Basics for Health Society collaborates with health care and community organizations to address the social and economic needs of the people they serve. We work on program design, planning, and evaluation; we train university and college students to act as resource connection volunteers; and we research what we do, to build the experience and evidence for social determinants of health (SDOH) intervention work.

We are committed to an equitable health care system that recognizes basic socio-economic needs as an essential component of health care delivery. We also believe in the power of volunteerism and in the ingenuity and passion of peers and students to help support people in need.

Priorities

(1) Research and Education

Goal: To increase the capabilities of individuals and groups to encompass/address the social determinants of health in their daily paid/unpaid work. To contribute evidence and experience for this work .

(2) Community Development and Promotion

Goal: To inform society about the social determinants of health. To support wellness and decrease structural violence.

(3) Partnerships, Primary Care and Networking

Goal: To develop relationships with stakeholders and partners to collectively maximize efforts and supports for addressing the social determinants of health.

(4) Social Determinants of Health Intervention

Goal: To build service excellence in addressing the social determinants of health in health and community settings.

(5) Finance and Fundraising Accountability and Administration

Goal: To be fiscally responsible in managing funds received as a result of fundraising and/or grant-writing efforts.

Projects

2012

  • First “Basics for Health” SDOH intervention project began in BC as a pilot funded by ImpactBC at the REACH Community Health Centre (CHC).

  • Project was based on a successful model developed in the United States called Health Leads USA.  (Two co-founders reached out to Health Leads to learn from their model and identify possibilities for a project in BC)

  • B4H founders met with ImpactBC staff to offer support for research, evaluation, and to liaise to address SDOH in primary care and health education.

2013

  • Late 2013, ImpactBC returned its focus to its core mission of quality improvement and patient engagement in health care, and the Basics for Health pilot program was closed.

  • Through the pursuit of community grant funding, REACH CHC was able to sustain the program, where it continues today, modeled on the previous Basics for Health project, and serving patients of the dental and medical clinic.

  • Founders retreat held to discuss meeting the need for ongoing SDOH support in BC.

2014

  • Basics for Health Society was founded! This was in response to the ongoing need for, and interest in, programs and resource connection services to address social determinants of health.  Dr. Vanessa Brcic (family medicine), Manjit Chand (social worker; former ImpactBC program manager) and Sarah Dobson (public health) formed the first Board of Directors in April 2014.

  • Organization led by Directors and a small Advisory Board with experts in their respective fields, and with additional support from need-based working groups.

  • The Board of Directors of Pain BC, an external organization to Basics for Health Society, identified the social determinants of health (SDOH) and poverty as a priority issue for the people it served.

  • Pain BC obtained funding from the Ministry of Health to support this work.

  • Basics for Health Society was offered its first contract by PainBC.

  • Basics for Health Society designed and managed a program specifically for Pain BC called “Connect for Health” with the goal of offering SDOH resource connection service and support for people living with chronic pain in BC.

  • In addition to the Connect for Health program, we consulted with Vancouver Coastal Health, the St. Paul’s Family Practice Ward, and the Health Connections Clinic in North Vancouver to discuss together how to grow capacity for SDOH in those organizations. We learned about opportunities and limitations in SDOH work, which informed future research.

2015

  • Connect for Health grew and operated with a paid program coordinator, paid educator, and many volunteers who ran the program and call centre from Monday to Friday.

  • Volunteer appreciation and education events held, including for new cohorts of call-centre volunteers.

  • Basics for Health hosted its first public event and AGM at the HIVE, a public panel discussing "Social Determinants and the Health Care System: Who Is Responsible?" Our distinguished panelists included Roberta Price,  Coast Salish elder; Trish Garner of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition; Dr. Rita McCracken, family physician and Associate Head of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Providence Health Care; and Dr. John Millar, Clinical Professor Emeritus at the UBC School of Public and Population Health, Vice President of the BC Public Health Association, and former BC Provincial Health Officer.

2016

  • Connect for Health continued with a paid program coordinator, paid educator, and many volunteers who ran the program and call centre from Monday to Friday.

  • Volunteer appreciation and education events held, including for new cohorts of call-centre volunteers.

  •  Basics for Health worked with an external evaluator to describe and assess the program. See a poster summary here that we presented at the 2016 Canadian Pain Society annual conference.

2017

  • In the latter half of 2017, after 3 years of funded program delivery by Basics for Health Society, and with sustainable funding from the Ministry to support the needs (including SDOH) of people living with chronic pain in BC, we worked with PainBC to transition the Connect for Health program (now called the Pain support line) to full and sustainable management by PainBC.

