As part of PACC’s mission to develop engaging public education content to help people in the Kootenay Boundary navigate and access care, we developed a series of 12 articles on various aspects of health and healthcare. We’re spotlighting the successful completion of this series and highlighting what’s up next!
Contributor: Mindy Smith, PACC Member
As part of PACC’s mission to develop engaging public education content to help people in the Kootenay Boundary navigate and access care, we developed a series of 12 articles on various aspects of health and healthcare. These can be viewed on our PACC website at kbpacc.ca/empowering-the-citizen-patient/.
Our Aim
- Encourage people to take part in their personal health and healthcare through providing information, links, and actionable tips about health
- Imbue confidence that healthcare leaders and teams are working hard to ensure KB residents have access to the care they need by highlighting the new healthcare initiatives
- Assist patients in finding the care that they need by highlighting existing resources and improving understanding of when and where to seek care
A Collaborative Co-creation Process
The articles were developed through a collaborative process with content drafted by the family physician PACC member, edited by PACC members who also added experiential quotes, edited and formatted by the Division of Family Practice communication lead, and vetted by many content experts and the Collaborative Services Committee co-chairs and Aboriginal partner.
Broad Distribution
The articles were distributed through websites, social media, local newspapers, and direct email to about 800 individuals (including healthcare providers and community groups). Opinions from readers were solicited through an online survey.
Celebrating Results & Successes
Among the results of this year-long project was reaching many residents as shown by numbers of individuals visiting our website (over 6,000 views and 3,076+ unique users) and viewing our content on Facebook (over 20,000 views).
We also raised $12,000 through participation in Health Excellence Canada that will go towards supporting our patient education efforts.
In addition, we presented a poster about the project at the Putting Patients First conference and will be presenting our work at the 2025 Quality Forum sponsored by Health Quality BC.
Reader Feedback
Ninety-nine readers of the articles answered our survey, the most read article was on being proactive to maintain health. Most found the article content to be relevant and helpful with just over one third of respondents clicking on links in the articles to access further information or resources.
Up Next…
PACC’s project for this year is to create patient pathways or comprehensive guides for patients approaching difficult health issues or situations. We will begin with a step-by-step guide for preparing for an upcoming surgery from diagnosis and visits with specialists to pre- and post-operative care and considerations. We are in the process of working with many patients and providers as we develop the content for this new resource.
Interested in getting involved?…
If you are interested in helping with this work, please contact Mindy Smith at pacc@kbdivision.ca.
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