Health Providers Against Poverty

Apr 25, 2014

The Prevent More To Treat Less joint conference between Public Health and Primary Care was held on June 4-5, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario.

Health Providers Against Poverty members Kathy Hardill, Monika Dutt, and Katie Dorman hosted a 90-minute workshop on Lessons Learned From Nine Years of Education, Engagement, and Political Advocacy. They described the origins and upstream successes of our organization, provided a frank critique on what has worked and the challenges encountered, and lead an interactive session aimed to identify priority areas for work around poverty and health in Ontario.

Thirty members of the health care sector including health professional students, front-line providers, health centre board members, and representatives from professional organizations participated in the workshop. Priorities for future efforts were identified in a small group breakout session and were finalized by consensus through e-mail following the conference.

The priorities identified were:

1. Income Inequity
   1. Apply clinical interventions at the individual client level to optimize income
   2. Reduce income inequity through provincial and national policies such as increased social assistance and minimum wage, mandatory living wage, or a guaranteed annual income
2. Health of People Who Are Homeless or Precariously Housed
   1. Enhance access to primary care through service models that increase equity
   2. Increase access to safe and affordable housing, as well as shelter space as long as necessary
3. Dental Care
   1. Increase access to dental services through advocacy for expanded coverage, i.e. universal dental coverage
4. Medications
   1. Reduce cost barriers for medications through advocacy for a national Pharmacare program

The workshop presentation can be viewed through here.