Let us talk about the real frontline of health care

When most people think about health care, they picture hospitals, doctors and emergency rooms. But ask anyone working in child care, housing, youth services or income supports, and they’ll tell you: health begins long before someone walks into a clinic. 

From the moment a child is born, their health is shaped by the quality of their home, access to early learning, household income, food security and connection to community. These social conditions — what health experts call the social determinants of health — have a greater influence on long-term health outcomes than medical care itself. 

That means you — the housing workers, family counsellors, early childhood educators, income support advocates and community-based frontline staff — are the true first responders in our health system. 

And yet, when it comes to public funding and policy decisions, your work often isn’t recognized as part of the health system at all. 

That’s the disconnect that Get Well Canada is working to address. And, on May 15, we’re inviting you to join a free webinar focused on giving social service organizations the tools, language and data to advocate for smarter, fairer investments. 

The system isn’t broken — it’s incomplete 

B.C.’s health-care system is facing growing pressure, from ER wait times to burnout among medical professionals. But pouring more money into medical care alone hasn’t solved the crisis. That’s because we’re focusing too much on treating illness and not enough on preventing it. 

What’s missing is sustained investment in the services that keep people well in the first place — housing, education, child care, mental health supports and income security. 

This is the central message of Get Well Canada: if we want to reduce pressure on the health-care system, we need to complete the system by treating social services as essential health infrastructure. 

Advocacy tools for the frontline 

The upcoming webinar will introduce practical tools and strategies for organizations looking to influence public investment, most notably, the SE/M ratio, which compares how much governments spend on social and education supports versus medical care. 

We’ll also walk through:

• Key messaging that reframes social services as health care.
• Advocacy tactics.
• Opportunities to collaborate with other organizations across the province. 

If you’ve ever struggled to explain why your work should be better funded — or wondered how to tie your programs to “health” in a way that resonates with decision-makers — this webinar is for you. 

Join us May 15 

Let’s change the conversation about what health care really means. Let’s show that the frontline of health doesn’t begin at the emergency room — it begins at the front door of your child care centre, housing office or neighbourhood outreach program. 

Register for the webinar today.

We hope to see you there. 

Because the best way to get well is to invest in what keeps us well.