  • Staff and the Board of Directors supported the smooth transition of Connect for Health, including staff, volunteers, and program operations, to Pain BC.

  • Basics for Health began work on re-visioning and developing a 2018 to 2020 Basics for Health Strategic Plan with the help of a skilled facilitator.

2018

  • Work on the 2018 – 2020 Strategic Plan for Basics for Health was finalized.

  • Research projects started:

    • Capacity to address Social Determinants of Health in Primary care: Experiences of Social Workers in BC (in partnership with a UBC Family Practice Resident)

    • Gaps in services addressing Social Determinants of Health: A retrospective chart review of client experiences with a non-profit organization in BC (in partnership with a UBC FLEX elective student)

  • Working groups were founded:  Communications; HR; Research; Education/Training; SDOH online benefits navigator tool development.

  • Having completed a new board orientation document and strategic plan and with 3 board members completing their terms through 2018, we are looking to build our Board of Directors to move into more project work in 2019.

2019

  • In partnership with two family physicians in Greater Vancouver, we were awarded two project grants from the BC College of Family Physicians: one is to complete the data analysis for our qualitative study “Gaps in Addressing SDOH - interviews with social workers”, and the second to develop a SDOH assessment and intervention tool that for input into the EMR.

  • With the support of a UBC medical student (FLEX elective) we developed a study protocol, study materials and completed data extraction and anonymization for a chart review of client records from the Connect for Health Program (data analysis deferred to 2022 due to the pandemic).

2020

  • In 2020, with previous support from the BCCFP, we completed the online BC Benefits Navigator tool to help health care workers and patients navigate provincial and federal income assistance programs and make this process easier to navigate, while identifying an action plan to help address social needs in partnership with health care, one step at a time.

  • Together with First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic we sent an open letter to government on behalf of over 200 signatories, including organizational leaders, child advocates, researchers, health care professionals, and over 100 physicians. We issued an urgent call to action in BC to protect children in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically asking for an equity-oriented, collaborative, interdisciplinary task force to be created for kids. More info on the Advocacy tab of our website.

2021

  • In 2021 we were awarded support from the UBC-CIC (Cloud Innovation Centre) and began an ongoing partnership with PHSA and collaborators across BC to develop a health-related social needs (HRSN) / social determinants of health (SDOH) tracking tool that can be embedded in electronic medical records (EMRs). This work is ongoing.

  • We applied for and were awarded a CFPC Janus Grant to pursue a qualitative study to further previous research that describes equity-oriented primary care approaches and re-contextualizes them in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research questions for this study are; 1) To understand how experiences of social isolation and socio-economic stress during the pandemic have impacted experiences of biopsychosocial care; 2) To understand how psycho-social needs were prioritized or dismissed in primary care encounters during the Covid-19 pandemic, and 3) To further understand how social status, differential privilege, and experiences of shame, powerlessness and isolation impact primary care encounters. (Study on hold until January 2023)

2022

  • In 2022, we received support as a research site through a national research grant from the COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant Progam (Co-RIG) from the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine and the Canadian Medical Association Foundation. For this work, called the ACE-PHC project (Advocacy and Community Engagement with Primary Health Care) we are partnering with First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Society to amplify the impact and knowledge translation from their annual BC Child Poverty Report Card.

  • We were fortunate to work with two UBC medical students (FLEX elective) to refine and continue the data analysis for the Connect for Health chart review (described above).

2023-2024

  • We partnered with Dr. Jennifer Leavitt, St. Paul’s Hospital Maternity Clinic, through her Clinician Scholar Program, to understand how SDOH are screened for and addressed in pregnant patients. This led to the development and revision of the previous BC benefits navigator tool for pregnant people. The tool is completed available here for sharing, use and scale-up/expansion!

  • We completed the Janus research project received in 2021 examining dynamics of power, privilege and shame in the work of addressing poverty in primary care. Thanks to Dr. Tina Bonnett for collaboration, Dr. Vanessa Brcic for leading the project, and to the Basics for Health Board for providing internal peer review.

  • We completed the ACE-PHC partnership that started in 2022, and continue to partner informally with First Call Society for mutual advocacy for SDOH for children and youth and BC, and as members of this great society. The manuscript is complete and will be shared in 2025 re: learnings from community partnerships in BC and other provinces where partnerships took place.

  • The work of the Connect for Health Chart review continues as we move to completion of the analysis and manuscript in December 2024.