Doctors of BC supports Change Day

Doctors of BC President Dr Bill Cavers believes the small things we do can make a huge difference in the world. “To paraphrase a quote from Margaret Mead: never doubt that an individual's action can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has.”

So he was especially pleased to participate in the announcement of Change Day BC to be held October 15, 2015.

What is Change Day? It is a global social movement that began as a grassroots movement in England in 2013. The campaign received 189,000 pledges in its first year and over 800,000 in its second year. Since then, 27 countries including Australia, Jordan and Sweden have joined in.  In 2014, Saskatchewan was the first Canadian jurisdiction to implement Change Day.  

The goal of Change Day BC is for participants to pledge to make one small change to improve our health care system for everyone.  The initiative is being coordinated by the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council with a lot of help from partnering organizations, including Doctors of BC.

The premise is simple – if you are involved with health, community or social care, try something new or do one small thing to improve care for British Columbians. Record your pledge online at ChangeDayBC.ca. Your pledge can be anything at all, big or small, as long as it will positively affect care in BC. The goal is to get 5,000 pledges registered online by October 15.

Dr Cavers has made two pledges of his own. At the end of each office visit, he will ask patients “Did you get what you needed today?”, and he is also going to set an example when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle by cycling 100km in a single day by year’s end.

What will your pledge be? Let us know what you will be doing via Twitter @DoctorsofBC using the hashtag #ChangeDayBC!