Bits & Pieces: Influenza-like Illness (ILI) provincial guidance and more

Your Weekly News & Updates

Influenza-like Illness (ILI) provincial guidance memo for primary care

The final approved guidance for primary care on navigating patients with ILI symptoms is now available. This guidance is purposely high-level to allow for adaption and implementation at a regional and local level.

The memo refers to connecting with regional leadership a few times, so below is the list of clinical regional VPs.

Region and Clinical VPs
Toronto- Rose Cook
West- Dr. Jennifer Everson
East- Dr. David Zelt
Central – Dr. Mira Backo-Shannon  
North – Dr. Paul Preston

Reminder- rheumatology in primary care, tomorrow, Oct. 14

We’ve updated the name of our Oct. 14 webinar to more accurately reflect the content. This presentation provides an overarching schema of rheumatic diseases, with a focus on types and patterns of articular involvement, and extraarticular and serologic correlates. By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to apply this schema when approaching common rheumatic disease presentations. Find out more and register here.

Introduction to ONCA, Nov. 17

Ontario’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) will be proclaimed on October 19, 2021. Nonprofits now have 3 years to update their bylaws and letters patent to comply with the ONCA.

We invite members to join Benjamin Miller from Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) for an education session on what is new in the ONCA, and steps nonprofits can take to set themselves up for success in transitioning to the new requirements under the Act. Register here.

Just one week to early bird deadline, fireside chat & platform update

• Members get a significant discount on the registration fee, which increases after Oct. 20!
• And don’t forget to register for our fireside chat– our speakers are Dennis Matthews and Katie Heelis, who will provide insight on the upcoming 2022 provincial election from the Conservative and Liberal perspective respectively.
• The platform we’re using this year is PheedLoop. Please check with your IT to ensure you’ll have a good connection. Connectivity issues are a lot less likely this year, but it’s good to double-check. You’ll also get early access to the platform the week before the conference.

Key update on COVID-19 testing and primary care and more

Recent updates include:

• Key update on COVID-19 testing and primary care– Ontario Health, Sep. 29, 2021
• COVID-19 CoP Resoure List– OCFP COVID-19 CoP, October 8, 2021
• Toronto COVID Cold and Flu ILI Assessment Resources Toronto Region– Ontario Health, Oct 7, 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

Reminder- Tapering and Stopping Opioids, Oct. 19

There is evidence that chronic opioid therapy has a negative impact on patients’ quality of life and increasing the risk of serious complications like opioid use disorder, unintentional overdose, and death. Tapering opioids can be challenging to the prescriber and to the patient, and there is not a lot of guidance on how to do it safely, comfortably, and effectively. In this webinar, Dr. Furlan will summarize the 10 years of experience of the pain clinic at Toronto Rehab UHN where she works with an interprofessional team to help patients come off long term opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain. Co-hosted with ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain and Opioid Stewardship (UHN). Register here.

META: PHI provincial RAAM network

META: PHI supports clinicians across care settings in delivering high-quality care to people who use substances. In 2020, META: PHI was tasked by the Ministry of Health to provide oversight to the province’s network of 74 rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics as the provincial clinical practice hub for RAAMs. RAAM clinics offer low-barrier, walk-in addiction medicine services, including time-limited pharmacotherapy and brief counselling, without an appointment or formal referral. Information and clinical resources can be found at www.metaphi.ca. You can find their presentation to the Primary Care Collaborative here.

Managing Mental Health in the Workplace during COVID-19, Oct. 19, 2021
Free virtual day of learning for frontline workers and managers hosted by Ontario Psychological Association and City of Toronto. Register here.

Testing for COVID-19 and “last mile” vaccination, Oct. 22, 2021
The 30th in the series ‘Changing the way we work’ for the COVID-19 COP for Family Physicians. Register here.

It’s election time- member consultation forum, Nov. 16, 2021

The 2022 provincial election is fast approaching, and we need to hear from you! Click here for more information and to register!

AFHTO 2021 Conference, Oct. 27-28, 2021
Post-Pandemic Primary Care: Respond, Recover, Rebuild. Members get a significant discount on the registration fee. Find out more here.