As of Apr 1, 2023 Public Health Ontario will implement a new modified two-tier testing (MTTT) for detection of antibodies against B. burgdorferi (Lyme Disease). The MTTT algorithm has been endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network (CPHLN) as an acceptable alternative method to the standard two-tier testing (STTT). Sensitivity of MTTT is higher (15-25%) than STTT in detecting antibodies during early-localized Lyme disease. This session will give an overview of the new testing method and how these changes will impact public health operations (with respect to testing and reporting) and public health unit staff. An update on the current epidemiology of Lyme disease in Ontario will also be provided.

Santé publique Ontario (SPO) et l’Institut canadien des inspecteurs en santé publique (ICISP) ont organisé un webinaire sur les considérations liées à la salubrité des conserves maison.

Les programmes de promotion de la santé peuvent jouer un rôle important dans la réduction du coût des soins de santé en diminuant les maladies, les blessures ou les décès évitables, et en contrant les inégalités en matière de santé. Cependant, ces programmes ne sont pas tous maintenus au-delà de leur période de financement initiale. Lorsqu’ils prennent fin, on risque de perdre des ressources et des relations précieuses, ainsi que les retombées sur la santé qui étaient au cœur de ces programmes. Comment pouvons-nous assurer le maintien de nos programmes et de leurs retombées? Pour répondre à cette question, Santé publique Ontario a effectué une revue systématique afin de déterminer les obstacles et les facilitateurs qui influent sur le maintien de ces programmes. Nous nous sommes concentrés sur les facteurs qui peuvent s’appliquer au processus de planification des programmes. Ce webinaire vise à partager les résultats de nos recherches ainsi qu’à offrir aux participants un forum de réflexion et de planification en vue de l’application des résultats dans leur pratique.

In light of decreasing but ongoing new HIV infections in Ontario each year, the updated Ontario HIV testing guidelines introduces a four-pronged approach to testing that aims to help reach persons with undiagnosed HIV infection. The updated guidelines will be discussed in this session. The first prong is to find new/recent infections by recognizing the signs/symptoms of acute HIV infection and to make providers aware of recent advances in HIV testing technology that reduces the HIV testing window of six weeks. The second prong is to find chronic infections by recognizing indicator conditions commonly overlooked in people with HIV. The third prong is to offer testing to at-risk members of populations with higher rates of HIV, including gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, including trans men, African, Caribbean, and Black populations, Indigenous Peoples, people who use drugs, particularly if their drug use involves injection, and cis and trans women, especially those who face systemic and social inequities. The fourth prong is to identify people in other care situations.

Legionella is a bacteria that resides in the environment, usually contracted by inhalation of contaminated aerosolized water from human made water systems. Exposure can result in Pontiac fever, a self-limited flu-like illness or Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia. This three-part series will provide a practical overview of public health investigations of legionellosis, including assessment of the epidemiology, potential environmental sources, appropriate clinical and environmental testing, and environmental control and remediation.

Santé publique Ontario (SPO) organise une série de webinaires hebdomadaires en six parties pour orienter les responsables de la PCI qui débutent dans les milieux de soins de longue durée. Cette cinquième présentation porte sur les principaux aspects de la santé et de la sécurité au travail (SST) dans les foyers de soins de longue durée. Il y sera question des lois essentielles qui régissent les pratiques, de l’importance de la collaboration et des principaux volets d’un programme de SST.

As of Apr 1, 2023 Public Health Ontario will implement a new modified two-tier testing (MTTT) for detection of antibodies against B. burgdorferi (Lyme Disease). The MTTT algorithm has been endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network (CPHLN) as an acceptable alternative method to the standard two-tier testing (STTT). Sensitivity of MTTT is higher (15-25%) than STTT in detecting antibodies during early-localized Lyme disease. This session will give an overview of the new testing method and how these changes will impact public health operations (with respect to testing and reporting) and public health unit staff. An update on the current epidemiology of Lyme disease in Ontario will also be provided.

IPAC Self-Audits in Long-term Care Homes

Relationships are at the core of home visiting and community outreach programs. In relationships with colleagues or clients - expressing gratitude has been shown to increase positive emotions, improve health, enhance the capacity to respond to adversity and strengthen relationships. Practicing gratitude has also been shown to increase our perceived trustworthiness to others. In this webinar, the effects of gratitude on our brains, bodies, and relationships will be explored. Practical daily ways to build gratitude into one’s everyday life, including professional practice, will also be shared. Strategies for teaching clients about the power of gratitude and how they can incorporate it into their lives and parenting will also be discussed.

Santé publique Ontario (SPO) organise une série de webinaires hebdomadaires en six parties pour orienter les responsables de la PCI qui débutent dans les milieux de soins de longue durée. Ce webinaire est le deuxième d’une série portant sur les principaux sujets à connaître pour mettre en place un programme de PCI rigoureux dans un foyer de soins de longue durée. Il y sera question des grands principes et principaux aspects de la surveillance dans les foyers de soins de longue durée, où la surveillance est définie comme « la collecte, la compilation et l’analyse systématiques et continues des données et la transmission rapide de l’information aux personnes qui en ont besoin pour prendre des mesures concrètes.

