Team Members

1. Family Physicians

The Family Health Team has been successful due to the support and participation of the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Network. This group of physicians has long been established in the area and has provided high quality primary care to the residents of the Haliburton Highlands.

	Mike Armstrong () / Family Physician Dr. Armstrong is the most recent addition to the Haliburton Highlands, having just arrived in July 2006 along with his family. Mike enjoys road biking and canoeing. One of his more memorable trips is biking through Greece and Italy.
	Norm Bottum () / Family Physician Dr. Bottum and his wife arrived to Haliburton in 1987. Dr. Bottum provides primary obstetrical care, including low risk deliveries at the Haliburton Highlands Health Services. Norm has also specialized in the provision of sports medicine in his practice.
	Scott Coles () / Family Physician Dr. Coles permanently joined the Haliburton Family Medical Group in 1998. He has since taken on the role of Lead Physician for the Family Health Network and is Chair of the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team Corporation. He enjoys fishing in northern Ontario.
	Aoife Conway () / Family Physician Dr. Conway joined the group in 1994. She is the only non-Ontario native of the physician group thus far and hails from Calgary, Alberta. She came to Ontario in 1989 to complete her residency in Kingston. Aoife enjoys golfing in the summer and playing hockey in the winter.
	Steve Ferracuti () / Family Physician Dr. Ferracuti moved to Haliburton Highlands in 1992, along with his family. Dr. Ferracuti is Vice Chair of the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team corporation. Steve enjoys running, having participated in a number of half-marathons. Dr. Ferracuti is also the organizer of the annual "Kash Dash".
	Kristy Gammon () / Family Physician Dr. Gammon moved to Haliburton Higlands in 1992, along with her family. Dr. Gammon is the Medical Director of Hyland Crest, , a 62-bed Long-Term Care facility in Minden. She enjoys running half-marathons as far away as Boston and New York.
	Karl Hartwick () / Family Physician Dr. Hartwick is a founding member of Haliburton Family Medical Group, having moved to the region in 1980. Dr. Hartwick has been an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto's Department of Family and Community Medicine for several years. He enjoys canoeing and, in fact, has built a number of traditional cedar canvas canoes.
	Bob Heyes () / Family Physician Dr. Heyes is a founding member of the Haliburton Family Medical Group, which began in 1980. He is the Chief of Staff of the Haliburton Highlands Health Services. Dr. Heyes enjoys road biking to remain healthy.
	Tina Stephenson () / Family Physician Dr. Stephenson arrived to the Haliburton Highlands in 1988. She has been the Medical Director of Highland Wood, a 30-bed Long-Term Care facility in Haliburton for the past five years. Tina enjoys running and has participated in a number of half-marathons over the past few years.

2. Primary Care Nurse Practitioners

Nurse Practitioners are key team members, as they may be the first point of contact. Nurse Practitioners collaborate with family physicians to ensure that each client receives the best possible care. Nurse Practitioners are able to assess, investigate, diagnose and treat patients according to their scope of practice.

Deborah Hare-Colpitts BN, MN, AGD-ANP () / Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
Deborah began her career as a Nurse Practitioner when she joined the FHT in April 2007. Prior to becoming a Nurse Practitioner, Deborah worked as a Public Health Nurse with the HKPR Health Unit in Haliburton. Her nursing career has included many public health and primary health care positions in northern Canada in rural and remote settings, as well as in the Middle East. Deborah enjoys keeping active with jogging, dog walking, yoga, and skiing. She enjoys new things and is now learning how to golf.

Kathy McLaughlin RN BScN RN(EC) () / Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
Kathy Mclaughlin is the first Primary Care Nurse Practitioner to join the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team. She joined the team here in March 2007 after practicing in Blackstock, Ontario for 9 years. She enjoys walking, cooking and may even take up biking around the Haliburton Highlands.

3. Program Coordinators

Registered Nurse program coordinators deliver services and programs that meet the tailored needs of target populations. This is accomplished through collaboration with other team members and community partners; reciprocal planning and implementation.

