MSA Projects

Is there something that is keeping you from doing your job effectively? Share it with us! We're here to help find & support solutions to your work-related challenges.

All FEI -funded projects must be must align with at least one of the following goals of the Memorandum of Understanding on Regional and Local Engagement:

1. To improve communication and relationships among the medical staff so that their views are more effectively represented.

2. To prioritize issues that significantly affect physicians and patient care.

3. To support medical staff contributions to the development and achievement of health authority plans and initiatives that directly affect physicians.

4. To have meaningful interactions between the medical staff and health authority leaders, including physicians in formal HA medical leadership roles.

If you're not sure your idea fits within FEI guidelines, don't worry. Our project manager will help you find the right funding and fit for your project.

Click here to tell us your idea!

*This is a preliminary proposal only. Once you click to submit, your proposal will be reviewed by the EVH MSA's Project Manager and brought to the MSA Executive group, which meets prior to bimonthly MSA Working Group meetings and can approve any project under $5,000. If your project requires funding over $5,000, it must be brought forward to the next MSA Working Group meeting for approval.

**All APPROVED project proposals will offer up to 2 hours of sessional payment at a rate of $176.18/hour as remuneration of time spent drafting the more detailed proposal.

See what other physicians & sites are doing

exciting projects

HAPPENNING AT EVH:

First Impressions Initiative: "The Buddy Program"

First impressions are critical in making new staff and locums comfortable and happy in our facility. EVH medical staff provide orientation and mentoring for new physicians and locums in the EVH Emergency Room, Operating Room, and Inpatient Units. The 'mentor physician' provides their knowledge of unit procedures, introduces the new physician to staff, orientates them to policies and practices, and generally gets to know them. This initiative also supports welcome baskets to all new permanent physicians, which includes introductory materials to the Facility Engagement Initiative and the EVH MSA.

🗞️IN THE NEWS: 60-second Story Facility Engagement in Action - Elk Valley Hospital's "Buddy Program" creates a soft landing and welcoming, helpful environment for new and visiting doctors, while streamlining patient care from the outset

Fernie Physician Recruitment Committee

Collaboration between EVH MSA & Interior Health Authority

Physician Co-Leads: Dr. Paul Michal & Dr. Todd Loewen as Chief of Staff

Members: Dr. Adriana Mejia-French, Dr. Benjamin Tan, Dr. Shayne Soetaert

Following in the footsteps of the Physician Succession Planning Team Project completed in 2023, this Recruitment Committee was reinstated in 2023 with the goals of reassessing the recruitment/succession planning needs of our community, exploring opportunities and barriers to physician recruitment, and further building on communication and collegiality between family practice clinics to ensure a well-informed and bright future for Fernie Physicians and their patient population. The Fernie Physician Recruitment Committee meets quarterly and ad hoc., and reports to the larger physician group at all MSA and LMAC meetings.

Talk With Your Doc

Physician Lead: Dr. Marian Ma

In 2010, Doctors of BC adopted an initiative entitled Walk With Your Doc. The purpose of this annual public health campaign was to promote physical health by inviting patients to walk with their physicians and talk about the benefits of daily activity.

Talk With Your Doc is inspired by the Doctors of BC initiative, where local physician periodically write short articles on relevant medical issues, published in the Free Press - creating space for healthy public engagement and education regarding pertinent healthcare and medical issues in our communities.

EVH MSA Peer Support Program

A local autonomous program, supported by a collaboration between the Joint Collaborative Committees and the Physician Health Program.

Physician Lead: Dr. Sarah Pearce

Physician Peer Supporters: Drs. Kimberley Allan, Rae Petrucha, Jennifer Pond, and Marian Ma

In 2023/2024, EVH MSA members were surveyed on physician wellness, and the majority expressed a strong interest in focusing on peer support as a vital aspect of improving wellness among physicians. This enthusiastic response led to the implementation of the EVH MSA Peer Support Program in 2025, with the support and guidance of the Physician Health Program, to help foster a supportive and resilient community for healthcare professionals in the Elk Valley.

Click HERE to learn more

REGIONAL PROJECTS

we're a part of:

East Kootenay Patient Transport Committee

Collaboration between EK FEI, Doctors of BC, & Interior Health Authority

Chair: Kevin Jarva, HART Team, Interior Health

EVH MSA Sitting Members: Drs. Andrew Fagan, Dave McBeath, Rob Riddell, Joel Stimson, Dana Stimson as Project Manager, Dr. Todd Loewen as EK Regional Medical Director

Patient transportation in the East Kootenay (EK) faces challenges due to geography, highways, weather, resource constraints, and jurisdictional boundaries. A regional Facility Engagement committee spanning five hospitals -Fernie, Creston, Invermere, Golden, and Cranbrook -has brought together MSAs, Interior Health, and stakeholder organizations to better understand and address issues –and ultimately improve patient care and provider experiences. One primary focus is to enhance the capacity of rural East Kootenay sites that refer patients to East Kootenay Regional Hospital, including to provide care for complex patients and reduce the need for transfers.

🗞️IN THE NEWS: Peer to Peer Learning - The East Kootenay Patient Transport Committee: a collective, united voice for action

Interior Regional Planetary Health Table

EVH MSA Sitting Member: Dr. Lisa Tessler

Formed in 2023, the Table is a partnership between physicians, Facility Engagement, the Office of the Chief Medical Health Officer and Population and Public Health, and the Environmental Sustainability team. The Table provides a unique opportunity for physicians to collaborate regionally, to share and spread their local efforts to other sites in the region and work alongside other IH leaders and staff to advance climate change action. It focuses on creating an environmentally sustainable health system and implementing clinical actions to build a more environmentally sustainable health system at Interior Health.

🗞️IN THE NEWS: Healthy Planet, healthy people: One doctor's quest for change