National Projects and Research
Systems Navigator Access and Partnership (SNAP) Project: Improving and Increasing Care and Support Across Canada
Status: In Progress | Through this project CACHC will support scale-up of access to Client/Systems navigation support at Community Health Centres across Canada. The SNAP Project will will fund a series of Client/Systems Navigator projects (services, tools, practice innovations, et al) at Community Health Centres across the country and will contribute to practice improvements in client/systems navigation through collection and dissemination of innovations and best practices. All of this will be crystalized through a national Client/Systems Navigation community of practice. The project will also contribute to the knowledge and evidence base related to Client/Systems Navigation, including intersections with multiple domains like housing, food security and others that are determinants of health, supporting recommendations for future public policy directions. This project is made possible with funding from TD Bank Ready Commitment.
Community Vaccination Promotion, National Project (CVP-National)
Status: All reports and resources at cachc.ca/covid19 | Through this PHAC-funded project, CACHC supported and collaborated with Community Health Centres across Canada to improve COVID-19 vaccine confidence and uptake among marginalized communities. CACHC undertook numerous lines of activity including collection and dissemination of best practices and tools in promotion of vaccination for/with diverse marginalized groups; supporting scale-up of CHC-based interventions to promote and support uptake of COVID-19 vaccines across Canada; supporting national scale-up of COVID-19 vaccination among children 5-11 years old; and supporting sustainable action and practice improvements at Community Health Centres across Canada through a National Knowledge Hub and a national COVID-19 vaccines Community of Practice.
Advancing Frailty Care in the Community Collaborative: Improving care for older people with frailty and supporting their family/friend caregivers
Status: In process | CACHC is a research and knowledge dissemination partner on two research initiative funded by the Canadian Foundation for Health Improvement (CFHI) through its Advancing Frailty Care in the Community Collaborative (AFCC). AFCC projects are intended to improve care for older people with frailty and supporting their family/friend caregivers. CACHC has partnered with The Alex Community Health Centre (Calgary, AB) on its AFCC project “The Dose Response Improvement of Integrated Seniors Services on Clinical Frailty” and Gateway Community Health Centre (Tweed, ON) on its AFCC project “System Navigation as a primary care model for improving care for older people with frailty and supporting their family/friend caregivers”. CACHC will be developing resources that share lessons and promising practices from the projects to support learning, and adaptation/adopt by other Community Health Centres across Canada.
Advancing Best and Promising Practices in Virtual Healthcare for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities
Status: In process | Through this project, funded by a small grant from CAF Canada, CACHC is undertaking a multi-part research study to critically assess these experiences with virtual primary care and other services/programs at Community Health Centres across Canada. The project includes a literature review, a survey of Community Health Centres across the country, and key informant interviews to identify current practices and innovations and trends that have worked particularly well at CHCs in providing services to vulnerable community members. Recommendations will be made based on the results of the project and shared with all CHCs across Canada to promote quality improvement and adoption of innovative practices. A final report will be published in late 2021, summarizing findings and including an inventory of best and promising practices.
National Community Health Centres Indicators Initiative
Status: Paused indefinitely in 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic | The lack of common health indicators at Community Health Centres (CHCs) across Canada is a major barrier in efforts to document the impact and value of CHCs, and to advance quality improvement measures. Not only are there no common CHC indicators across Canada, many individual CHCs face massive challenges collecting and reporting data due to a variety of systemic barriers such as inadequate funding and limited support for appropriate Electronic Health Records. In 2018, CACHC establish a National CHC Research and Evaluation Working Group, tasked with developing and implementing strategies to overcome these challenges. In 2019, the Working Group implemented a process for adoption of a National CHC Evaluation Framework and developed a core “data dictionary” based on the National CHC Evaluation Framework, including all indicators in the Evaluation Framework. Through the National CHC Indicators Initiative, CACHC and the working group intend to lead a phased-in approach to support CHCs across Canada in implementing processes to collect data and report on an initial core set of health indicators Canada-wide.
Community Health Centres and COVID-19: Impact and Experiences from the Pandemic
Status: Report published July 2021 | In March 2021, the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres (CACHC) conducted a detailed survey of Community Health Centres (CHCs) across Canada to document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clients and communities they serve, as well as CHCs’ experiences in adapting and mounting local responses. More than one hundred CHCs1 (n=117), from nine provinces, participated. The survey covered a wide range of issues and factors related to the pandemic, excluding experiences related to vaccines and vaccinations, which will be covered via a future study. Results from the survey confirmed that the pandemic has had a disproportionate toll on individuals, groups, and communities that were already facing social inequities and systemic barriers to health prior to the pandemic. Survey results are provided in three segments within this report: demographic and organizational data from CHCs; impact of COVID-19 on clients and community; and impact of COVID-19 on CHCs and CHC responses to the pandemic.
Improving Care and Support for Newcomers During Public Health Emergencies: Learnings from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Status: Report published April 2021 | In late 2020, CACHC partnered with Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services (Toronto, ON) to undertake a small multi-CHC project which aimed to improve understanding of the risks facing newcomers during public health emergencies like COVID-19; to document experiences at CHCs in providing continuous care and support for newcomers during the pandemic, including highlighting gaps and lessons learned; and to develop promising practices to help all CHCs across Canada in improving effectiveness and quality of services and supports for newcomers during public health emergencies.