Phoenix Youth Programs (Phoenix) is a non-profit community based organization located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that offers a variety of programs and services for at-risk and homeless youth to help them break the cycle of homelessness and find a path from the street. PMCS has worked with the program on a number of occasions, and most recently with the Street Involved Working Group, which includes Phoenix and a number of its community partners, to develop and obtain funding for a model of mobile outreach primary health care services for people who are street involved or homeless.
Located in rural Nova Scotia, Dos Compañeros Spanish Horses Inc. was established in 2007 to breed Spanish Horses. It also provides various training clinics and hosts related equine events such as the annual Spanish Horse Fiesta, which began in the spring of 2008. PMCS was instrumental in developing and implementing the plan for obtaining start-up capital and provides ongoing support in all aspects of the company’s business operations.
The AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia (ACNS) is committed to ongoing organizational development to ensure that they continue to meet the changing needs of their target population. As a non-profit community based agency, they also must regularly evaluate their program and service offerings. During our long history of involvement with ACNS, PMCS has not only performed evaluations of their work, but has also helped ACNS build staff capacity for their own future evaluation planning.
There are many innovative approaches to health promotion taking place throughout Nova Scotia, but most community-based health promoters do not have access to large budgets for evaluation and their often limited resources make it difficult for them to find the time to share information about their practices with other health promoters. The Health Promotion Promising Practices Project is a collaborative initiative of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia, Canadian Cancer Society: Nova Scotia Division, and Cancer Care Nova Scotia, supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada. Building upon past efforts in the province to build capacity to use a best practice approach in health promotion, the purpose of the project was to determine what supports are required to enable community- based health promoters to document and share their promising practices and to develop criteria for promising practice in health promotion in the Nova Scotia context.
The Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation (NSHRF) works with a broad group of stakeholders, including the academic research community, government, clinicians, and community groups to conduct research, support research-related activities and share knowledge among user groups. NSHRF fosters health research throughout the province by assisting, collaborating with and funding individuals and organizations conducting health research. As part of building the capacity of the health research community to engage in research and share research knowledge, the NSHRF is exploring collaborative models of health research. NSHRF contracted PMCS to conduct an environmental scan on collaborative models for conducting health research, barriers and challenges to collaborative health research and success factors for building these collaborations.
One of Nova Scotia’s nine District Health Authorities, Colchester East Hants Health Authority (CEHHA) is responsible for managing and delivering a wide range of services to the 73,000 residents of Colchester County and the Municipality of East Hants. As one of its strategic directions, CEHHA is increasing its focus on "upstream planning" and the determinants of health by working with its focal area communities to improve primary health care. PMCS has worked with CEHHA to facilitate primary health care consultations in its focal area communities. The consultations will be used by the District to inform its primary health care planning.
In Nova Scotia, the Halifax & Region Military Family Resource Centre (H&RMFRC) promotes the health and social well-being of individuals, families and communities who share the unique experience of military life in Halifax and the surrounding area. The Centre provides programming and services for adults, child and youth development, community outreach, family support and emergency services, information services, second language services and support to reservists. However, the H&RMFRC needed help to collect consistent data about its many programs, services and activities. Working with the Centre, PMCS assisted in developing an approach for consistent information collection and reporting.
Healthy sexuality is one of Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protections' six areas of focus and its importance is highlighted in its "Framework for Action: Youth Sexual Health in Nova Scotia". a framework that was developed to improve the sexual health of youth across Nova Scotia by providing an overall strategic approach to sexual health education, services and supports. To support the role of Nova SCotia Health Promotion and Protection in the implementation of the Framework for Action, PMCS conducted a literature review that was used to inform the development of the draft Guidelines for Youth Sexual Health.
The Deputy Ministers of the Department of Health and the Department of Health Promotion and Protection jointly sponsored this project to help prepare the province of Nova Scotia to face a potential pandemic. PMCS implemented a Project Management Office to plan and coordinate this complex initiative. In the initial phase of Pandemic Influenza preparedness planning, PMCS developed a coordinated process that ensured the many stakeholder groups knew what to do and what they needed to meet their responsibilities under the plan. A preliminary gap analysis identified many areas where further effort would be required to complete the operationalization of the plan and a coordinated process for gap analysis of plan components against specific acceptability criteria was developed, highlighting the need for project management tools.
