12 May Professional Partnerships in Care
Professional partnerships in care, a complementary system for Manitobans living with chronic Lyme disease
By: Jason Bachewich, ND
The Tick Collaborative Care Service (TiCCS) is a clinical ecosystem of healthcare practitioners who share a desire to support Manitobans with diagnosing and managing chronic Lyme and other tick borne diseases. Often times, patients spend months or years trying to identify the cause of acute symptoms that are difficult to diagnose, leading to further trauma and ailments.
A unique and first of its kind program in Canada, the TiCCS clinic deploys a collaborative approach to patient care including the work of advocates like Dr. Stephen Goulet, MD, as well as a healthcare practitioners across the care spectrum including internal medicine, rheumatology, medical microbiology, psychology, naturopathic medicine and pharmacy.
Together, these providers have established an open line of communication for patient treatment, progress and innovations to manage hard to treat ailments such as Lyme. While the clinic isn’t one physical location – the TiCCS program has built a safe space for participating providers to see patients with often complex symptoms in a whole-body approach, addressing the root cause of disease.
“The key to success for any medical service is listening, whether it be through compassionate enquiry so that patients feel heard, or engaging with practitioners of other fields to integrate their perspective,” says Dr. Stephen Goulet, MD. “A treatment plan can then be crafted in a way that responds to each person’s unique circumstances. I like to think that at TICCs we do this well.”
The collaborative nature of this shared services model is at the very heart of the clinic and part of the reason why it has encountered such great success. Patients can see a Naturopathic Doctor to provide supportive IV treatments and nutraceuticals and in the same appointment, be connected to a counsellor for mental health support, or a holistic nutritionist to improve gut health. The patient will also attend appointments at the TICCS clinic for thorough medical assessments and pharmaceutical treatments. This comprehensive approach in many cases, supersedes the progress a conventional provider might be able to offer alone.
Together, the providers of TiCCS are taking a holistic approach to care that is demonstrating results. Annabelle Reimer, RN, NP, the clinic’s nurse practitioner was added to the team of providers to expedite care and alleviate symptoms for patients who have been referred to the clinic while they wait to be treated under the shared services model.
“Working in collaboration with an ND and MD at the TICCs clinic has helped to support my knowledge and the strategies I use for supporting patients with a variety of conditions, including Lyme. I’ve met with numerous patients in the last few years who continue to tell me they’ve found a healthcare team that takes the time to listen, and support them through complex and life changing hurdles on the road to better health, that speaks to the collaborative nature we can offer as a team at the clinic,” Annabelle Reimer, RN, NP.
The TiCCS clinic is a testament to the opportunity that exists in Canada for providers like Naturopathic Doctors to work hand in hand with conventional medical practitioners like MDs and RNs for better patient care. The clinic is a proof of concept, that with the desire for broader collaboration, could become a standard practice across the country and beyond for difficult to diagnose diseases and for general healthcare practices.
TiCCS complementary care system not only improves patient outcomes, but also poses a great opportunity for healthcare professionals to leverage their network and peers – across practice and scope for innovation in the field of medicine.
We’re building better health, together. To learn more about TiCCS, visit: https://healthproviders.sharedhealthmb.ca/services/ticcs/