Family Medicine Matters

Across Canada, family physicians and the communities we serve are under enormous strain. Millions of people do not have a family doctor,¹ and those who do often find their physician stretched thin by complex needs, administrative burdens, and fragmented systems. Yet amid the challenges, there is also innovation and resilience.

That is what inspired the Family Medicine Matters podcast. In each episode, we share stories and practical solutions from colleagues who are reimagining care in their communities.

In our first 3 episodes, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr Sarah Newbery, Dr Kerri Treherne, and Dr Tia Pham, whose work demonstrates the creativity, courage, and commitment that define our discipline.

Dr Newbery, a rural generalist in Marathon, Ont, has practised in her community for nearly 30 years. She and her colleagues arrived when the local hospital had lost accreditation and services were at risk of closing. “We were told there had been 85 physicians through the community in 10 years,” she recalled. “You can’t build a system on itinerant care.”

Their solution was to work differently, pooling resources to give each time to teach, lead, rest, and engage with their community, and creating a culture of collaboration and building a team anchored in the needs of the population.

In Calgary, Alta, Dr Treherne has spent nearly 3 decades at a non-profit community health centre providing wraparound care for vulnerable populations. Her clinic offers everything from hot meals to exercise classes, but what she values most is “the culture of psychological safety between team members.”

With new funding in Alberta, Dr Treherne’s team has expanded, allowing every member to work to full scope and increasing access for patients. “Sometimes the entry point is the food,” she said. “Someone comes in for a hot meal and gets connected to a social worker, a nurse, or me. That’s how care starts.”

She also shared a truth that echoes across all our conversations: team-based care requires time and investment. “It’s not just putting people together on a team that makes a team,” she told me. “You have to be intentional: clarity of roles, overlapping scopes, and shared purpose.”

In Victoria, BC, Dr Pham, co-medical director of 6 urgent and primary care centres, is helping design team-based care models that expand access while maintaining relational care.

“You need intentional design: leadership, role clarity, co-location, and funding structures that support collaboration rather than fee-for-service silos.”

Dr Pham also spoke to the importance of physician leadership, not as hierarchy, but as partnership. “In my ideal world, it’s a triad: a physician leader, an administrative leader, and a nurse leader working together.”

Her vision is one of shared responsibility and continuity. “Continuity can be recreated in smaller pods: the patient knows their nurse, their physician, their pharmacist. It’s still relationship-based care, just delivered through a broader team.”

Across all 3 conversations, common threads emerged: the need for intentional culture, adequate funding and time, collaborative leadership, and joy in work. Dr Newbery reminded us that joy comes from “relationships with patients, relationships with colleagues, and a sense of purpose and mastery in our work.” Dr Treherne described the satisfaction of seeing nurses, social workers, and physicians “each working at their full scope.” And Dr Pham spoke of the importance of nurturing teams with “different generations under one roof … learning from and supporting one another.”

I hope you will listen, reflect, and share your own stories. Together, we can continue to build a stronger, more connected future for family medicine in Canada.

Notes

Scan to listen to the Family Medicine Matters podcast with Dr Cook

• Copyright © 2026 the College of Family Physicians of Canada