'one increment at a time': new funding ensures newborns and parents won’t lose access to primary care
4 minute read
tracey zoobkoff, the integrated care co-ordinator at the queensway carleton hospital, back left, poses with a family that now has a family doctor, left to right: elian aguilar jimenez, diana patricia jimenez lopez, baby harjass kaur jimenez and manpreet singh.
jean levac
/
postmedia
bringing home a newborn baby comes with uncertainties.
for diana jimenez and manpreet singh, finding a doctor for their daughter wasn’t one of them.
before harjass kaur jimenez was born at queensway carleton hospital, her family had already been matched with a family doctor through its newborn primary care attachment initiative. available only to families delivering at queensway carleton hospital and almonte general hospital, the program was created to help newborns find primary care, but is increasingly connecting parents with physicians alongside their babies.
the match ended the family’s two-year search for primary care and connected them with a doctor close to home.
“it means a lot because, for the last two years, we didn’t have a doctor,” singh said. “with this help, we have a family doctor now. it’s really wonderful.”
jimenez said she had relied on walk-in clinics for years and it was often hard to have consistency with doctors.
“it was so complicated to find a space for a doctor,” she said. “now everything will be easier for us.”
the ottawa west four rivers ontario health team has extended funding for the initiative until march 31, 2027, allowing it to continue matching families with family physicians and nurse practitioners even while its long-term future remains uncertain.
the initiative comes as ontario continues to face a family doctor shortage. the ontario medical association estimates more than 2.5 million people in the province do not have family doctors, while more than half of family doctors surveyed said they were considering retirement within the next five years.
since launching in january, the newborn primary care attachment initiative has connected 445 patients to ongoing primary care. it has also built a network of more than 85 clinics and more than 65 family doctors and nurse practitioners willing to accept new patients.
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for tracey zoobkoff, the nurse care co-ordinator behind the initiative, those numbers tell only part of the story.
what has surprised her most is how often a call about a newborn leads to care for an entire family.
“my goal was simply to find primary care for every newborn leaving queensway carleton or almonte general hospital without a provider,” zoobkoff said. “the fact that physicians are now rostering mothers, fathers and sometimes siblings has gone beyond my wildest dreams.”
she has seen the same pattern repeat dozens of times.
“they’ll ask me, ‘does mom have a provider?’ then they’ll ask, ‘what about dad?'” she said. “they say, ‘we might as well keep the family together.'”
zoobkoff laughed when asked if finding the right doctor was a bit like using a dating app.
“yes, exactly,” she said.
the comparison isn’t far off. before making a match, she considers where a family lives, whether they have access to a car, whether language or cultural considerations matter and which clinics are accepting patients.
the goal isn’t simply to find a family doctor, but to find one that’s a good long-term fit.
manpreet singh, left, baby harjass kaur jimenez, diana patricia jimenez lopez and elian aguilar jimenez now have a family doctor.
jean levac
/
postmedia
for jimenez and singh, who came to canada from mexico and india, respectively, that thoughtful approach paid off.
“she found a doctor quite near our place in barrhaven, and that’s going to make things a lot easier,” singh said.
zoobkoff said her role drew on the same passion that defined her career as a postpartum nurse, allowing her to continue supporting families in a different way.
“i have always been passionate about supporting families and their babies during such an important time in their lives,” she said. “while my role has changed, my commitment to helping families has not.”
some of the moments she remembers most come after she delivers the good news about finding a doctor.
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“i’ve had many mothers cry,” zoobkoff said. “they tell me they’ve spent their whole pregnancy worrying about finding a physician, and now that’s one thing they don’t have to worry about anymore.”
the additional funding provides breathing room, but not permanence.
“it’s all about funding,” zoobkoff said. “we just go one increment at a time.”
she said hospitals in other regions had contacted her to learn how the program worked, and she hoped more family doctors in ottawa would reach out to her to join the network.
“the more providers i have, the more people i can help,” she said.
jimenez and singh believe the program should become permanent.
“i think this program should be permanent because it’s going to make a big difference for families who are struggling to have a family doctor,” singh said.
for the couple, the impact is simple: their daughter has a doctor for her first checkups and vaccinations and her parents have access to the same physician.
that outcome is exactly what zoobkoff hopes to achieve every time another baby is born.
“we don’t leave babies behind.”
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