Monthly Bulletin of the Alliance's Learning Health System |
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LOOP CoP: Knowledge for Fall Prevention |
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Experience Report: Learning Collaborative |
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Learning Events & Programs |
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Get Involved: Research & Sharing |
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Supporting Health & Wellbeing with Fall Prevention
The Loop Community of Practice
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Falls are the leading cause of injuries, hospitalizations, and injury-related deaths among people over 65 in Canada, making fall prevention a key strategy for supporting health and wellbeing in older adults. Loop is the bilingual, online hub for Canada’s national Fall Prevention Community of Practice. It’s a place where people involved in fall prevention exchange knowledge, build support networks, and work together to confront shared challenges in fall prevention. Its fundamental goal is to help take what’s learned from research and turn it into practice.
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The fall prevention community of practice (CoP) began in Ontario in 2010, with funding from the provincial Ministry of Health. As both the evidence base and the CoP membership grew, so did the work of funneling communications, answering members’ questions, and brokering connections among peers. The CoP launched Loop in September 2015 as a way to tackle this growing task. Now, Loop has 1,600 active members from across Canada, working in all sectors of the health system. In 2021, more than 12,000 people visited the website more than 61,000 times. It receives backbone support from Parachute, Canada’s national charity dedicated to injury prevention.
Loop supports its members in a variety of ways:
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Educational webinars, which provide new knowledge and ongoing education opportunities on fall prevention research, policy and practice.
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Links to resources through the McMaster University Optimal Aging Portal, which facilitate the dissemination of research and practice guidelines.
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A discussion forum, which provides space for the community to raise questions and share insights.
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Social networking functionality, which enables members to identify themselves according to their knowledge, interests, language, and work, and find like-minded peers.
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Direct messaging, so members can have one-on-one conversations and develop relationships for collaboration and mentoring.
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The ability for members to form small, private groups to collaborate on a project or develop targeted interventions for specific populations and communities.
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A knowledge broker who provides tailored evidence consultations for members by request and supports the development of evidence summaries. These include rapid evidence syntheses and literature reviews. Most are formally requested by members, but some are created in response to an emerging “hot topic” in the discussion forums.
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A shared calendar, so members can promote their events and stay informed of Loop’s offerings.
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A bi-weekly e-newsletter, which keeps members informed of CoP activities, new resources and emerging conversations.
Hélène Gagné, Director of the Fall Prevention Program at Parachute, spoke with EPIC about the CoP and the Loop online hub. She notes that the challenge people face when working in fall prevention is not a lack of information, but an overabundance. Care providers, professionals and program planners can get overwhelmed trying to evaluate it and filter out what’s most relevant to their settings. The Fall Prevention Community of Practice and the Loop hub ease this burden so people can focus on providing care and community services. The knowledge broker, in particular, breaks knowledge down for people who don’t have access to primary literature or who lack the time and knowledge to create their own literature reviews.
Supporting the health and wellbeing of older adults is highly complex. Older adults are a diverse population. A healthy, active senior living at home will have different needs, assets and goals from one who is frail and residing in long-term care. Additionally, the work of fall prevention is highly intersectoral and interprofessional. This is reflected in Loop’s members, who come from primary, community, acute, and long-term care; community recreation; public health; and health policy agencies. New evidence and promising practices are constantly emerging. The Loop online hub provides a space where people from all of these sectors, all across Canada, can find each other and navigate a vast sea of information together.
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Which Model Works Best?
Following costs and health outcomes
across different primary care models over time.
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Ontario has a highly complex primary health care sector. There is a broad spectrum of models which differ in comprehensiveness of care and in how their work is funded and compensated. To build an effective and sustainable health system, we need a way to measure the impact of the different models on health outcomes, system sustainability, and accessibility. With so much variation, such comparisons are extremely challenging.
Dr. Maude Laberge, Associate Professor at Université Laval and Dr. Kris Aubrey-Bassler, Director of the Primary Healthcare Research Unit at Memorial University of Newfoundland, are using newly available data and innovative analytic methods to take on this challenge. Both have roots in Ontario’s primary health care landscape – Maude worked as an RDSS with several CHCs, and Kris worked for Marathon FHT – so they are passionate about creating a true picture of primary care in this province, which includes CHCs, and NPLCs and recognizes their unique and essential roles.
