Military Family Health Portal

For Physicians

Did You Know?

In Canada, the families of actively serving Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members don’t receive healthcare though the Department of National Defence. They must access medical services through the provincial and territorial health care systems.

Military Family Doctor Network

In collaboration with Military Family Services and local MFRCs, Calian formally launched the MilitaryFamily Doctor Network (MFDN) in January 2016. The goal of the MFDN is to help connect military family members with family physicians practising at Calian’s Primacy clinics located in Loblaw® grocery store locations across Canada. Calian staff have also started to appeal to family physicians who are not practising at Primacy clinics to make room in their practices for military family members.

Since its inception, the MFDN has connected over 4,000 military family patients with family physicians across Canada.

Canadian Military Families Need Your Help!

We understand that you may have a full and busy practice; however, we ask that you consider accepting even a few military families for a chance to give back to those who give so much for our country. Register with the Military Family Doctor Network and help us make a difference in the lives of the families who support the men and women who proudly serve our country.

Register Today with
the Military Family Doctor Network

Registering with the MFDN is easy and does not require you to alter your usual booking procedure. Once you receive an application from Primacy, we arrange for the patient to call the clinic and schedule their own appointment.

Call us at: 1 (877) 633-7722 x3507

Email us at: mfdn@calian.com

A Primacy staff member will follow up with you at a later date to see if the CAF family member(s) attended their scheduled appointment. After the first appointment, Primacy requires no additional follow-up or information.

Resources for Family Physicians Caring for Canadian Military Families:

Quick Reference Guide for Health Care Practitioners Caring for Military Families, Calian Health, Military Family Services, The Vanier Institute of the Family, CIMVHR (October 2019)

This quick reference guide was developed by the Innovation to Impact working group as a tool to help family doctors and other health care providers better understand the unique health care needs of military families in order to enhance the health care interaction for both doctor and patient. A companion guide entitled Quick Reference Guide for Military Families WhenMeeting with a Health Care Provider is also available for military families.

Caring for Military Families in the Patient’s Medical Home, The College of Family Physicians of Canada (September 2017)

This guide is intended to help family physicians understand the unique experiences and realities of being a member of a military family and to familiarize them with the resources that are currently available to provide equitable health care to military families.

Family Physicians Working with Military Families, The College of Family Physicians of Canada (November 2016)

The military community has defended Canada’s values, interests and sovereignty at home and abroad. Service members’ families proudly contribute on the home front and are the strength behind the uniform.

Caring for Children and Youth from Canadian Military Families: Special Considerations, Anne Rowan-Legg, Canadian PaediatricSociety (May 2017)

Military families experience a number of life stressors, such as frequent geographical moves, long periods of separation within the family, geographic isolation from extended family support systems and deployments to high-risk areas of the world. While children and youth in military families experience all the same developmental and motivational trajectories as their civilian counterparts, they must also contend with more unusual developmental pressures and stressors placed on them by the unique demands of military life. The effects of the military life on families and children are beginning to be recognized and characterized more fully. Understanding the unique concerns of children and youth from military families and mobilizing specific resources to support them are critical for meeting the health care needs of this population.

Improving the Health Care of Canadian Military Families, MDcme

This professional development program provides the clinician with background cases demonstrating some of the particular challenges and barriers faced by military families, strategies to improve the care delivered to these families, and resources for the clinician to help military families.

Caring for Canadian Military Families, Heidi Cramm, Alyson Mahar,Cathy MacLean and Richard Birtwhistle, Canadian Family Physician (January 2019)

This article outlines some of the health care challenges that Canada’s military families may face and provides an overview of the state of current research on the health of Canadian military families.

State of Military Families in Canada: Issues Facing Regular Force Members and Their Families, Lynda Manser, Canadian Forces Morale and WelfareServices (August 2018)

This document outlines the current challenges that Canadian military families face, including those relating to health care.

On the Homefront: Assessing the Well-being of Canada’s Military Families in the New Millennium, Canadian Forces Ombudsman (November 2013)

The 2013 Special Report to the Minister of National Defence by the Canadian Forces Ombudsman provides a deeper understanding of the context of military families, as well as recommendations for improvements to services and resources.

Looking to become a Primacy clinic owner?

Visit our opportunities page for more information about our available medical office space.