Family Health Teams (FHTs) are a relatively new way of providing care to patients. FHTs are a little different than the usual way of providing health care.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funds Family Health Teams. FHTs are community-centred primary care organizations whose programs and services are geared to the community they serve. FHTs offer doctors’ office services as well as a team of different health professionals who work together to meet patient’s needs. The focus is on keeping patients and their families healthy, not just treating them when they are sick.
FHTs also offer programs and services that help patients to:
– understand risk for common chronic diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes or cancer ;
– live a healthy lifestyle to manage, delay or stop an illness from starting; and
– learn how to take care of themselves if they develop a common illness.
The team approach at Family Health Teams brings together different health care providers to organize care for patients. Each team is different and can include doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, medical secretaries, dietitians, pharmacists, social workers and therapists, exercise specialists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, physiotherapists and administration staff. The team works together using their special skills to provide the best care to patients, as close to home as possible.
Patients will continue to be seen by their family doctor during regular office hours. However they will also have access to other health care professionals within that Family Health Team, such as nurse practitioners, nurses, dietitians, exercise specialists and pharmacists
FHTs offer a variety of free programs in chronic disease management, disease prevention and health promotion to assist with healthy lifestyle choices.
Many of the free services and programs offered by FHTs are available without a referral health care provider about the services offered at your next check up.
Marissa Bertens is with the Minto-Mapleton Family Health Team