Active listening is a fundamental skill to apply when working to engage clients in a therapeutic relationship. Active listening is often framed as a basic skill – where individuals are taught to focus on “paying attention” and their non-verbal body language. While these are important aspects of active listening, this webinar will present active listening as an advanced skill that includes preparing to listen, mindful presence, and responding in ways that indicate listening and importantly, understanding. Additionally, moving beyond the basics in one’s understanding of active listening will help health and social care providers unlock the potential of this powerful trauma- and violence-informed care tool.

Promoting equity in health and health care means targeting care improvements to people most structurally disadvantaged – by poverty, racism and other forms of discrimination and stigma. Doing so requires trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) approaches because people who are structurally disadvantaged experience high levels of violence and trauma. This, in turn, requires culturally safe approaches because racism and trauma are intertwined. Further, as racism is often coupled with substance use stigma, and violence with heavy substance use, TVIC, Cultural Safety and efforts to reduce substance use stigma are necessary to promoting equity. How health care providers approach people, including what they say and how (both verbally, non-verbally and on forms and signs) can increase comfort and confidence with healthcare, reduce stigma and enhance care experiences for both providers and those they serve. This session will focus on shifts in language and practice that can powerfully improve care, and the organizational conditions that can support equity.

The Healthy Babies Healthy Children (HBHC) program is offered by public health units across Ontario as a requirement of the Ontario Public Health Standards (June 2021). A primary goal of the program is to support children’s healthy growth and development. This evidence-informed home visitation program includes the use of specific assessment tools such as the NCAST Parent-Child Interaction (PCI) scales. This webinar will introduce an NCAST resource guide, developed in Ontario to support public health nurses in making decisions about “next steps” or interventions to offer to a family, following completion of the PCI Scales. This resource reviews how nurses and/or family visitors can provide constructive feedback to caregivers, or select interventions and applicable Partners in Parenting Education (PIPE) activities.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been declared one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. The impacts of AMR can be mitigated through improved infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, innovation in treatment and prevention and surveillance. Given the critical importance of data in combating AMR, this presentation will discuss the findings from the Comprehensive Ontario Microbiology laBoratory Administrative daTa for AntiMicrobial Resistance (COMBAT-AMR) research program. This session will discuss the burden and impact of antimicrobial resistance on Ontario bloodstream and urinary tract infections.

In the coming years, Canada is anticipating accepting the highest numbers of permanent residents in its history; upwards of 465,000 people annually. Currently, about 22% of Canadians were born in another country. Despite the continued importance of im/migrants to Canada, their health is rarely understood through a social determinants of health (SDOH) lens. This presentation will describe im/migration in relation to the SDOH, review the immigration database housed at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and describe COVID-19 vaccine uptake using disaggregated data from this database and touch on community engagement strategies. To appreciate the diversity of immigrants and the potential complexity involved with improving vaccine uptake, known barriers, facilitators, and determinants of vaccine uptake among migrants more broadly will also be reviewed.

The COVID-19 pandemic and public health response to contain the spread of the virus had many unintended consequences, impacting virtually all aspects of young people’s lives; including social, academic and recreational activities in addition to economic and employment opportunities. Researchers were interested in children, adolescents and young adults who were vulnerable to these disruptions and may have experienced additional mental health challenges. The study compared rates of use for in- and out-patient mental health services during the pandemic to pre-pandemic rates for this population. This presentation will outline our findings from a recent study in Ontario, Canada comparing service utilization rates for in- and out-patient mental health services during the pandemic. Results and findings will be used to generate discussion around epidemiological surveillance of mental health in children and youth.

Santé publique Ontario (SPO) organise une série de webinaires hebdomadaires en six parties pour orienter les responsables de la PCI qui débutent dans les milieux de soins de longue durée. Le quatrième webinaire porte sur les principaux aspects du retraitement du matériel et des dispositifs médicaux dans les foyers de soins de longue durée. Il y sera question des normes de retraitement et de la détermination du degré de retraitement nécessaire, ainsi que de la formation du personnel, du contrôle de la qualité et des mesures de contrôle nécessaires en contexte de retraitement.

This discussion-centred roundtable will be focused on implementing supervised smoking/inhalation rooms in drug consumption sites. Service providers and people who use drugs have expressed the urgent need to expand existing supervised consumption sites to include smoking/inhalation rooms in response to increasing overdoses related to smoking drugs. The benefits of smoking/inhalation rooms also include increased engagement of people who smoke drugs and the reduction in barriers to consumption services. However, sites that are considering to include smoking/inhalation face a number of questions regarding air quality, employee safety, legislation, funding, implementation, and others.

Every year in Ontario, smoking and alcohol consumption are responsible for thousands of deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits. A new report by Ontario Health and Public Health Ontario provides estimates of the prevalence of smoking and alcohol use in the province and includes detailed estimates of the number of harms caused by smoking and alcohol consumption. The report also provides estimates of the number of cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, respiratory, communicable disease, neuropsychiatric, and injury harms. These are provided for all of Ontario and for each public health unit.

Many community-based health or social care services, including home visitation programs for pregnant individuals and families with children, require an early assessment of a client’s strengths and risks, including their experiences of traumatic events in childhood, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are associated with challenges in learning, health risk behaviours, and negative long-term health effects. This session will discuss the construction of a life history timeline as a trauma-and violence-informed approach to assessment that provides an emotionally safe context for providers to learn about, and clients to share, information about adverse and positive childhood experiences. Discussion of the life history timeline also helps to foster rapport and trust between the provider and client, as well as to create an opportunity to reflect on how past experiences can inform the client’s own personal vision and goals for parenting.