This study, which includes three substudies, will consider nearly 25 years of primary healthcare data from across Ontario. Each substudy will make different comparisons, based on the available data, to illustrate how the different models of primary care have impacted the functioning of our health system.
Tests of change: System Reform and the Introduction of New Models
One of the challenges of comparing models of care is that researchers can’t design the kind of randomized, controlled experiment that is used for drug trials and assign equivalent groups of people to different models. To get around this, Kris and Maude have come up with a strategy that simulates a randomized controlled trial by looking for changes that took place in the past for similar people who randomly fell into different groups. By adjusting the people included in the analysis so that each group has similar sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, the researchers can ensure they are making valid comparisons between the models.
In the first substudy, the researchers will compare how health care costs and outcomes changed for four groups of primary care clients from 1997-2020. These clients were attached to a fee-for-service (FFS) provider before the new models were introduced. Their providers either did not move to a new model, moved to an enhanced FFS model, moved to capitation without a team, or moved to capitation with a team (a Family Health Team).
NPLCs were introduced in areas that lacked primary health care services, so most of their clients were previously unattached and did not move with a provider. To understand the impact of this model, the researchers have to take a different approach: They will examine data about previously-unattached people who became empaneled to an NPLC, comparing their outcomes with those who remained unattached.
Stratified Analysis: Measuring effectiveness for specific populations
CHC data cannot be included in the longitudinal substudy described above for two main reasons: CHC clients don’t normally move with a provider who joins or leaves a CHC; and have been part of Ontario’s health system since long before standardized practice and system data was collected. To measure the impact of CHCs, the researchers stratify the dataset by social and clinical complexity and compare health outcomes and system costs for people in the different strata according to the model of Primary Care they access. This will help us see which model is most effective and efficient for the different populations. It is here that the CHC model is expected to shine: While it may appear to be a high cost-per-client model when complexity is not considered, Kris and Maude expect to find that health care for the most complex and marginalized people is less costly and more effective when received from a CHC.
The Importance of Usable, Shared Data
Perhaps the most exciting and novel aspect of this study is that it will be the first in Ontario to include linked data from NPLCs. For several years, EMR data collected from CHCs has been shared to ICES through our Business Intelligence Reporting Tool, and we have started to see it included in large-scale studies like this one. NPLCs are at the beginning of this journey. Dr. Jennifer Rayner, the Alliance’s director of Research and Evaluation, has been instrumental in ensuring that NPLC data is standardized so it can be shared and linked. The final step now rests with the NPLCs themselves: Each executive lead will be asked to sign a data-sharing agreement with ICES on behalf of their organizations. Calling on them to do this, Kris says, “your model deserves to be more broadly implemented, but for policymakers to make that decision, they need objective, measured data, and that’s what this study is going to provide.” As an added incentive, Kris and Maude are offering to make practice reports available for internal use by each NPLC, to support planning and quality improvements. For more information about this, reach out by email to Kris Aubrey or Maude Laberge.
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Becoming Champions for Change:
One Team’s Experience in our first Learning Collaborative
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Last spring, when Morgan Hawn and Brenda Powers-Ross received an invitation to participate in the Alliance’s cancer screening learning collaborative, they jumped at the chance. EPIC News recently spoke with Morgan and Brenda, Directors of two of ConnectWell’s sites, about their experience.
ConnectWell Community Health is a sprawling, intersectoral organization with sites in five rural communities across three counties southwest of Ottawa: Lanark, Renfrew, and Leeds & Grenville. ConnectWell has Community Health Centres in Lanark, where Morgan is the Director, and in Renfrew County, where Brenda is Director. Like many primary health care organizations, ConnectWell’s CHC sites had seen a drop in screening rates during the pandemic and wanted to address it.