One of Nova Scotia's nine District Health Authorities, Annapolis Valley Health (AVH) wanted to provide a better and more integrated care to its community. With PMCS's help, AVH undertook a participatory strategic planning process, engaging its many and diverse stakeholders. "Cultivating Good Health - Growing Together in the Annapolis Valley" is aligned with the strategic priorities of the Department of Health, AVH's regional partners and tertiary referral centres. It is a dynamic tool with the potential to provide direction as the organization continues to evolve and move forward.
Annapolis Valley Health (AVH) chose to call their strategic plan “Cultivating Good Health – Growing Together in the Annapolis Valley”.
Nova Scotia Health Promotion and Protection, through Public Health Services, has a vision for early childhood development in Nova Scotia and, as such, it develops programs and standards that impact on families and children throughout the province. In order to make sure well child services are delivered in accordance with best practices, Public Health Services asked PMCS to explore the services it offers to children and families that are usually delivered at the time of primary immunization. PMCS’s work was used to inform the development of provincial public health well child standards.
In 2004, Nova Scotia’s Department of Health implemented system-level standards for youth health centres (YHCs) across Nova Scotia. These standards were organized into the categories of services, coordination, accessibility, staff and volunteers, service settings, governance and accountability, and quality management. PMCS has conducted a number of projects in relation to Nova Scotia’s Youth Health Centres including the development of YHC guidelines and standards, and standards impact analysis.
Members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed (GLBTI) community experience unique health issues and frequently face significant barriers to accessing knowledgeable and supportive primary care providers. Over the years, PMCS has been involved in numerous projects that are focused on addressing the health needs of the rainbow community. To respond to the unmet primary care needs of members of this community, Capital Health engaged PMCS to support the planning process that would eventually lead to the PRIDE Health Program.
Capital Health’s Primary Care development work addresses a wide spectrum of health care needs. From primary maternity care to primary care of the elderly, the projects are focused on enhancing how primary care is both managed and delivered, ultimately improving the system for both patients and care providers. In support of this work, PMCS implemented a Project Management Office (PMO) model to effectively provide a disciplined approach to the development and implementation of the portfolio of projects that form Capital Health’s Primary Care renewal work.
The Tui’kn Initiative brought together five First Nations Bands in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to develop, implement and evaluate, in partnership, a primary health care model that is holistic, multidisciplinary, comprehensive and supportive of the goal of improved health and quality of life in First Nations communities. The communities involved in the Initiative included Membertou, Potlotek (Chapel Island), Eskasoni, Wagmatcook and We’ko’kmaq (Waycobah). This project involved working with the Tui’kn Initiative communities to develop and implement a Strategic Information Systems Plan including supporting the implementation of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs).
Setting the Stage was a project to develop a plan for improving primary health care services in French. PMCS worked closely with District Health Authorities and Acadian and francophone communities in six health districts in Nova Scotia to identify gaps in service and opportunities for improvements.
Oral health has a substantive impact on health and well-being, yet oral health often remains peripheral to general health concerns. The Seniors Oral Health Collaboration (SOHC) is a project to develop policy recommendation and strategies that address the oral health needs of Nova Scotia seniors. PMCS worked with SOHC and the Nova.
The Atlantic National Collaborating Centre for the Social Determinants of Health (ANCC) is a collaborative partnership that seeks to increase the knowledge base for program and policy development relating to the social determinants of health. To support the development of the ANCC, PMCS conducted an environmental scan focused on defining the social determinants of health and identifying related initiatives, as well as
Located in Aylesford Nova Scotia, Callan Saddlery specializes in saddle fitting and the sale of good quality saddles to horse owners throughout the Maritimes. Owned and operated by Rachael Argo, Qualified Master Saddler, this small retail and professional services firm requires support for its business services. PMCS provides this ongoing support.