Integrated Community Care: Principle #3

WHAT DO WE MEAN: 

1. Expand the standard definition of care to be goal-oriented in nature, with a focus on creating care plans that align with people’s priorities and life goals
2. Focus on prevention and health promotion to enable and empower individuals to take control over their health, while remaining in their communities
3. Support community and primary care to join forces as equal partners to ensure individuals are treated as a whole, not just as their disease

WHY DOES ICC MATTER: 

Receiving health care can be an isolating and stigmatizing process. ICC helps promote the expansion of the definition of care to include individuals key values, and the incorporation of their community. By doing this, the individuals wants and needs are taken into direct consideration when creating care plans, and helps ensure that people can rely on their community as their social support network throughout the duration of their treatment. People are more than their diagnosis, ICC shifts the focus of care away from the disease, and highlights the importance of goal management.