Last Friday in Listowel, Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae and Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson announced a funding boost of $4.3 million for the Huron Perth and Area Ontario Health Team.
This funding, according to Rae, will help link more people in the area to essential healthcare services.
“It’s gonna help over 10,000 people get access to primary care in the communities they live in, and it will benefit communities across Huron and Perth counties. The Town of St. Marys, Stratford, Mitchell and Listowel in particular on my side, and then obviously a bunch on the Huron side for Minister Thompson,” Rae explained.
The announcement took place at the Fisher Family Primary Care Centre in Listowel. The funds will be divided among the regional family health teams that make up the Huron Perth and Area Health Team. This includes Listowel-Wingham and Area FHT, STAR FHT, Stratford FHT, Huron Community FHT, Maitland Valley FHT, Clinton FHT, Happy Valley FHT, Bluewater Area FHT and Grand Bend Area Community Health Centre and Family Health Organization.
The Listowel-Wingham and Area Family Health team is set to lead efforts to create more outreach clinics for residents without attached physicians-those who currently don’t have a primary care doctor-with the aim of connecting them with one.
MPP Thompson appreciates the leadership shown by the Listowel-Wingham Family Health Team within the region.
“It’s great the collaboration that we see headed up by the Listowel-Wingham Family Health Team across Midwestern Ontario, where they introduced unattached clinics, and they’ve been highly successful,” Thompson shared.
This funding aligns with the provincial government’s commitment to ensure everyone in Ontario has access to a primary care physician by 2029.
Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson and Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae (middle holding sign) are pictured alongside leaders and board members from local family health teams as well as local dignitaries outside Fisher Family Primary Care Centre in Listowel Ontario after announcing $4.3 million for expanding primary care services in their area. April 17, 2026 (Photo by Ryan Drury)
Robin Spence Haffner, Executive Director of the Listowel-Wingham and Area Family Health Team noted that this funding will aid in expanding service offerings from family health teams while also increasing staffing levels.
“What it allows all of the family health teams and all the physicians groups to do is see more patients. So they’re able to attach more patients at local clinics. So it really builds our capacity to get more people attached to teams-based care throughout the entire region,” Spence Haffner said proudly. “We’ve got funding for at least 18 new clinical staff. So that’s everything from nurse practitioners to nurses to social workers to physiotherapists. So really, whatever will help get more people attached (to a physician), so we’re really excited about it.”
Spence Haffner also mentioned that anyone in need of a primary care physician can register online for assistance finding one.
“So what people need to do is sign up for Health Care Connect. If you just Google it, you can get signed up and you can sign up for it if you don’t have a family doctor or if you do have one but they’re far away,” she pointed out.
A lot of folks have family doctors located in cities like Kitchener or London which can mean long travels for some residents-especially older community members who may find this challenging.
You can sign up for Health Care Connect here: https://hcc3. hcc. moh. gov. on. ca/HCCWeb/faces/layout HCCReg Splash. xhtml
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