"You hear patients talking about
not having enough food or not having a roof over their
head," says Dr Diana Ahmed, a physician at the North
Hamilton Community Health Centre and co-founder of Hamilton
Health Care Providers Against Poverty (HHCPAP). "We
see the front lines of poverty. After a while you feel
the need to do more than simply treat the individual
sitting in front of you." She and her newly minted healthcare
activists are determined to bring attention to the terrible
toll poverty takes on the health of Hamiltonians.
DIRE
STRAITS
Poverty's a big deal in Hamilton. Most of the patients
Dr Ahmed sees are on welfare. According to the Social
Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, there are
enough local people living in poverty to fill the 17,500-seat
Copps Coliseum five times over. As income levels have
continued to lag behind the rising cost of living, nearly
20% of Hamilton's 95,370 residents live below the poverty
line, including 25% of all children under the age of
12.
Beyond being unable to meet their
immediate nutritional needs, Dr Ahmed — backed
up by reams of governmental and institutional research
and studies — says people living in poverty have
a higher mortality rate, are more likely to be hospitalized
or suffer from chronic conditions, emotional instability
and mental illness, and have lower levels of general
physical functions. "Health is not just the absence
of disease," insists Dr Ahmed. "It involves people's
access to food, shelter, education and having a safe
place to live. It makes an impact on individual health,
but also on society."
CALL
TO ACTION
Dr Ahmed and her colleague, nurse practitioner Sue Grafe,
were inspired to start HHCPAP after attending a Hunger
Clinic in Toronto last November. Volunteers from the
Toronto chapter of Health Care Providers Against Poverty,
which was formed last year, and the Ontario Coalition
Against Poverty set up a makeshift clinic on the front
lawn of the provincial legislature at Queen's Park to
assess hundreds of people living on welfare and write
the notes necessary for patients to qualify for the
Special Diet Allowance of up to $250 given to social
assistance recipients. Anti-poverty groups discovered
this little-known allowance and urged Ontarians on welfare
and their health providers to get on board. Unfortunately,
due to the overwhelming demand — the government
forked over $11.6 million in October alone — the
province amended the allowance and restricted access
in November.
But by then Dr Ahmed and Ms Grafe
were already on the case. "We were really excited by
what we saw," says Dr Ahmed. "It was great to see what's
happening in Toronto, but we realized that we have to
do something about our own issues here in Hamilton."
Hamilton Health Care Workers Against
Poverty's first meeting on March 22 was well attended
by family physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, paramedics
and medical students. "The first meeting was about sharing
ideas," says Dr Ahmed. "We don't want to force the Toronto
agenda, but focus on establishing objectives for us
specifically, as healthcare providers in Hamilton."
MDs
ON A MISSION
The HHCPAP aims to educate its members and other healthcare
providers on the issues surrounding poverty and healthcare.
They also want to concentrate on advocating for adequate
access to services, such as prescription drugs and the
provincial government's special diet subsidy. The group
hopes to follow in the steps of the Toronto chapter
of HCPAP and their Hunger Clinic to help put extra dollars
in the pockets of their patients who need it —
which can often make the difference between hunger and
health.
Dr Ahmed hopes the organization
will serve as a launch pad for healthcare providers
to share their experiences and expertise, as well as
establish ties to other community organizations. Although
the first meeting was restricted to healthcare providers,
the organization is forming relationships with a numb
er of anti-poverty groups. "We want to bring the voice
of healthcare providers to the movement," says Dr Ahmed.
"Anti-poverty groups are thrilled to have us involved
because they see us as having an inside track in the
system."
"We don't want to be bleeding hearts,"
says Dr Ahmed. "We want to use the scientific knowledge
that we were trained with. We want to use science to
make connections between health and poverty and the
research that shows that many health problems are directly
linked to poverty."
|
