Our Impact

A growing B.C. initiative is proving that most people identified as allergic to penicillin actually aren’t. By safely assessing patients in community settings, care teams are improving treatment options, cutting costs, and strengthening antibiotic stewardship province-wide.

Through shared learning, the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Skills Group Program is breaking barriers to mental health care—offering early, practical support for patients and physicians, and strengthening access in communities across BC.

A collaborative care team is reshaping maternity care for rural families in Northern BC. Learn how the Chickadee Maternity Collaborative is combining midwifery, physician and nursing care to provide more time, support, and connection for patients while enhancing the well-being of providers.

When Dawson Creek faced a maternity care shortage, local physicians and a midwife launched a program to help expectant parents give birth closer to home—welcomed by loved ones and supported by a strong, connected care team.

A new care pathway developed by Shared Care-funded doctors helps bridge the gap between primary care and specialists with a standardized, evidence-based approach.
 

Physicians in British Columbia are at the forefront of preventive health care, championing opportunistic salpingectomy (OS) as a transformative approach to reducing ovarian cancer risk.

This innovative procedure involves removing the fallopian tubes during a hysterectomy or other pelvic surgeries for women who have finished having children or are undergoing surgery for non-cancer-related reasons.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Skills Groups for Indigenous-only patient groups are increasing mental health care access to a more culturally safe and relevant environment for a patient population that has faced widespread discrimination and systemic racism.

Through team-based innovation and new family practitioners in the Kootenay Boundary region, more than 27,600 residents have been connected to primary care in the past five years. 

Dr Jeffrey Poon’s patients now face shorter wait times for joint replacements, thanks to a team-based approach he implemented through the Consultant Specialist Team Care program, improving efficiency, patient access, and team morale.

Sometimes system change starts with people, not policies. In Surrey-North Delta, creating space for authentic connection between Family Physicians and Community Health Nurses has built trust, teamwork, and lasting relationships—transforming how older adults with complex needs experience care and helping them thrive safely at home. 

New family physicians in rural communities often face professional isolation and complex systems. Learn more about how the East Kootenay New to Practice Physician Network, launched in 2023 with JCC funding, is working to address these challenges by offering mentorship, peer support, and skill-building opportunities.

Many women face hidden heart risks following pregnancy complications. Learn how local physicians and community partners collaborated to create the Campbell River BiRCH Clinic, offering specialized postpartum cardiac care, virtual access, and education to help women protect their long-term heart health. 

Starting September 1, 2025, updates to fee-for-service billing will be implemented for Group Medical Visits that aim to enhance patient care, support patient-physician interactions, and ensure the long-term sustainability of virtual care in BC. Read about these important changes for both specialists and family physicians. 

Policing, as Sergeant Mike Grandia knows, is ultimately about people, not simply enforcement. To support his team and colleagues, Sergeant Granda invited Shared Care-funded physicians to lead a day-long workshop on trauma-informed practices with Surrey Police Service officers and staff.  

Cardiologist Dr Daisy Dulay and pharmacist Michael Matula joined forces to develop a more effective approach to caring for heart failure patients in rural British Columbia.

Urgent appointments are being dealt with more appropriately—in clinic rather than hospital—in Central Saanich thanks to the physician quality improvement project led by family physician Sienna Bourdon.

Dr Bourdon noticed that Saanich Peninsula Hospital emergency room (ER) was being overwhelmed in 2022-23, with more than 1,000 patient visits for medical issues that could potentially have been treated at the Shoreline Medical clinics.

The Ridge Meadows Division of Family Practice (Division) recently hosted BC’s Health Minister Josie Osborne to celebrate the work and collaboration happening in the community’s health care system.

On April 25th, partners and staff presented work the Division is leading to improve health care locally, as well as practice supports to retain physicians, funding partnerships, and strategies to enhance physician recruitment and enable patient attachment.

The Shared Care Committee is funding a range of projects across BC to help address challenges in cancer care.

Alongside the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), BC Cancer, and the Ministry of Health, the committee launched a Call for Proposals in summer 2024. More than 40 applications were submitted, with 15 Expressions of Interest (EOIs) selected for funding.

Priority areas included pain and symptom management, improving diagnostic pathways, and transitions in care (including unattached patients and Community Oncology Networks).

While working in urgent care, walk-in clinics, and hospital settings during the pandemic, Dr Cal Shapiro was so disheartened to see unattached patients coming in with late-stage cancers that he and his colleague, Dr Stuart Bax, decided to do something about it.

Do you use the JCC websites? Tell us about your experience!

We're looking for 8-10 physicians to join one 45-minute Zoom discovery session to answer questions about the JCC websites. Your feedback will be used to improve the website user experience.

Topics include how you navigate the sites and online tools, and identifying improvements.

JCC websites include:

On May 19, we proudly celebrate World and BC Family Doctor Day. A time to recognize the incredible work of family physicians across our province. 

We are deeply grateful for your continued commitment to delivering high-quality patient care. Amid ongoing changes and challenges, you remain steadfast in your commitment and dedication to your patients, continually going above and beyond to care for them and their families. 

Dr Sand Russell-Atkinson knows the value of a good coach. 

The Comox family physician sought help from FPSC’s Practice Support Program (PSP) last year for panel maintenance ahead of a quality improvement project on congestive heart failure.  

