January – Message From the President

Fellow Family Physicians,

I would first like to thank all of you who responded to the Opioid Crisis message in December’s eNews. We now have a robust Task Force of 12 family physicians that will support efforts to ensure the family physician voice is heard in decision making on how the province will respond.

The Task Force met once already and discussed some pragmatic and specific actions that could be taken to respond quickly. The Task Force will be presenting some solutions and asking for your assistance in curbing the crisis. Family physicians and their teams in primary care are often times the first point of contact for patients seeking help and also the place where recovery and stability can be supported. Thank you for being there to help!

With Much Appreciation:
This time of year is always bitter sweet, it is a time when terms of service on committees and boards are ending and new volunteers are coming onto the scene. I would like to personally thank all of the dedicated volunteers who have contributed to the ACFP Board and various committees over the years. Some of these people have been involved in daily, weekly, monthly, or once a year connections with advocacy efforts, program development, and informing member services at ACFP. We cannot be all that we are without our volunteers. Thank you also to the volunteers that are stepping up to get involved now. We are looking forward to another amazing year.

Top 10 of 2016:
This past year has flown by and there are several things that stand out for me as accomplishments for ACFP:

1. New Governance Model adopted and smaller more focused Board of Directors
2. New Strategic Plan developed by the Board
3. New ACFP committee structure and recruitment
4. CPD Needs Assessment
5. Family Physician Leadership Program launched with 15 new LEADS faculty
6. PEIP Conference experienced record attendance and successful Webcast was offered
7. Growth in membership – the number of Alberta docs finally becoming members, new grads, transitioning from other provinces, or international newcomers
8. Building strong working relationships with partners in primary care and health system resulting in Patient’s Medical Home implementation going strong
9. New Mainpro+ implemented and supported resulting in QI for CPD credits, more self-directed learning and other new ways to earn credits through daily practice
10. Tools for Practice articles offered in French and English and subscribers grew again this year to over 30,000 worldwide.

Sincerely,

John Chmelicek
Alberta College of Family Physicians
acfppres@acfp.ca