Building Bridges – a Community Roundtable on Health Services – Mar 11, 2019

The Digby Area Health Coalition is bringing together a broad-based
Community Roundtable regarding health services in the Digby area.

By this we mean services provided within Digby County and accessible locally through the clinics, the hospital, or via tele-health, linking patients to services elsewhere in the province.

The Community Roundtable will be on Monday, March 11 at the Digby Curling Centre at 27 Shreve St in Digby. This facility is next door to the Digby Elementary School and behind the local Dairy Queen. Various advocates, care providers, and professionals will be in attendance during this roundtable. Both the the current and past presidents of Doctors Nova Scotia will be present as will be the CEO of Doctors Nova Scotia.

The Community Roundtable is a four hour working session from 1:00 to 5:00 and is aimed at producing a clear shareable and agreed upon statement of what the Digby area needs at the present time and into the foreseeable future. We expect this workshop to provide the framework allowing all sectors, healthcare-interested groups, and citizens to use as they work hand in hand towards a brighter future for healthcare in this area.

Please accept this invitation to Building Bridges within the Digby area. Plan to attend the community workshop on MONDAY, March 11 from 1:00 to 5:00 PM.
To help with our planning, please RSVP to dahcoalition@gmail.com or cc our coordinator at tony.kelly@mail.mcgill.ca.
You may also phone 902-834-2370 should you wish to respond by phone. The answering machine will record your response. For further information, contact the same

Our working agenda is below, with slight changes. The facilitators will adjust all based on practical considerations once we are underway.
Please feel free to share this with others. Be aware that our space is limited at the curling club by fire codes and follow-up meetings will be scheduled. Space will be available for those who responded to the earlier invitation and on a first-come first served to capacity.

FRAMEWORK to facilitate Community Roundtable scheduled for
March 11* 1:00 to 5:00 PM
Digby Curling Centre, 27 Shreve St, Digby
* Should weather force us to reschedule we will work with Doctors NS to provide alternative dates. —————————————————————————————————————————— Based on our planning meeting and the discussion of March 6 the draft framework is as follows:

We anticipate an attendance of about 50 to 60 with the possibility of this number growing at the door. We realize a daytime meeting is awkward but the weather and travel conditions mean we err on the side of safety for those who must come considerable distance. We anticipate follow-up meetings will be held during evening hours once the severe weather abates.
This roundtable is a working session aimed at producing a key text or document articulating what the Digby Area (Bridge to Bridge) needs in terms of health services and to bring about a brighter future for healthcare in the area. To be clear, this project falls under the DAHC’s mandate for Year 3, reaching out and, in particular, networking with health care-interested groups.
The roundtable is not in a grievance session. We are well aware of the troubles across the province and within our county. We know there is disquiet, unhappiness, desperation, and anger re all that has or has not happened in this area. We also know that each of us, in our personal lives, organizations, professional networks, and social groupings has agency meaning we can act to make Digby County a healthier place. And so, to emphasize, this is not a grievance session nor is it a ‘yes but’ session. We all know the refrain ‘That’s a good idea, but… followed on by 100 excuses why we cannot do this or that.’.
In the CONTEXT of setting our grievances and worries aside for about four hours we are pushing towards a consensus on what the Digby Area (Bridge to Bridge) needs in terms of health services and to bring about a brighter future for healthcare in the area. The roundtable will lead to the hard work of what citizens and organizations must undertake, or continue to undertake, in order to bring about a brighter future for healthcare in the area.
This project builds on the knowledge base and work of the DAHC and on the work of the Inspiring Communities Digby project. We are fortunate not to be starting from scratch.