Your Biweekly News & Updates
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National Nursing Week
It’s National Nursing Week May 12-18, 2025, and year’s theme is The Power of Nurses to Transform Health. Find resources to participate here.
To all nurses- RNs, RPNs & NPs in primary care teams – thank you for your dedication to your patients, communities, and teams. We appreciate you for everything you do.
AFHTO and CHOGIP benefits overview webinar
We will be hosting an informative webinar in collaboration with our benefits provider CHOGIP (Community Health Ontario Group Insurance Plan).
This is AFHTO members’ opportunity to better understand the benefits program that we have negotiated on our members’ behalf. Participation in CHOGIP is voluntary. This webinar is intended for our members whether or not you are currently using CHOGIP.
During this session, CHOGIP will present an overview of their available benefit options.
To register for the webinar, please click the link below:
AFHTO and CHOGIP Benefits Overview | AFHTO
Date: Friday, May 23, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00pm EDT
Last day to sign up to review abstracts, Bright Lights and more
The Power of Primary Care: The Foundation of Integrated Health Systems
- 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
Algonquin FHT- ‘The pressure is on the recruitment side’: Wage gap a challenge for Algonquin Family Health Team
Central Lambton FHT– Doctors are badly needed in Lambton County. This scholarship is trying to attract them
Niagara North FHT– Strategic Plan 2025-2028
Cognitive stimulation therapy group fills a gap for patients with dementia
The Dufferin Area Family Health Team’s “Train Your Brain” group uses Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) to support patients with mild to moderate dementia. Activities such as art, games and discussions aim to delay loss of memory, problem solving skills and language skills while improving social engagement. The therapy emphasizes the strengths and abilities of patients with dementia, instead of focusing on limitations.
According to group co-lead and Occupational Therapist, Katelyn Hunter, “The rehabilitation focus of Cognitive Stimulation Therapy is key. While many social programs for persons with dementia exist, CST is goal-directed and therapeutic in nature.”
Eligible patients are invited to join the group after assessment and medical management/intervention at the DAFHT Memory Clinic. Participants attend one-hour sessions twice a week for seven weeks.
The therapy can be used along with medications to treat the symptoms of dementia, primarily called cholinesterase inhibitors and NMDA receptor antagonists, or on its own when medications are not an option or preference for patients.
Throughout the seven weeks, participants receive worksheets with ideas about how to continue challenging their brains. The goal is that patients will practice activities independently or with support of their care-partners to build confidence and promote well-being. See original post.
News and updates including Healthy Debate series- Closing the gap: The urgent need to support Ontario’s community health workers
- Closing the gap: The urgent need to support Ontario’s community health workers – Healthy Debate, May 7, 2025
- Insomnia Disorder quality standard– Ontario Health. For more information, please contact QualityStandards@OntarioHealth.ca.
- Feedback requested on a new quality standard: menopause; deadline May 28– Ontario Health
- Association between primary care physicians’ practice models and referral rates to specialists: A sex-based cross-sectional study– PLOS One, April 28, 2025
- Here’s why mental health-related hospitalizations are declining in young Canadians– CTV, May 1, 2025; original CIHI post
- Impact of the 2023 wildfire smoke episodes in Ontario, Canada, on asthma and other health outcomes: an interrupted time-series analysis– CMAJ, May 5, 2025
Invitation to participate in study on social prescribing and nature in Southern Ontario
- We’re exploring how social prescribing connects people with nature (i.e. park prescriptions, local hiking groups) for their health and wellbeing. If you prescribe, refer, facilitate, or support social prescribing (even if you don’t call it that) in Southern Ontario, we’d love to hear from you!
- Voluntary participation in a virtual interview (~45-60 minutes) to share their experience, motivations and perceptions on social prescribing and nature (i.e. activities “outdoors”).
- Contact: Tara Chen (PhD Student), tara.chen@uwaterloo.ca
For more information- Prescriber Information Letter
Help advance safer, healthier workplaces in primary care
The Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation at the University of Toronto is conducting a graduate research study focused on how Canadian primary care organizations collect and share data related to physical and psychological safety in the workplace. As a frontline provider, healthcare leader or a member involved in other areas of organizational operations, your insights are critical to understanding and improving safety practices across the healthcare sector.
The survey takes approximately 5 minutes to complete, is anonymous, and will be used strictly for academic purposes. All findings will be reported in aggregate, and individual responses will remain confidential. At the end of the survey, you may choose to provide your email address to receive a summary of the results.
We invite you to participate and encourage you to share the link with colleagues across the primary care community. Your input will directly support research aimed at fostering safer, more resilient healthcare environments.
Survey Link (open until May 21, 2025): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf4ToHz9_gxU6jl4hakb8DjcRbUruYsE1vgLongqc6_VRH7Tg/viewform?usp=preview
Digital Tools and Quality Improvement in Primary Care, May 21, 2025
Ontario Health invites you to join our CE accredited webinar to learn how digital tool use in the primary care sector supports quality improvement, helps reduce administrative burden, and enhance patient care. Register here.
PEACH Health Ontario Conference, May 21, 2025
This year’s theme is Environmental Sustainability in Primary Healthcare. Find out more.
Canadian Hypertension Congress, May 29-30, 2025
Virtual event hosted by Hypertension Canada. Register here.
Hypertension Canada 2025 Primary Care Guidelines webinar, June 5, 2025
The 2025 Guidelines will be published later in May. Register here.
Pharmacist Prescribing for Minor Ailments in Ontario – Virtual Town Hall, June 17, 2025
Hosted by The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. Learn more.