According to Jonathan Bennett, Chair of the committee attempting to bring a Community Health Centre (CHC) to Peterborough, the City and region represents a “doughnut hole” when it comes to providing healthcare. His point was illustrated by an image which marked out CHCs across the province and showed that Peterborough and the surrounding areas are isolated despite its population and location.

“This is just a really powerful visual that we like to focus on,” he stated bluntly to Councillors during an October 2nd General Committee meeting. “We have at least 20,000 unattached patients in our community and many are complex and they can overwhelm the emergency department.”

There are currently 101 CHCs across the province and according to Bennett, each one looks a little different depending on the needs of the community. 

Widespread community support for the development of a Peterborough CHC has been growing since Bennett and his partners put forward an application in June of this year following the Ontario budget’s inclusion of $30M for the development of new health teams across the province. Decisions on funding are expected later this year.

Over 1,600 signatures have been collected alongside 38 letters of support from agencies and partner organizations from around the City and 15 letters from more than 30 local physicians have been received in recent weeks. 

A CHC is meant to adapt to the needs of a particular community and the staffing and services provided reflect those which best suit a specific location.

“You might find mental health and addiction support, maybe specialized diabetes care, maybe foot programs, peer navigation, physiotherapy, or parenting supports food kitchens, after school kinds of programming,” Bennett told Council. 

Significantly, CHCs are well equipped to provide care to members of the public who have difficulty or concerns with accessing healthcare in emergency rooms, hospitals, or who do not have a primary care physician. 

Bennett took care to note that he has been having deep and important conversations with Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, Director of Trent University’s First People’s House of Learning, about how best to ensure the future Peterborough CHC embodies a shared governance model which prioitizes Indigenous health care practices being delivered in a respectful manner. 

“Most CHC serve equity deserving populations who face barriers to accessing traditional primary health care,” Bennett said. “CHCs provide an anchor for community planning around issues such as homelessness, substance abuse, newcomers, settlement, etc. They really do act as a kind of glue in the community when it comes to social services and community-based healthcare.”

CHCs are also a means by which Peterborough can attract and retain physicians in the area as many new graduates are seeking out a greater degree of work-life balance.

“These are folks that are graduating after a long period of time, and they're coming into the profession with a different view on how they want their life to look,” Bennett said. “Back in the day, they worked 18-hour days, and they came to people's houses, and it was more than just a profession, it was everything. 

“We face a real crisis in our community in the next 10 years in primary care, unless we can develop a diversity of models, we're going to be bereft of primary care,” he warned Council. 

Bennett made a point of providing examples of physicians, psychiatrists, and nurse practitioners he has spoken to who have expressed interest in relocating in order to work at a CHC should this bid be successful in Peterborough. 

Quoting former medical director of Hospice Peterborough, Dr. John Beamish, Bennett stated “we know this is a model that's been in other parts of the province successfully. It doesn't need piloting. It's been proven over and over and over again. It delivers what it promises on and it's our turn, and we've been missed before but now it's our time.”

The goal, according to Bennett, is to attain $8.2M in core provincial funding which will support a team of 10 doctors and nurse practitioners alongside an additional 35 staff made up of healthcare providers operating out of a low barrier site downtown. With this team and location, Bennett and his partners anticipate that they will be able to provide care to 6,000 currently unattached patients in the area.

During discussion, Councillor Dave Haacke, however, plainly stated that “the last thing the downtown needs, I think, at this point is another low-barrier access point.”

Not all Councillors had such a dire and stigmatizing view of the prospect of a CHC in the downtown. Town Ward Councillor Alex Bierk referenced the film Jerry McGuire and the famous line “You had me at hello” when he began his remarks, stating just how important the prospect of a CHC was before asking for Bennett to clarify whether or not the CHC was a public or private entity. 

Bennett told Councillors that CHCs are not for profit charity organizations and that the Peterborough CHC is currently registered as a non-profit, but will begin the process of becoming a charity when appropriate. 

“One of the great things that CHS can do is they can raise money, they can have capital campaigns, they can, you know, have foundations and generate income from lots of sources, not just ministry core funding,” Bennett explained.

Councillor Kevin Duguay sought to clarify whether or not the $8.2M referenced by Bennett was solely for operations or if any of it would be used for capital expenses once a temporary space arises and whether Bennett anticipates his Board seeking monetary support from Council for building expenses. 

In response to this question Bennett was careful in noting the length of time this would take, but noted his hopes in working with the City to find a suitable locally designed solution for where the CHC would be and once that becomes clear he would be back before Council to discuss future plans and “come up with the right solution at that time.”

The Peterborough Community Health Centre Report was recived unanimously for information and a ratifying vote will take place at the October 23rd Council Meeting.