There is good news if you are among the “orphaned patients” looking for a Primary Health Care Provider here in the Valley. There is now only one telephone number that you need to know and that is the number for the Madawaska Valley Family Health Team (MV FHT) — 613.756.9888 option 5. (MV FHT above from left: Stacie Wojick, Tierney Lunney, Craig O’Brien, Susan Farrar, Rosa Etmanskie.) Susan Farrar, the team’s Executive Director, recently told The Current why.
One number to call + one list to get on = no gap in coverage
Since the FHT launched just over six months ago, staff have been busy assessing community needs. The FHT now manages a single list of all the unrostered patients in the Valley. This means that, for example, if your Primary Health Care Provider retired last year or if you have moved here from another region, you no longer need to put your name on multiple lists, or register with Health Care Connect unless you want to. Your first step should be to get yourself on the MV FHT’s consolidated waiting list because:
- MV FHT staff manage the list for the Valley’s Health Care Providers;
- They give priority to patients on that list, over the Health Care Connect list;
- They prioritize patients with high needs where possible (see note below);
- MV FHT have merged the lists from all local Primary Health Care Providers. If they succeed in getting you rostered with one of them, that will trigger an automatic de-roster from your doctor elsewhere. So you won’t experience a gap that leaves you without a Primary Health Care Provider.
How it works
To find a Primary Health Care Provider in the Valley, just call the MV FHT on 613.756.9888. Select Option 5 and ask FHT staff to put you on the waiting list for a Primary Health Care Provider.
MV FHT staff prioritize high need patients on the waiting list. Please note that for privacy reasons, MV FHT staff are not allowed to ask you for relevant medical information so you may need to be proactive to ensure they recognize any needs you may have.
That all-important number again: MV FHT 613.756.9888 Option 5 to get on the waiting list.
