Heart of Family Medicine

In this episode, Dr. Shirley Schipper bravely shares personal experiences and tribulations she has faced as a woman in leadership positions over the years. Listen to Dr. Schipper's honest take on the good, the bad, and the hope for equitable opportunities for leaders in medicine.

Having started his professional career as a civil engineer, Dr. Allan Bailey quickly realized that his astute problem solving and systems thinking skills could quickly be transplanted into a different sector—health care. Realizing his childhood dream, Dr. Bailey found a new path in family medicine and has been building connections with his patients and community partners ever since.

Meet AIVCC Medical Director, Dr. Amy Gausvik and family physician Nicole Cardinal as they discuss the recent launch of the Alberta Indigenous Virtual Care Clinic—its purpose and importance in providing adaptive, community-based care for remote and rural patient populations. More information on the AIVCC can be found at https://aivcc.ca/.

Drs. Marjan Abbasi and Sheny Khera have created and lead real and tangible positive change for the senior patient population by developing a primary health care model for healthy aging. Rooted in the Patient's Medical Home (PMH) vision, Drs. Abbasi and Khera designed a proactive and preventative care model by including the patient, their families, and the care teams who support them in the design, development, and implementation of it. The wholistic and comprehensive care model not only looks at the PMH vision but the whole health and wellness neighbourhood primary care networks and partner organizations can provide.

Finding a way to connect the dots to solve the big problems family physicians and their practices face is what keeps Dr. Scott Garrison going. Learn how a simple conversation with his patient informed his passion to help family physicians answer the big questions and changed his professional trajectory.

Westlock family doctor, Noel DaCunha has been the town family doctor for 30 years. He has developed relationships with his patients that span over four or five generations in some cases. Learn more about what it's like to be a rural family doctor; why he continues to choose to practise in rural Alberta and how he finds optimism in this trying time.

In this episode you will hear from Dr. Doug Woudstra, an Edmonton family physician who had a drive and desire to do more after having established a career in physical therapy. His desire took him abroad to get a first-hand look at global health. After working as a volunteer in Gabon in Central Africa and rural South Africa, Dr. Woudstra returned to Canada to work in rural medicine in Alberta and finally settled in Edmonton. Having a broad breadth of experience, Dr. Woudstra discusses the special bond family physicians and patients build of time and the necessity to protect Alberta's legacy of strong primary health care.

Dr. Sudha Koppula not only serves and cares for her patients and their families but she is also fortunate enough to have a health team of colleagues helping her every step of the way to do so. Be it preventative care, a patient in crisis, or navigating safely through a pandemic, patient care is at the center of the Patient's Medical Home. The MUHC's design was not by accident, building an PMH was intentional as infrastructure to support a PMH is critical. Creating strong PMH health teams is an important and deliberate effort to build trusted relationships among patients, their family doctors, and their PMH health teams. And nurturing a patient relationship over time is at the foundation of family medicine and essential to a PMH. Listen to Sudha's story and how she and her practice are making a difference.

Dr. Bonnie Larson reveals a few of the mechanism's family physicians can leverage to create meaningful and lasting social change. Identifying the systemic health inequities is only the first step in this long-term journey, it's also met with advocacy and empowerment of the patient in front of you. Find out more through Dr. Larson's journey of implementation from a locally organized grassroot movements to addressing a global pandemic.

Thank you for tuning into the Alberta College of Family Physician's podcast The Heart of Family Medicine. This podcast will explore stories that demonstrate the unique and trusted relationships that Albertans have with their family physicians. The interviews and stories will communicate the collective contributions, capabilities, and commitments of family physicians to the people of Alberta. Family physicians have a special role in the health care system due to their broad scope of practice and relationships with other healthcare providers. They work diligently both within and outside of their practices to provide excellent care to their patients and contribute to the health of their communities and the advancement of family medicine. We often define the specialty of family medicine using the head, the hands, and the heart as an analogy. With the head encompassing the medical information and knowledge gathered during medical school; the hands acting as the catalyst to apply the skills and knowledge developed; and lastly the compassion and the emotional intelligence to be able to connect and communicate with the people they serve symbolizing the Heart of Family Medicine. We hope you enjoy our podcast and continue to hear more from us. Signing off, this is Terri Potter, the executive director of the Alberta College of Family Physicians.