The Rural Coordination Centre of BC (RCCbc) has received funding from Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) for work on a project aimed at helping rural communities tackle chronic disease.   

With an initial focus on type 2 diabetes remission, RCCbc is partnering with the Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition (IPTN), the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability (IHSTS) and the communities of Tumbler Ridge and Port Alberni.  

The funding is part of a larger Strengthening Primary Care in Northern, Rural and Remote Communities (Strengthening Primary Care) initiative, which is designed to improve access to safe, including culturally safe, team-based primary care closer to home. RCCbc and its partners are among 20 teams invited to participate in this program. Learn more about Strengthening Primary Care.  

The aim of the RCCbc project is to co-design patient-centered, team-based, type 2 diabetes remission services using therapeutic nutrition approaches with two rural communities—Port Alberni and Tumbler Ridge. The engagement process will be based upon the Partnership Pentagram Plus model and has potential to serve as a community-based approach for other chronic disease management.   

Physician lead, Dr. Dan Horvat, said: “It is a great example of collaboration between physicians, communities and various healthcare partners that can bring best practice to rural British Columbia. It is fantastic that rural communities are being given the opportunity to lead the way on this.”   

This funding is for the initial phase of the project which is based on broad community engagement, relationship-building, and learning from rural, remote, and Indigenous communities. The co-created services and solutions will be designed for each rural community’s specific needs, leveraging resources the community already has.

The initial phase of the project will run until September 2024.