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Colwood community healthcare group has ‘hopeful reception’ with premier

Proposal calls for more collaborative approach to healthcare planning
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Dave Saunders, former Colwood mayor and an advocate for increased long-term care solutions on the West Shore, is using the Saunders Family Foundation to lobby for a new approach to community health care. On Aug. 3, he and his team met with Premier John Horgan to discuss a pilot project. (Black Press Media file photo)

The organizers behind a community-based response to the primary healthcare crisis on the West Shore recently met with senior provincial officials to share their vision for a solution.

The Community Healthcare Support Network, a partnership between the Saunders Family Foundation and the M’akola Group, met with Premier John Horgan and Minister of Children and Family Development Mitzi Dean on Aug. 3 for what was described in a news release as a “hopeful reception.”

The initiative is focused on making changes to the healthcare system that would get local governments and community members more involved in thinking about and planning facilities and services. The network hopes to launch a pilot project on the West Shore that incorporates the more cooperative approach.

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“By working urgently across sectors and engaging with local governments, non-profits, and the business community on the streets where we live, we are better equipped to explore innovative collaborations,” the release stated. “And because our CHS Network is growing from the grassroots, we are also building community resiliency while we work together to solve problems, going back to some tried and true old ways in order to embrace the future more sustainably.”

The meeting came around a month after the group delivered its proposal to the premier’s office.

More information about the initiative can be found at healthywestshore.ca.


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