Because the organization was formed from a merger of several smaller ones, Morgan and Brenda had been looking for ways to improve and standardize processes and procedures among the different sites. Both had previously participated in a variety of QI courses and learning events, but they were drawn to the staged approach, focus on practical application, and access to coaching that the learning collaborative offered. They felt this project would embed QI within the team as they moved through the project.
Digging into Root Causes
One of the first steps in a QI project is to identify the root causes of the problem being addressed, in order to properly understand what needs to change. In the case of Cancer Screening rates, Brenda and Morgan initially assumed that the problem to address was simply “dirty data” that needed cleanup. Their QI coach prompted them to dig deeper, asking Why is the data dirty? As they explored that question, they realized data-entry processes differed across not only the sites but also within the staff. . Definitions of terms such as done elsewhere, ineligible, eligible, and declined were assumed but had not been specified. This meant they couldn’t generate consistent, reliable reports across the organization.
Making and Measuring Changes
Once they had decided to improve their data-entry processes, the team developed a process map that incorporated standardized definitions of the key terms used in data entry. As they refined the process map, they turned it into a standardized set of procedures for the organization.
Concurrently with the learning collaborative, ConnectWell was implementing a new dashboard tool within their EMR. The dashboard reports are currently run and validated by clinical staff, but this work will eventually shift to administrative staff, in order to free up clinicians’ time. The team used the new dashboard to test the results of their process changes, while simultaneously testing the accuracy of the dashboard and the workflow impacts of using it. They found that because their process improvements led to more accurate data, less time is now needed for data validation.
Lessons Learned
When discussing the how the learning collaborative impacted them, Morgan and Brenda both enthusiastically pointed to their deepened appreciation for inter-team collaboration and meaningful staff engagement in quality improvement. With their QI coach’s help, they built a team comprised of administration, data entry, clinical, and interprofessional staff at the various sites. Everyone involved in the work shared their insights, identified challenges, and proposed solutions. Having designed the new processes, staff became champions for them.
Brenda and Morgan hope to participate in more Alliance learning collaboratives with staff members who did not participate this time. Doing different projects with different people, they note, will help build a culture of QI throughout the organization.
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Learning Events & Programs |
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September
Thursday, September 22. 12:00-1:30pm. Introduction to ICS: What it is and Why it's Important. This webinar will be the first in a 3-part series if Indigenous Cultural Safety (ICS) webinars for Ontario Health Teams, presented by the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC).
Thursday, September 22. 1-4:30pm. Virtual Workshop: Turf, Trust and Virtual Collaboration: Practical Tools for Building Trust. Presented by the Tamarack Institute. Information and registration here.
September 22 & 23. NPAO Annual Conference. This year's conference will be held in person. The theme is The NP Experience: Pushing Boundaries Towards Common Goals. Registration and program here.
Thursday, September 29, 12:00-1:00 pm. Webinar: Safer Supply in Quebec. Join the National Safer Supply Community of Practice for a panel discussion about supply programs and initiatives in Quebec, covering successes, challenges, and barriers. Panelists include prescribers, people who use drugs, harm reduction workers, and activists. In French with English simultaneous oral translation and closed captioning will be provided. Learn more and register here.
October
October 3-7, 9:00-10:30 am daily. Virtual Learning Event for Privacy Officers. This is the Alliance's seventh annual professional learning event for privacy officers. Join us for five one-hour presentations over five consecutive days. Each one is followed by an optional 30-minute networking session. Details and registration link here.
Monday, October 3, 4-5pm. Inaugural NSS-CoP Research Spotlight Webinar - Clinical outcomes and healthcare costs among people entering a safer opioid supply program in Ontario. Join the National Safer Supply Community of Practice (NSS-CoP) as they present new research that demonstrates the impact of safer opioid supply on health outcomes for clients in London, Ontario. Register in advance here. More details to follow.
Thursday, October 6, 2:00-3:30pm | ACES & Community Resilience Community of Practice (COP) Fall Meeting. This CoP is for anyone working in the community primary health care sector in Ontario who is working to addresses Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and support Community Resilience, or who would like to build up their personal and organizational capacity to do so. The CoP meets to share tools and knowledge and collaborate on common problems. At this meeting, we will be reviewing and discussing Start your own Collective Impact Initiative to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences and Build Resilience in your Community.
