Making Primary Care More Connected and Convenient
Strategic Priorities
At the Hamilton Family Health Team, we’re working towards a future where primary care is embedded within local neighbourhoods, easy to access, and connected with other health and social services, bringing you the care you need close to home. This work is only possible through collaboration with our family practices, community partners, and local primary care network. Together, we’re leading the way to a healthier community.
In 2024, we opened Health Care at Eva Rothwell Centre: a small but mighty primary health care clinic located inside Eva Rothwell Centre (ERC), a vibrant community hub with wide-ranging supportive programs that’s been serving children, individuals, and families in Hamilton’s North End for 20 years.
In March 2026, we opened a new clinical space within the Eva Rothwell Centre, renovating an old classroom on the main floor. This new clinical space is a welcome addition to the original health care clinic, which can now be dedicated to direct primary care led by a full-time Nurse Practitioner and two part-time Family Physicians. The new clinical space provides room for team-based care including mental health counselling, consult psychiatry, clinical pharmacy, registered dietetics, and community navigation.
934
total patients attached at Health Care at Eva Rothwell Centre
1000
additional patients can be attached with addition of new clinical space
4002
primary care appointments since 2024
From an old classroom…
…to a new clinical space for team-based care.
This year, we continued the development of an integrated social medicine program and construction of a population health research lab at 304 Victoria Ave North, in partnership with the existing co-located family practices at this location (the Hamilton Community Health Centre or HCHC), Thrive Group, the Mary Heersink School of Global Health and Social Medicine at McMaster University, and the Greater Hamilton Health Network (GHHN) Primary Care Network.
Rather than simple co-location, the Social Medicine Program and Research Lab will function as a fully integrated care platform serving roughly 20,000 high-needs patients in Hamilton’s North End. Embedded Thrive Community Care Coordinators, HFHT interdisciplinary healthcare providers, and HCHC family physicians will share space and care planning on-site, enabling warm handoffs, a single access point for social supports, and routine screening for social risk factors. McMaster researchers will evaluate outcomes and utilization, generating evidence to guide future system planning and funding.
By addressing the social determinants of health (e.g., housing, income, food security) that often drive repeat visits and health inequities, the program aims to reduce navigation burden, speed access to social supports, and improve continuity of care for complex patients.
Construction in progress:
At the Hamilton Family Health Team, we offer health education groups & workshops that are free and open to the public. You can even self-register online! Groups and workshops are led by healthcare practitioners either online or in-person on a variety of topics including mental health, nutrition, muscle and bone health, medication management, and more.
We also offer referral-based treatment groups open to any patient of an HFHT family physician.
In our 2025-2026 fiscal year:
305
total groups & workshops
3181
groups & workshops participants
60%
increase in participants from 2024-25 year
