About SLZFP
The Sioux Lookout Zone Family Physicians Association works together to provide innovative and culturally sensitive health care to 25,000 Cree, Ojibway and Oji-Cree people who live in 25 remote fly-in communities spanning Northwestern Ontario.
The work with our First Nations patients offers a diverse opportunity to provide medical care to patients in our designated communities. Comprehensive care, inclusive of in-patients and emergency services, are provided in the MenoYaWin Health Centre in Sioux Lookout. Northern practice patients are also seen in the SLZFP appointment clinic with support provided by a clerk interpretor and nursing staff. We provide distance back up and advice to nurses in the Northern nursing stations. There is video conferencing capacity for educational and clinical applications which links many of the communities we serve via a telehealth network that connects remote sites to our hospital and major health care centres across Ontario. An air ambulance service staffed by critical care flight paramedics is available 24/7 in the Sioux Lookout Zone.
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| Dr. Lars Refling |
The Medical Air Transport Centre has a dedicated air ambulance located in Sioux Lookout as well as planes and/or helicopters in other near-by centres including Kenora and Thunder Bay. We use this service on to transfer patients from a northern community to the hospital in Sioux Lookout or to a tertiary care centre, usually Winnipeg or Thunder Bay.
The day-to-day business of our practice is carried out by a designated Working Group that meets biweekly. The major decisions, however, are made during phone-in business meetings or in-person retreats involving the entire group. Leadership is given by our Practice Coordinator and our Northern Medical Director, the latter of whom is responsible for quality of care issues in the First Nations communities that our practice serves. Administrative and logistical support is provided by our medical unit.