Your Family Health Team

Ontario's family physicians are the foundation upon which our health care system is based. Your family physician is your first stop for primary care and your guide through this sytem.

Your doctor's Family Health Network is a group of family physicians who are working together to give you and your family better access to quality primary care services.

Here's What it Means to You

Quality and Convenience:

• A doctor or nurse will be available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Your family doctor will continue to see you during regular office hours.
• You'll also have access to a Family Health Network doctor during extended evening and weekend hours.
• Anytime another doctor in your Family Health Network treats you, your personal family doctor will receive documentation about the nature of your problem so that he or she will always be up-to-date about your medical condition.
• Should you need assistance after-hours, simply telephone a registered nurse at your Family Health Network's Telephone Health Advisory Service.
• The Telephone Health Advisory Service nurse will suggest ways to address your health concerns, such as recommending an appointment with your doctor, telling you how you can treat the problem yourself, or advising you to go to the emergency department.
• And you can rest assured that, with your permission, your doctor will receive a written summary of your call the next day, so that your doctor is kept fully informed about the nature of the problem and the advice you received.
• Doctors in your Family Health Network may also choose to take advantage of special funding for information technology to organize your health information and share it securely with other health professionals.

THE TADDLE CREEK FAMILY HEALTH TEAM

If you are enrolled with your doctor, you are able to take advantage of the team of health professionals who are part of the family health team.

Diabetes Education: diabetes nurse educator and dietician Megan Olstrom offer both individual and group meetings to help you control your diabetes or prediabetes and set self-management goals.

Social Work: Cathy 0'Tool, Graeme Millington, Lora Judge are available for counseling and advocacy.

Pharmacy: Pharmacist Dora Chan consults with individuals about their drug regimens. She also runs an INR clinic for people on blood thinners (with the advantage of results available during the visit), blood pressure visits and soon asthma clinics.

RN: Jessica Ross is available to answer telephone questions, and she has expertise in smoking cessation counseling.

Dietician: Marilyn Cowling and Julia Stanislavskaia are available for individual dietary advice.

The additional advantage of enrolling with us is the Telephone Health Advisory Service: you can speak to a nurse any time after our office hours, and if your problem is urgent the nurse will page the doctor on call to speak to you or arrange to meet with you in one of the Family Health Team offices.