Friday, October 7, 12:00-1:00 pm. Lunch 'n' Learn Webinar - Finding Meaning in a Universe of Data : Exploring Opportunities for Learning Machines to Advance Health Care Planning and Delivery. Far from dehumanizing health care, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to make it more individualized, more responsive, and more equitable. Dr. Jaky Kueper, a postdoctoral associate at Western University, is a researcher who works on developing and using AI to improve primary health care for people with complex health needs. She'll share findings from her research and help us brainstorm opportunities for AI to support our work by helping us better understand our client populations and anticipate their health care needs. Learn more here. Register here.
Wednesday, October 12. AFHTO 2022 Conference. The Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario's 2022 conference is a hybrid in-person/virtual event on the theme of Reconnect and Reimagine: Moving Forward Together. Register by September 28 for early-bird rates.
October 17-23. Community Health and Wellbeing Week (CHWW) 2022: Confronting inequity, Celebrating Community. Join the Alliance for a week of celebration and advocacy. Stay tuned for more about this year's health equity pledge, themed days, tailored messaging templates, and other activities to celebrate and advance our sector's work. The Event in a Box is now available in both English and French on our website. This guide offers CHWW key messages and tips for planning events at your centre. We also held a webinar on September 14 to help members prepare for CHWW; recording and slide deck with links (English).are available.
Wednesday, October 19, 12:00-1:00 pm. POPLAR EDIIA Webinar Series, Pt. 4: EDIIA and Data - Building Capacity. This is the fourth in a monthly series of webinars hosted by POPLAR, Ontario’s provincial primary healthcare Practice-Based Learning and Research Network. These webinars are for anyone who wants to learn more about building Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity, and Accessibility (EDIIA) principles into their work.
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Keynote Speaker: Dr. Andrew Pinto, Scientist and Founder of Upstream Labs at Unity Health
- Learn more
- Register
Thursday, October 20. Virtual Social Prescribing Conference: Current Practices & Community Conversations. For the first time, healthcare and community-based professionals across Canada will convene to discuss successful practices in implementation, current challenges, and potential solutions for scaling up the national social prescribing movement. Through plenary, concurrent, and experiential sessions, this conference is a chance for people involved or interested in social prescribing to exchange knowledge, build new intersectoral connections, and collaborate with others who are passionate about embedding social prescribing into our health care system.
Friday, October 21, 12:00-1:00pm. Brainstorming session: How can we use health care data to create decision-support tools? Join us as we take a deeper dive into Dr. Jaky Kueper's work on knowing our primary care clients through their sociodemographic, clinical, and health system use data. You don't need previous research experience, but we ask that you prepare by attending Dr. Kueper's presentation (or watch the recording). Register here. For more information, email Sara Bhatti, the Alliance's Research and Evaluation Project Lead.
November
November 2 to 4. Canadian Injury Prevention Conference 2022. This year’s conference is being held in person in Vancouver and has a focused program stream on fall prevention. Author and Globe and Mail columnist André Picard is this year’s opening keynote speaker. Register here.
Tuesday, November 8, 12:00-1:00 pm. Lunch 'n' Learn Webinar - Is your Health Care Pension Aligned with Climate Safety? How your pension savings can reduce climate change and its harmful impacts on health equity. Join climate and finance experts from Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health to learn:
- The risks the climate crisis poses to pension funds and retirement savings.
- An overview of HOOPP’s approach to the climate crisis, including its investments in fossil fuels.
- What you can do to engage with HOOPP on the climate crisis.
Wednesday, November 16, 12:00-1:00 pm. Lunch 'n' Learn - Health Care Reform: It's not just about healthcare. Russ Ford, a health system researcher with a long history of leadership in Ontario's Community Health Services, will present preliminary findings from his PhD research into health system reform. He'll share observations about the OHT initiative and his insights into what reforms he thinks are really needed. In particular, he'll speak about why OHTs need to make meaningful commitments to advancing health equity, and how CHCs can play a role in making that happen. Register here.