The support has helped to keep her on track, focus on relevant goals of practice improvement, and stay accountable, Dr Russell-Atkinson says. 

Dr Brenda Hefford knows first-hand the value of collaboration and connection. 

This approach to leadership has served Dr. Hefford well over the past 20 years during a journey in which she championed primary care in BC’s health care system.  

Now after nearly 11 years at Doctors of BC, Dr Hefford has retired from her role as the Doctors of BC vice-president for physician affairs and community practice, with the intent of slowing down and focusing more on enhancing her clinical practice.  

Dr Kevin Martin

Dr Kevin Martin is the newest Doctors of BC appointee to the Family Practice Services Committee.

Burnaby Hospital is reducing last-minute surgical cancellations and improving patient readiness through an innovative prehabilitation program. Funded by a grant from Doctors of BC, through the Specialist Services Committee (SSC) and its Perioperative Clinical Action Network (PCAN), the program aims to optimize patient health and streamline the surgical pathway. This initiative emerged from frustrations among anesthesiologists and surgeons who found that pre-admission assessments occurred too late for meaningful intervention.

An innovative health initiative is reshaping patient care in Victoria, reducing hospital stays while delivering equal or superior medical outcomes. Launched in 2019 by Drs. Shauna Tierney and Elizabeth Crisci, the Hospital at Home (HaH) program provides comprehensive hospital-level care directly to the homes of low-risk adult patients, offering the comfort and convenience of receiving medical services in a familiar environment.

Chilliwack, B.C., is redefining how smaller communities address the family doctor shortage with an innovative strategy that’s getting attention across the province. While physician recruitment remains a widespread challenge, Chilliwack is demonstrating that creativity and collaboration can pave the way for sustainable health care solutions.

Dr Sabrina Nurmohamed, a dermatologist practicing in New Westminster, is tackling the pervasive challenge of long wait times in dermatology with an innovative, team-based approach. Facing a critical backlog, Dr. Nurmohamed recognized the need for a more effective and accessible system.

Medical imaging is going green in BC.

Computed tomography (CT) scanners and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines throughout BC consume hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-hours per year, but the Shared Care-funded CT Green project team believes they have found a way to save time, money and energy in medical imaging.

The Shared Care team sat down with attendees at the Shared Care Partners in Care event in Victoria, on October 17, 2024. Dr Cal Shapiro, Dr Stuart Bax, and April Bonise met with the Shared Care team to provide insights into their experience at this quality improvement-focused conference.

Shared Care (SC): Thank you for taking the time to chat with us today. Firstly, were there any “a-ha!” moments for you today?

The prospect of a surgical procedure can be stressful for patients, who worry they may have not done all they can to ensure they’re in an optimal state to undergo the procedure.

The Shared Care-funded, and Specialist Services Committee-supported Preoperative Risk Assessment and Triage Tool (PRATT) hopes to alleviate those concerns among patients and physicians.

With nearly a third of its population consisting of residents aged 65 and older, seniors’ care is a crucial health priority for the South Okanagan-Similkameen (SOS) region. As people age, they increasingly depend on medical services, with family physician and specialist visits becoming more frequent. In a region with limited access to geriatric services, team-based care and community resources play a central role in patients’ care journeys.

It started with one phone call. In 2023, four doctors drive along Highway 97 as the early morning summer sun kissed the Coastal and Rocky Mountain ranges. Travelling from 100 … Continued

A Rural Pre-Medicine program started in the Kootenays 10 years ago to bring more doctors to rural communities is proving successful as a launching pad for careers in professional health. Takaia Larsen and Jonathan Vanderhoek, RPM Program Coordinators at Selkirk College in Castlegar, say the partnership between the Joint Standing Committee on Rural Issues (JSC) and Selkirk College in 2014 has been effective in improving rural recruitment and retention. The JSC funded the program.

As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, mental health care heads into what is arguably its most challenging season. But education on community resources and a more collaborative approach to care can make all the difference...

Physicians, healthcare teams and leaders gathered in Vancouver for the 8th annual JCC Pre-Forum held on June 6, 2023. Hosted in partnership with Health Quality BC, the day was an opportunity to regroup, reflect and evolve.

To understand why creating culturally safe health care facilities is vital, you must examine the wider systems at play. Understanding the atrocities that Indigenous Peoples have faced is a long and complex process, and the reality is that the foundation for most policies and practices has been based on colonial and racist points of views.

For many of us, our daily chores, commutes, and downtime is soundtracked by our favourite podcasts. They make niche information more accessible, more understandable, and more engaging. Dr Shyr Chui, a radiologist at University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, and co-host Deanna Danskin, a Physician Quality Improvement (PQI) coach, interview a broad range of physicians and health care leaders on their show, Qualitycast North...

In order to provide better patient access to longitudinal care, the Surrey-North Delta Division of Family Practice is working hard to optimize placement experiences for recruiting and retaining family physicians.

In recent years, the well-being of physicians and other health care workers has been a major talking point on a global scale, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressures on morale and overall health. High staff turnover in health care settings, moral injury, and compounded exhaustion created difficulties for doctors already feeling the strain—and thoughts quickly turned to ways to make positive changes. In 2021, the Medical Staff Society (MSS) at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital in Cranbrook came up with a simple and effective way to build solid relationships, boost physician wellbeing, and create strong bonds in their workplace...