NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2023 11 WORLD FAMILY DOCTOR D Y 2023 DID YOU know that the addition of each family doctor to a population has been proven to result in fewer hospital admissions, fewer trips to the ER, and fewer surgeries?! Health Connect Jamaica honours all family doctors on World Family Doctor Day for their indispensable commitment to health around the world. Health Connect Jamaica is a private-sector network of primary healthcare providers that offers high-quality services across Jamaica. By removing the numerous obstacles now in place, we guarantee that all Jamaicans have access to private healthcare, not the least of which is lowering the financial barrier by allowing free access to those who are most in need. Developed by The University of the West Indies and funded by the generous support of the American people, through the United States Agency for International Development, Health Connect Jamaica coordinates all the required supportive services that allows our family doctors to focus on providing their excellent healthcare to our clients. We bel ieve that pr imary healthcare, with family doctors at its core, is the future of health service delivery and where the attainment of universal health coverage resides. Health Connect Jamaica is committed to growing our network and achieving the highest standard of health as a fundamental human right for every person. FOUNDER Health Connect Jamaica Health Connect Jamaica and World Family Doctor Day THE THEME for World Family Doctor Day is that we are the heartofhealthcare.That sounds like a bold statement doesn’t it. But is it? Let’s think about the function of the heart. It moves blood around the body, andwhenit stopsworking, then you stop working and being. That is the physical heart. What about the emotional heart? It is thought of as the centre of our emotion. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It isourmotives, our thoughts, whatmakesuswhoweareat thevery heart of it. It is core. But why is family medicine the heart of healthcare? I was fascinated this week by the fact that I hadmorethantwopatients this week saying that they did not have a generalpractitioner.Theyarenot sick, sowhydotheyneedone? I alsoteach acourse for theUniversityof theWest Indies, where I introduce our student doctorstowhat familymedicineis, and I amoften struckby the fact that they do not understand the importance and complexities of familymedicine. Familymedicineistheonlyspecialty designed to see a patient from birth through ageing to death. That is, we provide continuous andcomprehensivecare. Weare trained inaspectsof behavioural and social sciences that allow us to view the patient in a biopsychosocial sphere–wearenotonly concernedwiththephysical issuethat you are concerned with, but also the psychological and social spheres of disease.Weareabletounderstandthe great importance of how a patient’s support system, education,work, and familyaffect theirhealth.Work, family, relationships, thingsaffectourpatients to their core, things that affect their heart inmore ways than one.We understandhowyouremotionsandhow youfeel andthinkabout theillnesscan affect yourwell-being.We are trained in patient-centred care where we actively listen to your concerns, probe about stressors inyour life, establisha diagnosis foryourconcern, andinvolve youintheprocessofconstructingyour treatment plan. Without family physicians, the healthcare systemwould collapse as weareessential toprimaryhealthcare. We provide the first contact for patientsenteringthehealthcaresystem. During the heights of the pandemic, when many general practitioner offices were closed, and, essentially, primary carewas shut down, we saw how overly burdened our hospitals were and how those with chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes suffered. Family physicians are the only physicians trained to manageawidevarietyof conditions. Weare thegatekeepersof thehealth of a nation asmany timeswe are the ones towhomnovel diseasespresent first. For any health system to excel, thereneeds tobe awell-established, well-executedprimaryhealthcaresystem, andcentral to that executionare well-trained family physicians. Warm regards, DR KAY-ANN BOOKALL Family Physician Community Health and Psychiatry Dept UWI Mona We are the gatekeepers of the health of a nation
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