December
December 4-7. Institute for Healthcare improvement Forum 2022. This year's Forum will take place in Orlando, Florida. Registration is open now for In-Person and Online attendance.
Ongoing
September 2022 - March 2023. Monthly Webinar Series - Mobilizing to Promote Health and Well-Being for Older Adults. This webinar is hosted by Core Canada. The first three topics are: Reorienting Health and Social Services for Older Adults (September 29), Age-Friendly Communities (October 27), and Housing for Older Adults (November 24). Details here. Register here.
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Research & Sharing Opportunities |
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Calls for Abstracts
Research Partners Needed
How can we use health care data to create decision-support tools? Help us build on the learnings from Dr. Jaky Kueper's research! Together, we'll start a project that will lead to the creation of new decision-support tools from electronic health records. Jaky will lead this work as part of her postdoctoral research, alongside Dr. Jennifer Rayner and Dr. Daniel Lizotte. All staff and clients of Alliance member organizations are welcome to participate. You don't need previous research experience, but we ask that you prepare by attending Dr. Kueper's presentation (or watch the recording). Register here for the brainstorming meeting on October 21. For more information, email Sara Bhatti, the Alliance's Research and Evaluation Project Lead.
The Alliance is inviting clients and community members to help guide our research. Client & Community Research Partners will help us ensure that Alliance research is focused on what matters most to clients, that it’s done in ways that are culturally safe and inclusive, and that it leads to the creation of meaningful tools and information. No previous expertise is required; participants will support researchers’ decision-making based on their own priorities and lived experience. Partners will need to be sponsored by someone from their primary health care organization and should have some previous experience sharing their perspectives with an advisory council or focus group. We’ll compensate participants $50 per meeting. Read about the program here, and check out our FAQs for participants and sponsors. Email Catherine Macdonald at [email protected] for more information.
Primary care clinicians needed: Help guide comparative research about the care and outcomes in different PC models for people living with dementia. A research team from Arizona State University and Dalla Lana school of Public Health want to understand what enables effective communication and diagnoses with primary care clients who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early-stage Alzheimer disease or related dementia (ADRD). They're comparing different models in Ontario, Arizona, and New York State. Interested? Consider joining the project's steering committee. For more information, please email Allie Peckham email Allie Peckham at Arizona State University.
Clinical Trials and Participatory Research
Provider and client feedback requested on three draft New Quality Standards: Sickle Cell Disease, Surgical Site Infections (SSI), and Eating Disorders. Ontario Health’s quality standards inform clients, clinicians, and organizations about what high-quality health care looks like for these health conditions, based on the best available evidence. Please find the dates and details for the public feedback surveys below, along with the links to each quality standard, client guide, and survey. Pease share these links widely with your clients, colleagues, and networks.
Research opportunity for Alliance member organizations: Goal-oriented care in Community Health Centres. A research team at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute is recruiting primary health care teams (6-8 clinicians and interprofessional providers) from four CHCs to participate in this study. If you are familiar with goal-oriented care and have either used this approach or are willing to try it, you can help them understand how it’s implemented in a real-world setting. They’ll use what they learn to make the model more accessible and feasible. Participants will be asked to reflect on their experiences with goal-oriented care in interviews. Check out the infosheet or email Carolyn Steele Gray for more information.
Do you have older adult clients who are experiencing loneliness? A research team at Baycrest is studying the use of a virtual, at-home program aimed at promoting brain health. Participants will engage in either mindfulness meditation or brain training for 8 weeks and complete online sessions and surveys to assess the impact of the interventions. Compensation will be provided. To be eligible, participants must be over 60 years of age, living in Ontario, and have access to a mobile device or computer with an internet connection. Full details and contact information here. Register here.
Need help with client engagement and communication? Get access to the Canadian Primary Care Information Network (CPIN), tailored messages for your vaccine-hesitant clients, and up to three additional communications and survey campaigns on topics of your choice. Family physicians at the University of Ottawa and Monfort Hospital are studying how automated patient engagement systems like CPIN can improve communications with clients about COVID-19 vaccines. Get more information here or email the study team.
