Finding a cure for Thorncliffe Park
New primary health-care clinic makes its debut in November
Ahmed Hussein has seen the suffering.
Taxi drivers with chest pains finishing their 12-hour shifts before driving themselves to the local hospital where they succumb to a massive heart attack.
Mothers too overwhelmed by caring for small children and aging parents to go for routine cancer screening, until a breast lump reveals advanced disease.
Children who aren’t immunized and those with developmental delays that go undiagnosed. Immigrant parents in conflict with their Canadian-born teens.
Men in their 40s with untreated diabetes. Others suffering from depression because they are unable to translate their professional credentials into meaningful employment.
“We have so many health needs that are not being met,” said Hussein, head of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office.
The bustling community service agency provides a wide array of programs for the newcomer neighbourhood of 30,000 including settlement, employment, language instruction, school readiness, homework clubs and even Zumba for women and yoga for dads.
But when it comes to health care, residents mostly rely on 16 full-time physicians who practise out of a large walk-in clinic in the East York Town Centre mall and several smaller walk-ins in the area. Few have regular family doctors, he said.
Neighbourhoods of similar size in Toronto’s downtown core have more than 50 doctors.
To address the missing health-care piece, Hussein’s agency has partnered with area hospitals, home care, community health centres, midwives and family health teams to find a solution.
After more than two years of planning, with some successes and failures, Health Access Thorncliffe Park is about to take its next step.
In November, the community is opening a new primary health clinic with a family doctor, registered nurse, dietician and social worker operating under the same roof.
In early 2014, Hussein’s agency and nearby community health clinics in Flemingdon Park and South Riverdale surveyed 800 Thorncliffe residents for their views.
Overwhelmingly, residents said they wanted their health-care providers to work in tandem with area community and social services as part of an integrated health-care hub.
“These new immigrants wish for comprehensive, primary health care integrated with community and social services,” Dr. Tia Pham said in her letter of support for the initiative.
“They wish for family doctors who work hand-in-hand with other providers to improve preventive health care and decrease unnecessary emergency room visits.”
Pham, head of South East Toronto Family Health Team on Coxwell Ave., expanded her house-call service to Thorncliffe Park’s seniors in January in response to the area’s high rate of elderly with no family doctor who end up in hospital.
Thorncliffe Park’s new health clinic will initially operate for a half-day on Fridays in a space donated by the Midwives’ Clinic of East York-Don Mills on Leaside Park Dr. It replaces a half-day pregnancy clinic the group opened in February to respond to the area’s high birth rate. That initiative closed in August due to low demand.
“Even though it’s a baby step, it’s an integrated health-care service,” Hussein said of the new effort. “It’s probably better than the pregnancy clinic, which only targets a few members of the community.”
The pregnancy clinic was designed to serve up to 150 women with annual funding of about $100,000. But just 15 expectant mothers made appointments and only four, including Gillian Lashley, were receiving ongoing care when it closed in August.
“I think it’s good that they are going to be providing other services than just pregnancy,” said Lashley as she cuddled her son Kyrie, who was born on Sept. 17 at Toronto East General Hospital.
“People who live in the area will probably be more likely to use it,” she said.
Hospital vice-president of programs Carmine Stumpo said closing the pregnancy clinic gave the group time to “step back, reflect and reengage with the community.”
Susan Fitzgerald, head of the Toronto Central Health Integration Network, which manages healthcare spending for the area, is optimistic about the new clinic’s future.
The community submitted its proposal for a full-service health-care hub to the province in June. Fitzgerald said she expects her agency will provide more funding later this year to grow the clinic, and she hopes the health ministry approves the larger project as part of its 2016-17 budget.
“Personally, I’m going to do what I can to bring this forward,” she said.
Most health-care centres bring in community services after they are established. But Thorncliffe Park is starting with a well-established network of community services.
Hussein, Stumpo and others hope that by building on that strong foundation, it will be easier to knit health prevention and care into the multicultural fabric of the community.
“We’ve been working very closely with (Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office) on these issues for some time,” said John Elliott, executive director of the Flemingdon Community Health Centre, which will initially oversee the new clinic. “The best use of resources in the long run is a fully integrated model.”