South Island UPCC team members attend primary care forum in Vancouver

In June, Dr. Thuy-Nga (Tia) Pham, co-medical director of South Island Urgent and Primary Care Centres (UPCCs), Estephanie U. Acebedo, clinical nurse leader at Downtown Victoria, Gorge and North Quadra UPCCs, Hayley Diakiw, nurse practitioner at Gorge UPCC, and Davana Harlow, social worker at Downtown Victoria UPCC, gave a presentation and workshop on the future of primary care in B.C. and Canada to a provincial Patient and Citizen Panel at an OurCare forum held in Vancouver.

OurCare forums are being held in many provinces to bring together engaged citizens to make recommendations for key future actions to improve access to high-quality, equitable primary care for their respective provinces. Many members of the public who attended the forum appreciated learning about the expanded role of nurses and nurse practitioners in primary care. 

The B.C. recommendations included expansion of access to team-based primary care. These recommendations were presented to Ministry of Health representatives, representatives from leading health-care organizations and to the general public at the conclusion of the weekend-long OurCare forum.

“The experience was amazing! I really enjoyed meeting the various panelists and speakers who shared their passion and knowledge about ensuring primary care is available to the people of B.C.," says Acebedo. “During our presentation, Dr. Pham, Hayley, Davana and I spoke about how we work and collaborate together to improve access to care, maximizing each team member's scope to the max at our UPCCs in Victoria. We each shared our experiences, expertise and most of all the joys of working collaboratively within such great teams, as well as our vision for providing patient-centered wrap around care to the communities we serve."