ON P7C 5P7
Phone: 807-343-4380 dowhosd@tbh.net
Also representing the Federation at meetings of the Ontario Co-op Association and working on our by-laws.
Lorna Knudson, Director of Operations,
Regina Community Clinic, 1106 Winnipeg Street
Regina, Saskatchewan S4R 1J6
(306) 543-7880 extension #312 lknudson@reginacommunityclinic.ca
Very efficient Secretary-Treasurer of the Association and the contact point for joining the Federation.
Nancy Heinrichs, Executive Director
NorWest Co-op Community Health
103-61 Tyndall Avenue Winnipeg, MB R2X 2T4
Phone: 204-940-2020 E-mail: nheinrichs@wrha.mb.ca
Recently volunteered to serve on the Board, bringing a wealth of sector expertise.
Yvonne Chiu, Multicultural Health Brokers Co-op Ltd.,
10867 – 97 Street, Edmonton, AB T5H 2M6
Phone: (780) 423-1973 Fax: (780) 428-2748 mchb@mchb.org yvonnechiu@shaw.ca
Outstanding community organizer, taking the health co-op message beyond the sector, hearing the needs of the community and the sector.
Vanessa Hammond, Vice-Chair, Victoria Community Health Co-op, Victoria, BC
250 586-8910 Cell 250 415-9272 vanessa.co-op@shaw.ca
Chair of the Federation and happy to discuss any aspect of the Federation.