The International Women’s day Gala in Belleville at The Grand featured a keynote speech by guest speaker Karen Clayton-Babb, Chief Nurse Practitioner and Clinic Director at the Belleville Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic.
During her keynote speech, Clayton-Babb spoke about many topics surrounding healthcare. Early in her speech she highlighted the contributions of women to both the Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic and the wider healthcare system.
“Women are the bedrock of the health care systems internationally,” said Clayton-Babb. “Women account for 67% of the health and social care workforce. Similarly, Statistics Canada in 2016 reported that 75% of health and care workers in Canada are women.”
The Belleville Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic was established to help address a shortage of primary care physicians in the area, and is staffed by over 90% women.
Clayton-Babb’s speech highlighted the programs her team at the clinic had put together, with a special focus on a temporary program to provide regular health check-ups for families with newborn children. It was found that before the program started, 18% of newborns or 272 babies each year were being sent home after birth with no primary care doctor to carry out recommended follow-ups with the family to screen for illnesses that could affect newborns, or to help new parents with adjusting to the role and making sure that they are at their best to look after the child.
Clayton-Babb mentioned some of the challenges she had getting the project off the ground.
“Ontario Health agreed to fund a part time NP and registered nurse for six months with specification that the newborn receive only two visits, which is below the provincial standards,” said Clayton-Babb. “Fortunately we were able to establish the clinic quickly given the funding limitations, and registered approximately 200 newborns, with a total of 912 visits.”
Newborns with access to primary medical care that can follow up with the recommended appointments and checks can usually catch sicknesses and health issues as they form, making them easier to treat. Children without access to those same tests often miss the early detection window for health conditions that can present serious problems later in life, and put them at a disadvantage compared to their more privileged peers.
The program ran for six months but had to shut down after funding dried up since province only provided temporary funding.
While the program was running, they were able to hire an additional nurse practitioner to help manage the workload. However, the new nurse left before the six months were up, seeking more permanent employment, which they couldn’t guarantee without permanent funding. Despite losing the funding to keep the program open to accept new patients, the clinic absorbed the clients who had been enrolled before the program’s end to continue providing early childhood medical care for the families.
Despite the challenges her clinic faced with resources, Clayton-Babb said she and her team would continue to do the best they could with the resources they have, and ended her speech by encouraging women to take inspiration from each other’s successes.
You can read more about the rest of the night’s festivities here.
