It's called the Community Healthcare Systems Support Playbook, and it took two years to create.
The authors say the bill has the potential to improve health care for communities across British Columbia, and potentially the entire country.
“This is something that should be adopted across the community,” said Dave Sanders, president of the Sanders Family Foundation. “It's not so much about funding, it's just a different philosophy.”
Sanders says the idea is not to throw tons of taxpayer money at the problem, but to solve the issues that affect everyone starting at the community level.
“How are you going to work a shift if you don't have childcare?” Sanders said.
Or if nurses or temporary workers come to a new area, where will they live amid a housing crisis?
Sanders says these are just some of the issues that continue to emerge through hours of consultations with medical experts and local stakeholders.
The playbook addresses these issues and provides the community with guidelines to follow to create solutions.
“Local governments have a big role to play and can incorporate this into their official local plans, but the whole community needs to embrace support for our health care workers,” Saunders said.
Solutions could include local governments and developers working together to build affordable housing units for health care workers. They could also establish 24-hour day care and transportation services. As for the financing model, the playbook suggests individualized estate planning.
“This is a concept where people donate in a professional way and support our health care system,” said the Sanders Family Foundation president.
The operation began with Sanders brainstorming solutions, after which he met with then-Premier of British Columbia John Horgan, who saw the potential in Sanders' idea and offered him a small amount of funding.
On Tuesday night, Health Minister Adrian Dix will be in Colwood to officially launch the playbook that Saunders and his team hope will be adopted by municipalities and organizations.
“I'm really optimistic that this will be embraced by a lot of the community,” said Mark Holland of Westplan Consulting Group.
Holland is a community planning expert and has been working on the project almost since day one.
He says if even a few of the ideas in this playbook were adopted by local communities, it could help solve our state's ongoing shortage of medical professionals.
“There's a chance we could retain them or maybe even attract more talent, which is exactly what you want,” Holland said.
“This could empower the community to get involved and be a sign of hope in the context of a health care crisis across Canada,” Saunders said. “This book is that sign of hope.”
