Nurse Practitioner Survey

TO: Almaguin Municipalities, Physicians and service providers

RE: Health Care Survey in Almaguin – Focus on Nurse Practitioner

FROM: Nicky Kunkel, Clerk Village of Burk’s Falls

In 2020 the 12 Almaguin communities started the process of creating a region wide Community Safety and Well Being Plan (CSWBP). Through this process we consulted with local agencies and conducted a survey open to all residents of Almaguin. From the survey the top two priorities from the community point of view were access to physical health services (49.28%) and access to services (49.04%).

The structure of the CSWBP is that of an Advisory Committee mandated membership from OPP, School Boards, Mental Health, Children’s Aid, LHINs, and Social Services and municipal representatives. With the results of the survey three Task Forces have been developed (top 3 priorities); one is Health Care.

There have been three task force meetings over the past few months with local health care services and agencies, physicians, and existing committees. The strongest recommendation resulting from these meetings is to recruit physicians to fill gaps and look for alternative opportunities for non-rostered patients. All parties agree that health care in Almaguin is a priority.

The community survey respondent demographic was married females over the age of 36. In total there were 445 responses representing only 2.25% of the Almaguin permanent population. In asking of the overall physical health 46.09% said their health was poor to good. Only 4.94% strongly agreed that access to health care was adequate. When looking for comments on what residents wish they had access to, of the 218 answers, the number one comment, region wide, was the need for a doctor or nurse practitioner then for walk in clinics.

The Almaguin Highlands Health Council, along with other medical center physicians and committees have been working on doctor recruitment with some success but there is still more need required. The Health Task Force also spoke of nurse practitioners and a possible clinic within Almaguin. Work to research this opportunity is on-going and we are now looking for the community’s comments through the attached survey.

There are different governance and set up models to review and all will be considered once we have the feedback of those reporting they need physical health services.

Please widely share the survey so that we obtain the best information in forming how to move forward.

If you have any information regarding health care statistics or wait lists that you can share, we would be excited to add that to our research and ultimately our decision making/recommendations.

Thank you for sharing and the assistance in keeping health care in Almaguin a priority.