December 2019 – Interim Ontario SCI Alliance Update

The Alliance has been working really hard over the last quarter finalizing initiatives and projects within our Amplifying our Community’s Voice strategic plan.

While we gear up for the holidays, the Alliance will be working on a few things:

1.  Working with ONF on the renewal funding submission to the Ontario government.  Submission is due on Jan. 6.  Thank you many Alliance members for assisting with this submission.
2. Wrapping up our follow-up communications after Queen’s Park Day with MPPs across the province.  Learn more about Queen’s Park Day.
3. Over the last few weeks we’ve been engaging the government on the potential for VIP4SCI to be eligible for physician billing, when our clients want to access their doctor virtually through the platform. Read their announcement on digital and virtual health care.
4. We are just putting the final touches on our community engagement report from the National SCI Conference in October.  Look out for this great piece of work from our community in January.
5. Lastly, we are working on our #peeforfree strategy. We look forward to sharing the business case in the new year.

We’re excited to engage everyone in 2020. January will be a busy month as we plan the process for the new three-year strategic plan and prepare for the next Alliance meeting in April.

Happy Holidays

April 2019 – Ontario SCI Alliance Update

#PEEFORFREE – Access to Medical Supplies in Ontario

On March 18, Spinal Cord Injury Ontario and Ontario SCI Alliance Members, in partnership with March of Dimes Canada hosted a reception at Queens Park in Toronto to raise awareness around access to affordable medical supplies in Ontario.

The reception was a great success and the event was very well received with attendance from over 20 MPPs from all four parties as well as community and industry participants. Our panel included MPP Robin Martin, Conservative MPP for Eglinton-Lawrence; MPP France Gélinas, NDP MPP for Nickel Belt, MPP Natalie des Rosiers, Liberal MPP for Ottawa-Vanier; and MPP Mike Schreiner, Leader of the Green Party of Ontario. We were happy to see that all political parties acknowledged the importance of supporting safe and sanitary bathroom practices and the difference affordable medical supplies, like intermittent catheters, can make in the life of a person with an SCI.

We are now looking forward to a confirmed meeting with Honourable Christine Elliot, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care this month to further discuss how the Government of Ontario can support #peeforfree.  To support our progress in achieving #peeforfree, please help by participating in 2 ways:

1. Participate in our social media campaign – #peeforfree

Share your story on the affordability and availability of catheters using the hashtag #peeforfree (twitter, facebook, linkedin, Instragram) and tag SCIO

Post our video on your websites

Write blogs linking to our video

2. MP letter writing campaign

Go to www.yourmoveontario.ca

We’ve suspended our MPP letter campaign on access to medical supplies to provide an
MP letter campaign on accessibility issues leading up to the federal election of Oct 21, 2019.

Submissions to Standing Committee on Social Policy – Government of Ontario

On April 2, SCIO was invited to provide feedback to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act. Over 7,000 people have filed a submission on the New Health System Bill which will pass within this PC majority government.  More details to come in the 2019 Provincial budget release on April 11. Our submission is below.

Furthermore, we attended a teleconference with Christine Elliott, Minister of Health and her Deputy Minister Helen Angus on April 3, discussing how the work of the SCI Sector in Ontario aligns with Bill 74.  There are perceived to be many opportunities for the SCI Community towards working within this act.  Our Alliance members are invested, and we will have a full discussion about Bill 74 and how the implementation process of Ontario Health Agency and its Ontario Health Teams impacts us on June 7 – Be sure to register your attendance on the right.

> View Submission

2019 Government of Ontario Budget

On April 11, the Honorable Minister of Finance, Vic Fedeli unveiled the Government of Ontario’s 2019 Budget, Protecting What Matters Most. This is the first provincial budget to be delivered by the Progressive Conservative government since it was first elected in June 2018. We were pleased to see several smart investments by the government in healthcare, home and community care sector and accessible housing including a commitment to launch “The Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certificate Program “– a 1.3 million investment over two years. For a complete and detailed analysis of the Budget 2019 and its implications for our sector, view below

> View Submission

Pain Management Webinar and Self-Management Course

On March 28, we hosted a certified webcast on neuropathic pain for primary care providers and the SCI Community in partnership with Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) Professional Learning Series.

This self-learning program has been certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Chapter for up to 1 Mainpro+ credits. Session ID# 188779.

If you or your physician missed it, the webcast is available to watch again.

Once you’ve completed the webcast, don’t forget to collect your certificate by contacting: info@sciontario.org

Furthermore, we are excited to share that we will be launching a Self-Management Course on Pain Management soon.  We are planning to have the course available on our new learning management system for June 7, our next in-person meeting.

Online SCI Research Participation Platform

We are almost there!  Our Project Lead, Emily Giroux, has been working hard to deliver a comprehensive platform where we can truly understand the power behind integrated knowledge translation.  The platform will be hosted on the Ontario SCI Alliance Website. A major function of the platform is the ability for people with SCI to seamlessly engage research in a variety of ways.  Emily will be presenting the beta version on June 7 Ontario SCI Alliance – Don’t Miss out!

Amplify our Community’s Voice

Our 3-year plan 2018-21 is well under way (70% complete!)

UPDATE ARCHIVES

June 2019 Meeting Docs
February 2019
November 2018
September 2018
June 2018