Local healthcare agencies partnering in the Madawaska Communities Circle of Health

The Madawaska Communities Circle of Health – called MCCH or the “Circle of Health” – is a planning group made up of health and social service agencies that provide care to our community residents. Our rural area has limited access to health and social resources and services, so with the agencies working closely together, they can do more to improve health for our residents.

Members

Presently some of the agencies involved include:

• Killaloe Community Resource Centre
• The Madawaska Valley Association of Community Living
• Renfrew County Paramedic Services
• Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care
• Madawaska Valley Family Health Team
• Algonquins of Pikwakanagan Family Health Team
• South Algonquin Family Health Team
• St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation
• Champlain Gardens
• Champlain Home and Community Care
• Phoenix Centre for Children and Families/Moving on Mental Health
• Addictions Treatment Services
• Renfrew County and District Health Unit
• The Bernadette McCann House
• St. Francis Memorial Hospital (SFMH) and Rainbow Valley Community Health Centre (CHC)
• Valley Manor Long Term Care home
• Barry’s Bay and Area Senior Citizens Home Support Services

Circle accomplishments

This group has identified and successfully started, supported or completed many integration and health improvement activities since its beginning.  Some of these have included:  

• Rainbow Valley Community Health Centre’s integration into St. Francis Memorial Hospital (SFMH)
• shared education among the members
• the creation of the CCAC nursing clinic in the hospital
• the transformation of the SFMH Foundation into the St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation, which now raises money not only for the hospital but also for the Valley Manor Long Term Care home and the Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care
• an MCCH Joint Ethics Advisory Committee
• the broadening of the SFMH Patient and Family Advisory Council to include Barry’s Bay and Area Senior Citizens Home Support Services and Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care
• shared IT services among the member organizations and more
• The new MCCH Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee

The MCCH now has a Facebook page, developed to bring healthcare news to our community using social media. Click HERE to visit Madawaska Communities Circle Of Health | Facebook

Looking towards the future

The members of the Circle are very active players in the development of the Ottawa Valley Ontario Health Team (OVOHT), collaborating with health partners across our region. The OVOHT approach is one of the changes the provincial government has made to try and improve the coordination of health services throughout the region, a goal that is much the same as that of the Circle of Health.

The Circle members, having experienced the benefits of working together, fully support this new Health Team. And even as the Circle and its members are working with the OVOHT, we continue to do what we can to benefit the health and social services ­of the people in the Madawaska Valley area.

If you’re on Facebook, come and “like” our MCCH Facebook page!

Madawaska Communities Circle of Health(2022,July13) MCCH article [for publication]