Collaborative Mentorship Network for Chronic Pain and Addiction

Poverty puts patients at higher risk for most chronic diseases, mental illnesses, and even accidents and trauma.
Poverty: A Clinical Tool for Primary Care directs providers to use key questions to assess their patients’ living situations and current benefits and includes links to key government and community resources to support positive interventions.

A powerful body of evidence shows that poverty puts patients at higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and depression. Children in low income families are at higher risk of low birth weights, mental health problems, asthma, malnutrition, injuries and hospitalization. Providers should routinely screen patients and intervene for poor diet, lack of exercise, substance abuse and high-risk sexual behaviour. It is clear that poverty is another very important risk factor that requires screening and intervention. However, poverty is not always apparent. In Ontario 20 per cent of families or 1.57 million people live in poverty. Poverty is a high risk factor for new immigrants, women, Indigenous peoples, LGBTQ+ and children.

The first and most important step is to identify those who live in poverty.

Poverty: A Clinical Tool for Primary Care Providers is designed to be used over a series of visits to:

• Screen all patients using a key question identified as a good predictor of poverty.
• Consider that new immigrants, women, Indigenous peoples and LGBTQ+ people are among the highest groups at risk.
• Understand that otherwise low risk patients who live in poverty are at higher risk for certain health conditions.
• Intervene, educate and support patients to access tax and other government benefits, and connect them with resources and services.

The Centre for Effective Practice website provides the Poverty Tool and an EMR form specific for each province. Click HERE to check out their website.