Interviews and Focus Groups
Canada-Wide Case Study on Health Equity and Virtual Primary Care. Dr. Jay Shaw is leading a project with the Canadian Network for Digital Health Evaluation that aims to gain insights into how primary care organizations across Canada have successfully incorporated health equity into virtual primary care design, implementation, and delivery. The Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) is inviting primary care organizations across Canada to participate in a 30-to-40-minute phone interview about how equity considerations were incorporated when they implemented virtual primary care. If you'd like more information or are interested in participating, email the research coordinator, Simone Shahid, at WCH.
Primary Care Providers: Is at least 60% of your practice made up of clients who experience marginalization in some way? Do you have high (17+) cancer screening rates for these clients? Consider sharing your insights and approach through a 1/2-to-1-hour interview with researchers from Women's College Hospital. Learnings will be used to develop targeted cancer-screening interventions. Remuneration will be provided. For info, see this flyer and email Arlinda Ruco at WCH.
Who "deserves" access to health care? Researchers at York University are studying how health care advocates help individuals with precarious immigration status to navigate Ontario's health care system. They're looking for individuals who have experience living without citizenship in Ontario and those who work as service providers or community organizers. For more information, email Sarah Marsh at York University..
Surveys
Does your organization provide health care or other supports to refugees and asylum seekers? Researchers at the University of Calgary are looking for people working in clinical, public health, or settlement organizations to answer some questions via an online survey. They want to understand who provides care to refugees and asylum seekers in Canada, how this care is coordinated and delivered, how it differs among jurisdictions, and how COVID-19 has impacted it. Participate by completing this short survey. In lieu of an honorarium, the research team will donate $10 to support refugee student scholarships. See flyer (English or French) for more information.
Social workers in primary health care: What has your daily practice looked like during the COVID-19 pandemic? Dr. Rachelle Ashcroft from the University of Toronto is leading a mixed-methods study called The Structure of Social Work Practice in Ontario Primary Care Teams. Participants will be asked to complete a survey about the role of social work, the current and optimal state of practice, and social work leadership. At the end, participants can optionally sign up for focus group. For more information, contact Rachelle Ashcroft at email Rachelle Ashcroft.
Collaborative Learning
SPIDER Learning Collaborative: De-prescribing dangerous medications. Can data-driven QI activities help de-prescribe potentially harmful medications, for medically complex senior clients? Help answer this question and improve health outcomes for your clients by participating in a 12-month learning collaborative. EMR queries will be provided to help participating Alliance members identify clients who would benefit. Contact Jennifer Rayner for more information.
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Funding Available
Apply by November 1 for the 2023-24 Canadian Harkness Fellowship. This is a unique opportunity to spend a year living and working in the U.S., supported by a mentor, researching healthcare delivery system reform and critical issues that are on the current healthcare policy agenda in the U.S. and Canada, as part of the Commonwealth Fund's International Program in Health Policy and Practice. Open to mid-career professionals including health and social service providers, researchers, policy-makers, journalists, and others with improvement experience. Details here.
Clinicians: Get up to $1500 to support your participation in a research project about measuring client outcomes and experiences. The Alliance is a partner in a multinational project sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which aims to evaluate a tool called Patient Reported Indicators Survey (PaRIS). PaRIS was created to measure patient-reported experience and outcome measures (PREMs and PROMs) for people receiving primary care services, so providers and policymakers can direct funding and improvement efforts to the things that matter most to clients. The OECD study will evaluate how well PaRIS captures this information and help determine the best way to implement it. If you are a physician or nurse practitioner with at least 300 clients over 45 years of age in your roster, you may be eligible to participate and influence what is measured. Up to $1500 in financial support will be provided to cover the costs of administering the survey. For more information, email Jennifer Rayner or see this flyer.
