Re-thinking
January 23, 2020
It begs the question: what are we rethinking? Well, how do we help create a better future?
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It begs the question: what are we rethinking? Well, how do we help create a better future?
No small questions here. If you follow us you know that we focus our work in British Columbia and more specifically across three sectors: social services, healthcare and education. You might have even read our Manifesto where we commit to solving global problems locally and dedicate our efforts to systems change. Again, no small tasks here.
Two years ago we embarked on a journey we call TranForm. More about that in a bit. TransForm allowed us to explore a concept of Integrated Community Care, or ICC for short. ICC is a way of re-thinking the delivery of healthcare and social support in- community. Restructuring primary care as well as integrating care is on the agenda in many countries, including Canada and including BC. There is a wide range of how this is done in practice. It poses a big challenge to know how to design and effectively implement something like ICC.
Poliklinik Veddel in Hamburg, Germany offers healthcare and social support for a low-income immigrant community whereby many are without proper health insurance.
At the core of ICC is it’s most interesting and relevant piece and that is the co-production of care. Meaning, ordinary people and communities are involved in co-designing and co-producing care that is to be offered and serve their community needs. Now, you can imagine how this can be a challenge for healthcare institutions and governments to wrap their head around. Despite the good intentions their systems are not designed for co-production in this manner. That said, an example of a successful ICC implementation in BC is an initiative called Foundry. You might recall back in 2017 our Conconi Challenge Campaign for Foundry.
Okay, back to TransForm. The goal of TransForm is to inspire policymakers and practitioners to support transition to ICC in their communities, specifically those most marginalized. The intention is to provide insight and guidance in effective implementation of ICC by organizing conferences and publicly sharing the lessons learned. It began as a collaboration of seven European and Canadian Foundations and supported by the Network of European Foundations and International Foundation on Integrated Care.
Our journey with TransForm began in Hamburg in 2018. While it may sound extravagant or irrelevant, in reality it was incredibly helpful to our work. Sure, our country and community contexts might be unique, the problems we are attempting to solve are remarkably similar. In which case why not join forces, when we know there is power in numbers? This journey has made us rethink our role in responsibility in our own community and for that it made us better.
Over the next while, we will share more on TransForm, so stay tuned for new stories. Until then, feel free to share your thoughts with us by leaving a comment or getting in touch directly.
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