No matter what the outcome of the election is, UFPA will persist, and UFPA will grow. If anything, we have learned that negligence in maintaining effective grassroots representation will lead to worsening conditions for family doctors. A collective entity of our peers that is not beholden to institutional-imposed limitations is the only way to ensure that governments will not be able to use their position as both our payer and our ultimate regulator to oppress the proper delivery of pubic healthcare.

In Alberta, at this time, UFPA is the largest grass-roots collective of family doctors. We exist within the communication conduits developed to house us. But with numbers and momentum we can bring actions forward to the public, and garner their responses (or the threat of their responses) to influence decisions within government. As a family doctor, you should join. Because UFPA is nothing if not rank-and-file grassroots, your presence will shape its trajectory. You will gain connections, you will influence others, you will find inspiration and ideas. And, then we will all stand up and make the biggest difference in healthcare that this province has ever seen.

How to join?

1. Find me on facebook or twitter. I am the only John Julyan-Gudgeon on the planet (twitter: @John1MD)

2. Ask your colleagues if any of them are already members (the last count we had approximately 600 members)

3. Visit our join page

Whether you choose to join UFPA, you are still a family doctor in Alberta and you still need to be heard. Please consider taking this poll to help me/UFPA represent you.

But, maybe more importantly, talk about these issues with your colleagues. The label of the organization trying to bring doctors together doesn’t matter. Its community, its being important to your colleagues and them to you, that is the first step of solidarity. When we care for each other, then we act together. Once we point that commitment in one direction and act, then we have power to influence others invested in/concerned by that action. Still, the first step, is to come together. To unite.

There is more to this plan, much more. But some parts of this plan are only discussed in secure venues for the time being. Join UFPA, and you will come to know the rest.