	Carol Browne RN BScN MN () / Seniors Health A resident of Haliburton County by choice, she has worked in long term care for the past 18 years. She is committed to improving seniors health and enjoys collaborating with community partners to improve care. She feels privileged to work in such a caring community. Carol enjoys the highlands and looks forward to new challenges. She loves to walk, swim and quilt.
	Wanita Livingstone RN () / Healthy Kids Born and raised in Haliburton County, Wanita and her family have recently returned to the area. Wanita has several years of paediatric experience. Initially, she worked in acute care at the Hospital for Sick Children and then as a Paediatric Case Manager with the Community Care Access Centre of Grey and Bruce Counties. Wanita is dedicated to working with various community partners in providing optimal family-centred care to the children within our community. In her spare time, she loves various outdoor activities with her family, travelling, and spending time with family and friends.
	Shannon Robinson RN BScN CRE () / Chronic Disease Management A life-long resident of Haliburton County, Shannon graduated from the RN diploma program at Centennial College in 1996 and went on to complete the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Laurentian University in 1998. She has been practicing in a variety of health care settings including community visiting nursing, infection control, and primary care. For the last 8 years, Shannon has worked as an RN in emergency and acute care at Haliburton Highlands Health Services. She enjoys camping with her family and scrapbooking her two boys' many milestones.
	Connie Wood RN BScN () / Healthy Living Born and raised in Haliburton County, Connie has 31 years of nursing experience working in a variety of health care settings, inclusive of long term care, acute care and community nursing. She is passionate about providing comprehensive health care to the Highlands. She joined the Family Health Team in January 2007. In her spare time Connie enjoys golfing, curling, walking, cooking and taking health-related courses.

4. Allied Health Professionals

Key Health Professionals play an active role in assisting patients in achieving their best health. These team members will assist individuals and their families and also participate in planning and delivering programs to the community.

	Barb Fraser MSW () / Social Worker Barb has lived in Haliburton County since 1985. She spent many years working in children’s services, first with the Case Coordination Program for families of children with special needs, then as Manager, Programs and Services with Point in Time Centre for Children Youth and Parents. She enjoys being a “dance and hockey mom”, yoga, and running. She joined the FHT in February 2007.
	Nicki Mills RD BASc, Food and Nutrition () / Registered Dietitian A life-long resident of Haliburton County, Nicki has been working as a Registered Dietitian with Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital's Regional Dialysis Program since 2001. She joined the Family Health Team as a permanent Part-Time Registered Dietitian in November 2007. Her spare time is spent with her three small children, but she enjoys reading, exercising and sharing great food with family and friends.
	Natasha Moshenko DCh CPed () / Chiropodist Natasha grew up in the Bancroft area and currently resides in Huntsville where she works and plays with her husband Bill and new baby boy, Magnum. She started a private practice in the Haliburton Highlands in 2001, and her own small orthotic manufacturing business in 2005. Currently her spare time is limited due to the baby but, when she can, she likes to kayak, camp, bake, solve soduko and compete in triathlons.
	Doug Stewart BSc BScPhm RPh CRE () / Pharmacist Doug was born and raised in Thunder Bay, and moved to the Haliburton area in 2004. He is a Teaching Associate with the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto and enjoys incorporating education into his practice. Doug is very active in sports and spends most of his spare time playing hockey, golf and softball.

5. Specialists

The FHT works closely with specialists, who provide consultations for clients closer to home.

6. Case Management

The Central East Community Care Access Centre provides a single point of access for people of all ages for:

information and referral to community services,

provision of in-home health care services,

admission to long term care homes, and

programs and school health support services.

CE CCAC services are paid for by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. The case managers are regulated health professionals with specialized knowledge and skills that help to arrange services as well as link to other community agencies. The Access Centre joined the Family Health Team in June 2006 as an opportunity to create a partnership and collaborate with the Family Health Team in providing primary health care to the residents of Haliburton Country.
Please visit the CECCAC website for further information.

Sandy Ambridge () / Case Manager
Sandy, a Registered Nurse, has worked as a Case Manager in Halburton County since 1988. She likes to golf in the summer, snow board or ski in the winter and has recently taken up rowing.

7. Team Support

Our health professionals are supported by a team of qualified, efficient and friendly administrative staff who assist in delivering timely, responsive care to our community.

Judy Coles () / Team Support - Allied Health Professionals
Judy has spent most of her life in London, Ontario. Having recently moved to Haliburton County, Judy and her husband have spent the last year and half in Zambia, Africa teaching business skills to the Nationals. Judy has many years' experience in administration and is looking forward to using her cross-cultural experience in the Haliburton Highlands. In her spare time Judy enjoys traveling, baking, skiing, running a small guest house and, of course, spending time with her two adult daughters.

Tammy Villamere () / Team Support - Administrative
Tammy arrived to the Haliburton Highlands in 1999. Tammy comes to the Family Health Team with 15 years of medical reception experience in addition to a extensive business background. She enjoys reading, hiking and spending time with her family.