Your Weekly News & Updates
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Mobilizing for vaccination in Long Term Care
Last night we sent an email to the leadership triad in AFHTO member organizations subject Mobilizing Primary Care for Vaccination in Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes and Beyond.
PHU is leading the vaccination strategy. To provide PHUs with a list of names to help with the phase 1 vaccination effort in Long Term Care (LTC) and Retirement Homes (RH), we are collecting information in case you are called upon to support.
Please fill out this brief survey to help us understand your willingness and capacity to support Phase 1 efforts, should it be needed, as well as if you are already connected to and supporting residents living in a RH/LTC.
Please note: strategy for deployment of vaccines in Phase 2 and 3 are still being discussed by the Task Force. As more information becomes available, we will share.
COVID vaccine updates and more
We have now added a vaccine page to our COVID section on the site. The Ministry also has a COVID-19 Vaccine-Relevant Information and Planning Resources page. Recent updates include:
- Ethical framework for COVID-19 vaccine distribution – Ministry of Health, Dec. 30, 2020
- Weekly memos from Gen. Rick Hillier- Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, 2020
- COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Operations Planning Checklist– Ministry of Health, Dec. 12, 2020
- COVID-19: Vaccine Obtaining Informed Consent – Script for Health Care Providers– Ministry of Health, Dec. 13, 2020
We continue to update several pages on our site with resources and news:
- Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates– the original page, with news and Ministry situation reports (please note that the Ministry Situation Reports on COVID-19 are posted daily so review them to better understand the provincial response)
- COVID-19 assessment centres in Ontario
- COVID-19 information for Patients, Caregivers and the Public
- Infection control resources and tools for primary care
- H+K Memos and Insight Notes on Government Press Releases
- Management and operations, human resources and COVID-19
- Mental health and wellness during COVID-19
- Providing Comprehensive Care During COVID-19
- Resources for Re-opening – NEW
- Virtual Care, Digital Health and COVID-19
Members’ stories
Elliot Lake FHT: Elliot Lake FHT continues to support delivery service for seniors
UHN Toronto Western FHT: gave some of the first Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to Long-Term Care (LTC) residents in Ontario
Can employers make vaccination mandatory?
On December 23, Maria McDonald of McDonald HR Law answered the question for her stakeholders. Find out more here (triad only).
How are you using virtual care to support the delivery of palliative care?
The Ontario Palliative Care Network (OPCN) has created a brief online survey to get a better understanding of how providers are using virtual care to support the delivery of palliative care.
If you are a health care professional who provides palliative care services, you are invited to complete the survey. It will take about 15-20 minutes to complete, and the deadline to complete it is January 20th, 2021.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact tara.walton@ontariohealth.ca.
Access to neonatal follow up
The Provincial Council for Maternal and Child Health (PCMCH) has sent us the following: “It has been come to our attention that parents are finding it difficult to schedule routine newborn follow up examination with primary practitioners within the recommended timeframe after discharge from the hospital. Per the Canadian Paedatric Society and PCMCH Standards of Postnatal Care documents, each infant must have an appropriate discharge plan, including identification of the infant’s primary health care provider and assessment by a health care provider 24 hours to 72 hours after discharge.
We recognize this may be challenging with the current pressures in our health care system. We anticipate this situation will be more difficult with the upcoming holidays and would like to remind clinicians of the importance of this timeframe for adequate follow up which can ultimately reduce newborns readmission rates to hospitals and emergency room visits.
We kindly ask all primary care providers (pediatricians, family doctors, nurse practitioners) to accommodate requests for newborn exams at their earliest feasible time or direct families to nearest facility where they can be seen. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact info@pcmch.on.ca. “
Now is the Time to Choose Wisely: Advancing Quality Improvement in Primary Care, Jan. 27, 2021
Engaging primary care providers in QI is particularly relevant now, as the pandemic has further emphasized the importance of resource stewardship given the urgent care needs and constraints related to COVID-19. Learn more and register here.
COVID-19 Community of Practice for Ontario Family Physicians, Jan. 8, 2021
“Update on Covid-19 vaccines”. Register here.
Indigenous governance and self-determination in planning and responding to COVID-19, Jan. 13, 2021
The first of four in the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and COVID-19 series hosted by the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH). Register here.
ECHO Pain, Liver and Rheumatology, Jan. 2021 to Dec. 2021
These project ECHOs, hosted by UHN, begin this week! Be sure to register for today. Register here.
Family Medicine Summit, Jan. 30- Feb. 27, 2021
Registration is now open for the OCFP’s Family Medicine Summit (the former Annual Scientific Assembly – ASA). Find out more.
ECHO Sessions: Supporting Parents/Caregivers During a Pandemic: Information for Primary Care, Jan. 27 & Feb. 3, 2021
Offered at no cost to participants. Register here.
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