Community Builder awards for seniors’ primary care

From left: MPP Joel Harden, Carolyn Inch, Anna Cuylits, Michelle Hurtubise at a Community Builder award presentation

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by Terrance Hunsley

Three local groups fighting to improve primary health care in Ottawa have been recognized with the Community Builder Awards.

Seniors Watch of Old Ottawa South (SWOOS), the Seniors Health Innovations Hub (SHIH) and Michelle Hurtubise, executive director of the Centretown Community Health Centre, were presented the awards by local MPP Joel Harden in late January at a New Year’s Levee held at the Beaverbrook Barracks.

Co-chair Ann Cuylits accepted the award for SWOOS while co-lead Carolyn Inch did so for the SHIH.

All three organizations, along with Perley Health, have partnered in a proposal to Ontario Health to fund a clinic with nurse practitioners to provide primary care for seniors in central Ottawa. Hopes are high, but all community builders emphasized that continued effort by residents to press for primary care and support of the SHIH proposal will be crucial.

Terrance Hunsley is co-lead for the Seniors Health Innovations Hub (SHIH).