Tag: government

Your Weekly News & Updates

2022 Election Priorities: seeking members’ input

The provincial election is fast approaching! Election day will be on or before June 2, 2022 – less than a year away.

We will continue to be strongly advocating for expansion of team-based primary care, and we want your input to ensure we are effectively advocating for you and with you.

We ask all members complete this survey to share your priorities. We want to hear from you all: executive directors/admin leads, board members, physicians, nurse practitioners, IHPs, QIDSS, admin staff! This will only take about 5-10 minutes of your time, and the results will be kept confidential.

Please click here to complete the survey!

Please complete this by tomorrow, June 16. We will be taking the feedback to our board of directors at their board meeting next week. 

AFHTO statement on racism and hate
We want to start by expressing our grief and sorrow about the tragic and horrifying events of the last few weeks, recognizing that racism and hate has been part of Canada since its inception. We are committed to working with our partners and allies to listen, learn, grow, and do better at creating a more equitable and safer country for all. You can read AFHTO’s statement here.

Reminder – Cancer screening during the pandemic and onwards, June 21

In collaboration with our primary care partners and Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario), we will be hosting a webinar to further explore guidance for resuming breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening and share stories from teams that have already resumed cancer screening.

Register here.

Nominations to the AFHTO Board of Directors open until July 30
Are you interested in serving on the AFHTO board of directors? The Governance Committee of AFHTO’s board invites anyone who works within an AFHTO member organization to apply. Please share this call for nominations with all who work in your team and with members on your Board. Given the composition of the continuing board members, priority for the directors to be elected will be given to candidates who are:

• Executive Directors, especially those actively involved in their Ontario Health Team (OHT) development and supporting integrated care in their community;
• Interprofessional Health Care Providers, especially those actively involved in OHT development;
• Members from Central Ontario Health Region;
• Board members, especially community members in the position of Chair of the Board; or
• Experienced in finance, including accreditation as a financial professional (e.g., CA, CPA, CMA);

Learn more about how you can take on a leadership role here. Deadline July 30.

Free bot to help document vaccinations and more

Recent updates include:

• Free bot process to help you document patients’ COVID-19 vaccinations within your EMRs– eCe Automates, eHealth Centre of Excellence, June 14, 2021
• Update on COVID Resources and Vaccines– AFHTO, June 11, 2021
• Myocarditis and Pericarditis Following COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines- EN and FR– PHO, June 11, 2021
• Information & Toolkit on COVID-19 Vaccines for Ontario Youth– CMHO, June 1, 2021

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 Vaccination Information
• COVID-19 assessment centres in Ontario
• COVID-19 information for Patients, Caregivers and the Public
• Infection control resources and tools for primary care
• 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
• Virtual Care, Digital Health and COVID-19

Update on the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program slides and video

The Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence at Ontario Health invited primary care organizations to a webinar on June 10 to learn more about the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy (OSP) Program’s background, the vision of OSP as a provincial program, and next steps with the expansion. Slides and video now available on our site.

COVID-19 Education with Daniel Warshafsky webinar materials
On June 9th Dr. Daniel Warshafsky, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health at the Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health covered key questions, including variants of concern, AstraZeneca and mixing of vaccines, breakthrough cases and emerging evidence around vaccination for children 12-17 years old. Nicole Blackman, Provincial Director at the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council, discussed why Indigenous people were prioritized to receive vaccines. Resources include:

• Session recording
• Slide Deck
• Resources from IPHCC, including Gashkiwidoon Toolkit: COVID19-Vaccine Implementation Toolkit and 6 Steps to Effective Engagement for Vaccine Distribution with Indigenous Peoples
• Vaccine consent form for youth

New regulation to streamline reporting requirements under OHSA
A new regulation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) will come into effect on July 1, 2021: Ontario Regulation 420 / 21 – Notices and Reports under Sections 51 to 53.1 of the Act – Fatalities, Critical Injuries, Occupational Illnesses and Other Incidents– EN and FR.

The new regulation incorporates the critical injury definition and streamlines reporting requirements into a single regulation that applies to all workplaces covered under the OHSA. The amending regulations include:

• O. Reg. 427/21: HEALTH CARE AND RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES –EN and FR

Oxygen saturation monitors still available

Oxygen saturation monitors are still available free of charge for primary care providers. Please be sure to order yours before the end of June!  Every primary care provider can benefit from having these in their practice and for distribution to patients you may be monitoring with COVID, but also for other conditions (e.g., COPD).  These monitors will then belong to your practice – you do not need to return them to the Ministry of Health. Link to ordering survey HERE. Monitors usually arrive within 2-3 days after requesting. For questions, please contact OH_COVIDatHome@ontariohealth.ca. For a link to the one-pager with all the resource you need for monitoring COVID patients visit HERE.

Seeking dietitians’ input -nutrition screening in primary and community care
Professor Heather Keller (University of Waterloo), Marg Alfieri (Primary Care Dietitians Association) and the Primary Care working group of the Canadian Malnutrition Task Force are conducting a survey to determine what models of nutrition screening have been implemented in primary and community care, the reach of these efforts and for those who have yet to start screening, the challenges they are experiencing. This data will be used to launch further research on the outcomes and benefits of different nutrition screening models and further investigate how to support implementation of nutrition screening in the community. Get additional information and complete survey here.

Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology and GeriMedRisk: drug safety for older adults beyond “Start Low, Go Slow”, June 24

Co-hosted with GeriMedRisk, in this webinar, Dr. Ho will review the pharmacology of aging and its impact on adverse drug events among seniors. We’ll also explore tools and services for primary care providers to use to optimize drug safety. Register here.

NACI Recommendations On COVID-19 Vaccine Interchangeability, June 21, 2021 *NEW DATE*
Join PHAC as they discuss evidence around interchangeability of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as NACI recommendations for interchangeability of COVID-19 vaccines.
Learn more here.

Applying an Equity Lens when Caring for your Population, June 17, 2021

This RISE OHT webinar will be based on a PHM approach, deep diving into co-designing care models for different priority populations.
Learn more here.

Primary Care Vaccination QI Support CoP, June 17 & July 8, 2021
Join PCPs, EDs & clinical managers from AFHTO, AHC & NPLCA to share learnings, tools and strategies to deliver COVID-19 vaccines in Ontario.
Find out more here.

COVID-19 CoP, June 18, 2021
Join the OCFP’s COVID-19 CoP where they will be discussing “Getting to herd immunity: addressing children, confidence, and complacency”.
Find out more here.

Evaluating Integrated Care: How should we be evaluating integrated care? June 22, 2021
Join the HSPN, IFIC Canada and Emerald Publishing as they discuss evaluation of integrated care both at a local and health system level.
Register here.