 |
|
|
|
|
  
|
New top doctor not afraid if physicians see city's worst Canadian Medical Association conference expected to discuss social problems, health solutions: Dr. Anna ReidLyndsay Herman Northern News Services Published Friday, Aug 10, 2012
"I think it's actually really good for other physicians from other parts of the country to come here and ... walk around the streets and get a sense of some of the problems we're dealing with downtown," said Dr. Anna Reid, an emergency physician at Stanton Territorial Hospital and president of the Canadian Medical Association. "Some people were saying it'll be an eyesore and, I think, 'You know what? It's really good.' It opens people eyes. These are the problems that are going on in our country and we've got to do something about it." The four-day, 145th annual meeting will bring approximately 300 delegates from across Canada to Yellowknife, many for the first time, on Sunday. This year's focus for the meeting is on social determinants of health or health equity, a highly relevant topic to the health-care experience of Northerners. Reid, who has worked at Stanton since 2008, said the solutions to health-care issues all over Canada do not necessarily require more money, but smarter spending instead. Solutions, she said, should focus on streamlining systems, target the source of health-care issues, and should increase accountability for the spending of health-care dollars. "You can throw more money at the problems but the smarter thing to do is figure out why there is a problem," she said. "The (Canadian Medical Association) is going to be doing a lot of work over the upcoming year, and it's going to be the focus of my year. It's also the focus of the conference, it's called the 'social determinants of health' or 'health equity.' What we're talking about here is fairness. It's to distribute our resources in terms of wellness around the country." The determinants include such things as affordable, healthy food, safe and adequate housing, nutrition, and child education, among others. "The number one key in terms of affecting people's health, and this is across the world, this is education," said Reid. "If people are not educated they are going to have worse health outcomes and that's in every country in the world ... and that starts right when they're born. "If kids don't get that early start, you can already predict usually by the time they hit kindergarten how they're going to do for the rest of school and the rest of life. "These things sound like they're outside of the medical sphere, but I think we're coming to a point where we realize we can keep dumping more money into the health care, or disease care, if you like, system, but unless we look at the wellness part and promote wellness and advocate for things that effect that, it's going to be a losing game." Advocacy is not always easy for those on the front lines. Reid said "gag orders" on physicians across the country, similar to those on other government-employed workers, often make it nearly impossible for physicians to speak publicly on something they see going wrong. "It has been a problem in many health authorities and it's really limited physicians' ability to try to make change if they can't do it from within," she said. "In other ways, for example through the CMA or our provincial medical associations, we're not hired by anyone. We're completely independent. For us, we can advocate as strong as we want to on basically any issue and we do." While Reid's term as president will take her away from clinical work for the year, she said she is looking forward to the opportunity to really impact health-care reform in Canada. "When you're in a job for a long time you get an idea of what the problems are and you also get an idea of what some of the solutions might be," she said. "So at some point, I can probably do more good where I am right now than I can on an individual level."
|
