Oct
26
On September 1st, 2010, the Victoria Community Health Co-operative (VCHC) established its first Co-op Community Health Centre (CCHC) at James Bay within the James Bay Community Project building at 547 Michigan Street. The innovative health centre team consists of four physicians, one nurse practitioner, and several allied and complementary health practitioners including a midwife, mental health counselors, an osteopath, a homeopath, and an energy practitioner. The support staff includes Health Centre Manager Shelley Gurvey along with 4 medical office assistants. Ms Gurvey explains, "Our CCHC is unique in all of BC by bringing the health co-op and community health centre model together with an integrative primary health care approach". Dr. Mark Sherman is one of the physicians at the centre and the President of the VCHC. "Our co-op was set up three years ago with the aim of creating a model of community owned, publicly funded health care in Victoria," says Sherman. "We felt that this could empower our communities in Victoria to lead the way in health care reform and to be more involved in their own health and wellness. Our CCHC is an important step towards this vision."
While patients of the CCHC are welcome and warmly encouraged to become active member participants of the co-operative, it is not a strict requirement. Says Sherman, "We support the Canada Health Act as the foundation of our values, programs and services. All of our doctors, our nurse practitioner, and our midwife are funded by MSP (Medical Services Plan). Our other allied practitioners are privately funded. However, we have created several mechanisms within our co-operative to enable our members to have increased access to these services."
Membership with the VCHC is $50 for a lifetime membership, and then $20 per year afterwards. Membership includes many benefits such as access to 'by-donation' community wellness clinics, health education programming and an online health resources library. Shelley Gurvey explains, "The main benefit of membership with the co-op is that people in our community can become more involved in their co-op through volunteering, voting at general meetings, and participating in our health and wellness programs and services. VCHC is about all of us being a part of health care reform from the ground up."
The new health centre is paving the way in innovation with a full-practice nurse practitioner; group clinical visits for people living with chronic disease challenges such as diabetes and high blood pressure; and a wide array of health education activities soon to be presented. Within the next few months, the CCHC hopes to welcome other practitioners, such as an additional nurse practitioner, a dietitian, an herbalist, and a pharmacist.
On November 27th from 1-4pm, the CCHC will be hosting an Open House in the health centre. The staff and practitioners will be present and eager to provide information. You will be able to learn how you can become more involved. Board Members of the health co-op will be present to answer your questions and a short presentation about the history, vision and future of the health centre and the co-op will take place from
2:00-2:30pm. Please come on out, enjoy some refreshments, meet our team and learn about how we can all share in co-operative health care reform in our own backyard.
For more information on the health co-op, the CCHC or any of the programs and services, please come to the November 27th Open House, contact Shelley Gurvey at
250-388-6811 or shelley.gurvey@victoriahealthcooperative.ca, or refer to the co-op website at . Ask Shelley about becoming a member, or else see details on the website.