Training and Learning Resources
The Loop and Loop Jr. Community of Practice knowledge hubs support fall prevention in older adults and children. Both websites are available in English and French and offer networking, knowledge-sharing, information-gathering support for people working in fall prevention across Canada. See story above for more information.
Apply by November 3 |EXTRA Executive Training Program. EXTRA a team-based, bilingual leadership development program from Healthcare Excellence Canada. It is designed to help build the capabilities of leaders to improve quality and safety in healthcare and to help health and social system leaders create more resilient organizations. Learn more and apply here for Cohort 18, or attend an open house on September 22 in French (11:30-12:15) or English (12:30-1:15).
Free Indoor Air Quality Consultations for people working in community spaces and congregate settings. These 25-minute consultations are offered on various Tuesdays throughout October and November. This is a chance to speak to air quality experts from the Universities of Toronto and Waterloo. Participants can ask questions about HVAC systems, portable air filters, UV disinfection, and more. See flyer for details.
Toolkits
Start your own Collective Impact Initiative to Prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences and Build Resilience in your Community. This playbook provides an introduction to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), Resilience, and Collective Impact, along with a series of tools to guide your organizations in developing a collective impact plan for addressing ACES and building resilience in your community.
COVID-19 & Vaccination Fact Sheets from Indigenous Primary Health Care Council (IPHCC). The IPHCC has has developed a series of accessible, culturally aware fact sheets with info on youth vaccinations, Indigenous prioritization for vaccinations, post-vaccination COVID cases, and COVID-19 variants of concern. These resources honour traditional knowledge systems and provide necessary evidence to help support Indigenous populations in making important health choices. Find them here.
New resource to help you provide even better virtual care. Regardless of your level of experience providing virtual care, this new toolkit from Canada Health Infoway and Healthcare Excellence Canada can support your efforts to make it safer, more effective, and more accessible. It contains information synthesized from existing resources and tools, tested and refined by 25 teams from across Canada through the Virtual Care Together Design Collaborative. Topics covered include:
- Appropriate use of virtual care
- Quality and safe virtual care interactions
- Use and optimization of virtual care
Newly Published
Article - COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage and Sociodemographic, Behavioural and Housing Factors Associated with Vaccination among People Experiencing Homelessness in Toronto, Canada: A Cross-Sectional Study. This paper, just published in Vaccines, finds that, amongst a cohort of people experiencing homelessness and staying in emergency shelters, shelter hotels, and encampments in Toronto, over 80% had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Older age, being vaccinated for influenza, and male gender were associated with higher rates of uptake; being Black was associated with lower rates. This contrasts with an earlier study which found low COVID-19 vaccination rates amongst people experiencing homelessness in the city, and it suggests that advocacy and outreach efforts targeting this population may have been effective.
Case Study - North Western Ontario Health Team - COVID-19 Vaccine Equity. This case study describes a quality improvement (QI)project undertaken by the North West Toronto Ontario Health Team as part of their participation in the Pursuing Equity Learning and Action Network. For their project, the NWT OHT's goals were to build capacity to apply a health equity lens to QI and to improve vaccine equity by utilizing data and QI methods. This project was led by the Black Creek Community Health Centre, who used sociodemographic data collected during their vaccine clinics to develop tailored interventions for populations within their community that were accessing fewer vaccines.
In Case You Missed It (or Want to Revisit It)
Lunch ‘n’ Learn Webinar – Learning Health Systems within the Alliance and Beyond: Past, Present, and Future. This Lunch 'n' Learn webinar, held on September 16, 2022, describes the past, present and future of the Alliance as a learning health system, and as a key facilitator in the creation of provincial and national learning health systems. Our panelists provided an update on the progress of our learning health system, and they engaged the audience in a discussion of next steps and how Alliance members can benefit from being part of it. See the recording and slide deck here.
Webinar: Building Projects with an EDIIA Lens. This webinar, held on August 26, featured Dr. Vivian R. Ramsden from the University of Saskatchewan, who shared her experiences in developing community-led participatory research. This was the second in POPLAR's 4-part webinar series on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Indigeneity, and Accessibility (EDIIA) in research. See the recording and slide deck here.
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