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Anthony Yip travelled the world for his management job in IT with the global inter-banking company Swift. That all changed in 2016 when a stroke cost him not only his ability to communicate, but also his whole career.
“I lost everything,” he says, able to speak again now after years of hard work. “I lost my work, lost all of my friends, lost everything.” Despite several attempts through WorkBC, Yip says nobody would hire him.
“I didn’t want to give up, and I didn’t want to do nothing. This is very important.”
Luckily, Yip’s family physician Dr. David Fung referred him to PCN Clinical Counsellor Shirley Lai and PCN Social Worker Athina Lai. Upon assessment, these PCN clinicians looped Community Link Worker Sean Canasa into Yip’s circle of care.
“Sean and Athina have helped me a lot. They are always calling me, reminding me to go someplace, helping me in so many ways to learn how to help myself.”
Yip still carries the original list of volunteer roles that Sean had printed for consideration. One of those jobs relied on Yip’s IT experience and seemed a perfect fit. For the past year, he has been visiting Connections Community Services weekly to teach seniors how to use various technology and devices in the Digital Literacy Program for Seniors.
“It is a way that I can still help people,” says Yip.
Yip’s skills and dedication have garnered attention. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie presented him with the nomination-based U-Roc Award from the City of Richmond as an Asset Champion for Community Support, and he was interviewed by Chris Yuen on Radio AM1470.
Beyond connecting him to this role, Canasa supported Yip with the application process including a criminal record check, and aligned him with exercise programs and educational workshops at the Richmond Stroke Recovery Centre.
“I invite doctors to send more patients to Sean because he is so kind, and because so many people need this kind of support,” says Yip. “Without him, many people wouldn’t know how to find out these things.”
With new Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners ready to accept patients, the Province has expanded the Health Connect Registry to all communities throughout B.C.
“As one of the first communities in B.C. who adopted the Health Connect Registry in 2021, the Richmond Primary Care Network was able to expand access to care for Richmond residents,” explains Jorge Hernández, Program Lead with the Richmond Division of Family Practice and Richmond Primary Care Networks. “Its adoption also meant an important step in reducing the strain on emergency departments and walk-in clinics, improving health outcomes for individuals, and supporting a meaningful and positive health experience for patients and providers.”
The recent expansion of the Health Connect Registry allows more unattached residents to register in Richmond.
“Our Attachment team is working to decrease the attachment gap in Richmond by using accurate and accessible information from the Health Connect Registry,” explains Hernández.
Patients can be connected to a primary care provider based on health needs, the provider’s ability to take on those needs, and the region.
“The Health Connect Registry is a crucial action that delivers on our government’s commitment to strengthen health care, and it will help us provide better, easier access to primary care for generations to come,” says B.C. Minister of Health Adrian Dix.
“Between the new doctors who signed up with our new-to-practice incentive program, doctors who are joining the new payment model, new Nurse Practitioners and the many more to come, we are ensuring people throughout the province can connect with those primary care providers and others as medical professionals enter family practice and build their patient panel,” he adds.
The Health Connect Registry is the patient-facing side of the Province’s action plan to strengthen primary care and to better connect people to primary care providers. That plan includes:
a new Family Physician compensation model to attract and retain Family Physicians, which has nearly 3,300 signups.
a new-to-practice incentive program that has 156 new family doctors registered.
a new provincial roster for individual Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners to manage their patient panel information, and to identify when they can accept new patients.
a new clinic and provider registry for medical directors and staff to provide information about their clinics so that the government can better support practitioner needs.
working directly with Doctors of BC and Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC to support Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners with new registries.
adding more coordinators who will help connect Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners to patients locally.
more incentives for clinics, Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners.
a broader health human resources strategy to recruit and retain more health professionals to ensure British Columbians get the health services they need and are cared for by a healthy workforce.
providing more support for new team-based primary care in family practice clinics, urgent and primary-care centres, community health centres, nurse practitioner clinics and First Nations primary-care clinics.
Through the registry, B.C. will have a comprehensive list of who is looking for a primary care provider and who already has one, as well as which providers and clinics can accept new patients. Starting Nov. 30, 2023, and continuing quarterly, the Province will report on progress to add more Family Physicians and Nurse Practitioners, and on connecting more patients from the registry to a primary care provider.
