“Recognizing opportunities for valuable partnerships with other community organizations is integral to increasing health access for Abbotsford residents,” says Executive Director, Monica Mamut. “We are extremely proud of the programs and services the Abbotsford Division of Family Practice has recently supported.”
The Abbotsford Division of Family Practice is a non-profit society which works to support physician members and the health initiatives they lead and engage in. The Division has collaborated with their members and a wide variety of community and provincial partners since its inception in 2009. With each passing year Division staff and physicians need to keep their fingers on the pulse of the community, ensuring programs, projects and services remain relevant to the current healthcare landscape.
The Gender Affirming Roadmap was one such project.
“Knowing that suicide rates among transgender youth are much higher than their cisgender counterparts, a roadmap outlining health care access, mental health resources, and social supports has the potential to be life saving. We are fortunate in that we, at the Division, have an opportunity to make an impact on physicians and Abbotsford residents, alike,” says Meghann Coughlan, the Division Communications and Outreach Lead.
Perhaps the most widely accessed project of the last few years, the Cervical Cancer Screening initiative aims to increase awareness, access to and comfortability with the PAP test. With cervical cancer being the second most common cancer in Canadian women ages 20 to 44, awareness is critical. Women between the ages of 25 to 69 years old need to be tested every 3 years. Although the focus is on newcomers to Canada and South Asian women, and all women experiencing cultural, gender, or other barriers to cancer screening are supported.
December will see the launch of the Division’s Aging Well, Planning Well magazine, videos and website, which aims to assist seniors in planning for their health and finance needs.
“It is important, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, to let seniors know they are supported and to connect them with resources,” Danielle Edwards, Program and Evaluation Lead says. Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod of Canada’s BodyBreak, local Physicians and community leaders are providing health and planning information for the videos, magazine and website.
For more information please visit www.divisionsbc.ca/abbotsford or call our Communications andOutreach Lead, Meghann Coughlan Hernandez, at
Access the Gender Affirming Roadmap at adofp.com/garoadmap
Visit http://www.screening4health.com for more information on Cervical Cancer Screening