Your Biweekly News & Updates
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Save the Date! AFHTO’s The Power of Primary Care Conference Oct. 23-24, 2025
Let’s state the obvious. Primary care is under pressure and it’s ready to burst.
This year, AFHTO’s conference is built to disrupt the status quo and bring together people ready to rethink, rebuild, and redefine what primary care can be in Ontario to best serve patients and providers now and into the future. Come experience powerful conversations and engage in bold ideas to create change.
We’re excited to announce AFHTO’s annual conference.
The Power of Primary Care: The Foundation of Integrated Health Systems
? Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, ON
? October 23-24, 2025
?️ Spots are limited. Sign up below to receive updates
- Sign up to receive conference updates
- Volunteer to review abstracts and/or review Bright Lights Awards submissions!
- Bring me to the conference website
Member stories
East Wellington, Guelph, Minto-Mapleton, Mount Forest, Upper Grand FHTs- new one-stop resource has the answers about healthcare in Guelph Wellington
Hamilton FHT – Congratulations on reaching this epic milestone- connecting 15,500 more Ontarians to primary care
National Physicians’ Day
Today is National Physicians’ Day. The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and health care organizations across the province will be recognizing contributions made by Ontario’s doctors. Ontarians can choose an emoji of gratitude here.
A special thank you to all the family physicians working with our teams for the great care you provide to your patients and your communities every day.
Member renewal request
Thank you to members who have already renewed membership for 2025-26 and/or have returned their renewal forms. We do have a request for those who haven’t done so yet- please clearly identify your team and invoice number when paying electronically.
There has been some ambiguity on the part of several teams, and we want to ensure our records accurately reflect your contribution. If you have any questions, please email info@afhto.ca.
Mental Health Week: May 5-11, 2025
#UnmaskingMentalHealth is the theme of this year’s mental health week. The CMHA toolkits for your team’s participation are available here.
You can also join or promote one of their free virtual workshops.
News and updates including barriers and enablers to implementation of cancer screening for marginalized patients
- Exploring barriers and enablers to implementation of cancer screening among primary care professionals seeing marginalized patients– BMC Public Health, April 28, 2025
- Tool: Preventive Care for Older People (PCOP)- CEP
- “Our results suggest that a positive test for COVID-19 (vs a negative test) was associated with increased rates of diagnosis of various infections in the 12 months following an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.”- The Lancet Infectious Diseases, April 1, 2025
- This is Long Term Care 2025 Call for Content deadline May 9, 2025– OLTCA
- Children face elevated kidney, heart, and gut risks for years after COVID infection -UPenn, April 21, 205; original study
Invitation to participate in a program evaluation survey for the 2024–25 infant and high-risk children RSV prevention program
“Public Health Ontario (PHO) is completing a process evaluation of the 2024–25 expanded Infant and High-risk Children Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Prevention Program on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Health, with a primary focus on the monoclonal antibody (Beyfortus) prophylaxis program. The evaluation aims to summarize the Ontario experience with program implementation and identify facilitators and barriers to inform future program improvements. A summary of the findings will be shared with the Ministry of Health and with those who participated in the survey.
As part of the process evaluation, they would like to hear about the experiences of primary care providers with the expanded Infant and High-Risk Children RSV Prevention Program. Specifically, they are looking for responses to an online survey in your business, professional or official capacity. The survey may be accessed through the link below. Please feel free to consult with your colleagues to fill out this survey. A copy of the survey questions can be found here. This survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete. Please review the Letter of Information for additional details.
The survey will remain open until May 2, 2025. If you have any questions, please email evaluate@oahpp.ca. Thank you for your continued commitment to health system learning and for your ongoing partnership.”
CIHI mental health and substance use surveys
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has two pan-Canadian surveys to understand peoples’ experiences of accessing mental and health and substance use services.
- Navigation of Mental Health and Substance Use Services (age 15 and older);
- Purpose:measure whether people always or usually had support navigating MHSU services in Canada once they accessed services in the past 12 months.
- Early Intervention for Mental Health and Substance Use Among Children and Youth (age 13 to 24).
- Purpose:Measure of whether children and youth in Canada are accessing early intervention services for mild to moderate impairment in the last 6 months.
Current data collection cycle is open until May 31, 2025. Survey completion is voluntary, responses are kept anonymous, and it takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Survey respondents have the option to enter a weekly draw to win a $100 gift card to a retailer of their choice.
Here are an information sheet (EN and FR) and e-postcards that provide additional information on the surveys.
Insomnia Disorder Quality Standard Webinar, May 14, 2025
Hosted by Ontario Health. Find out more.
PEACH Health Ontario Conference, May 21, 2025
This year’s theme is Environmental Sustainability in Primary Healthcare. Find out more.
Digital Success by Design: Avoiding Common Nonprofit Tech Traps, May 21, 2025
CSI masterclass with CanadaHelps, noon-1pm ET, $25
Hosted by The Centre for Social Innovation and delivered by the Charity Growth Academy by CanadaHelps. Register here.
Canadian Hypertension Congress, May 29-30, 2025
Virtual event hosted by Hypertension Canada. Register here.