We are an Academic Family Health Team affiliated with the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. The MFHT trains medical clerks and residents in Family Medicine, as well as other healthcare professionals, providing primary care services and conducting research in the field of family medicine. We have 2 sites that include the Stonechurch Family Health Centre on the south mountain in Hamilton, and McMaster Family Practice & Maternity Centre of Hamilton, co-located in downtown Hamilton.  Together these practices serve over 40,000 patients from the Greater Hamilton Area.

Our Purpose

Together we serve, teach, discover: Primary care for better health and a brighter world

 

Our Values

Honouring – We are committed to honouring and respecting ourselves and others

Creative– We practice creative and courageous inquiry and action

Generous – We engage one another with generous interdependence

 

COVID-19 Vaccine

You may hear about Hamilton receiving some doses of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine in the coming weeks, but these doses will be provided to our most vulnerable populations first, such as staff and residents in  long-term care.  We do not know when the COVID-19 vaccine will be available for us to provide to our patients at McMaster Family Practice and Stonechurch Family Health Centre.  We expect it will be in late spring 2021 and will update our website and social media accounts as more information becomes available.

Some helpful information regarding the vaccine is found at the following websites:

Government of Canada: What you need to know about the COVID-19 vaccine for Canada
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/publications/diseases-conditions/what-you-need-to-know-covid-19-vaccine/what-you-need-to-know-covid-19-vaccine-eng.pdf

Government of Ontario: COVID-19 (coronavirus) in Ontario
https://covid-19.ontario.ca/index.html

City of Hamilton: Coronavirus
https://www.hamilton.ca/coronavirus

Intersections between biomedicine and traditional knowledge and medicines

What is the role of Western biomedicine and Indigenous traditional knowledge and medicines in supporting health and wellbeing? Some of our Indigenous colleagues participated in a Fireside Chat to discuss this topic as part of a series called Maad’ookiing Mshkiki — Sharing Medicine. This project was designed to address the lack of culturally safe and relevant education materials for Indigenous people about vaccination.

In the latest release, Dr. Karen Hill, Dr. Amy Montour, Elva Jamieson, and Ashley Montour speak about how they use both approaches in their respective practices. Drs. Hill and Montour are Indigenous physicians and DFM faculty members, Elva Jamieson is a traditional medicine practitioner, and Ashley Montour is an Indigenous registered practical nurse. Watch the video on the Maad’ookiing Mshkiki YouTube channel.

To accompany the video, the project team developed materials that provide information on a variety of ways to support immune function, including singing, spending time outdoors and drumming. You can find resources on the virtual hub or download graphics to share on social media. The virtual hub also contains previous fireside chats covering topics such as vaccine hesitancy, what is COVID-19 and how the vaccines work.

We are grateful to our Indigenous colleagues for sharing their knowledge and encourage you to share with your network. Follow @SharingMedicine on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use the hashtag #sharingmedicine.