 March 2007
SPRING EDUCATIONAL FORUMApril 26 & 27, 2007
Best Western Lamplighter Inn and Conference Centre
591 Wellington Road South
London, ON N6C 4R3
Join members of Distress Centres and Crisis Lines from through out Ontario at the Spring Educational Forum
Our communities win when we work and learn in partnerships. These informative sessions are of interest and support the learning objectives of all members (staff and volunteers) of Distress Centres and Crisis Lines and our partner agencies.
We also welcome and encourage participation from mental health service providers, those interested in suicide prevention, grief and isolation issues and seniors issues, and other community agencies or individuals.
PROGRAM SPEAKERS - SPRING EDUCATIONAL FORUM 2007
DEATH AND SUICIDE IDEATION AMONG TH!
E ELDERLY
Dr. Marnin Heisel Ph.D. and C. Psych. demonstrates methods for assessing suicide risk and resiliency factors among older adults and discusses the evidence base for interventions with older adults at-risk for suicide
NEW TRENDS IN VOLUNTEER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Author, Trainer, Linda Graff speaks about the trend to ‘episodic’ volunteering and the new toolbox of skills, talents, experience and influences these volunteers will bring to their communities
1ST EPISODE PYSCHOSIS
Dr. Jason Carr of London’s PEPP, Prevention & Early Intervention Program for Psychoses, shares lessons learned from this community focused assessment and treatment program for individuals experiencing their first episode of psychosis
CONCURRENT DISORDERS
Educational Consultant Larry Lalone M.Sc. explains this condition in which a person has both a mental illness and a substance use problem. This general term refers to a wid!
e range of mental illnesses and addictions
EMERGENCY MANAG
EMENT AND PREPAREDNESS IN ONTARIO
MOH’s Jennifer Veenboer highlights current Ministry initiatives to strengthen community resilience and reducing health risks during emergencies and how these resources can be used effectively by distress centres to help their clients
All sessions, event and accommodation will be at The Best Western Lamplighter Inn and Conference Centre.
Please book your own reservations; there is a block of rooms reserved for the conference. Best Western will only hold the prices and block of rooms until April 10, 2007. When making your reservation quote "Distress Centres Ontario."
Registration Fees:
DC Centre members, staff and volunteers - only $15.00 for two days or part there of
Canterbury Dinner and discussion group - Thursday, April 26/07 (6:30 pm - 8:00 pm) $15.00
Community Members - $65.00 each day; $95.00 for two days
Registration Methods:
Fax: Distress Centres Ont!
ario 416-486-8405 - please register no later than April 20, 2007
Mail: Suite 475A-700 Lawrence Avenue West Toronto ON M6A 3B4
Make cheques payable to Distress Centres Ontario
If you require further information please email us. |
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LOCAL HEALTH INTEGRATION NETWORKS As we all know, the health care system in Ontario is undergoing a significant change. We will all be affected as consumers of health care services and as providers of services to the citizens of our province.
The following excerpts from the LHIN Coordination Project Bulletin No. 30 - March 20, 2007 will give you a sense of what these changes will bring.
Expectations and Opportunity - Health Care Providers in the LHIN Era
On April 1st, 2007, Local Health Integration Networks assume their full responsibilities for funding, planning and integrating health care services at the local level. On that day LHINs will truly be taking a bold step forward into a new era for health care in Ontario, and the province's health care providers will be taking that bold step with them.
The LHIN initiative can only be understood in the context of broader health care transfo!
rmation in Ontario, and that transformation - while enormous and complex - is in aid of a very simple goal: The creation of a trust health care system.
It has long been understood that Ontario's health care system is fragmented and silo-based. Health care providers do great work, but all too often that work is done in isolation, with none of the benefits to patients that come from integration in an overall system. It is an unsustainable way to go about the business of delivering health care and is ultimately detrimental to the quality of care enjoyed by patients. As of April 1st, that will begin to change. LHINs will be the catalysts, and in many ways providers will be the agents of that change.
Roles and responsibilities
The transformation brought about by LHINs is best described as evolutionary, not revolutionary. For health service providers, the world on April 2nd will be much as it was March 31st. It will, however, be a w!
orld that is beginning to change, and providers will want to prepare f
or a previously unseen emphasis on accountability, a focus on integration, and new approaches to everything from funding to health system planning.
There are five main areas where these changes will be felt:
Accountability
People have the right to expect accountability from their governments, and patients have the right to expect that their health service providers will be accountable for the quality of services they provide. To that end, part of the LHINs' mandate will be to negotiate accountability agreements with health care providers.
The first set of agreements to be negotiated is with the province's hospitals as the agreements are intended to be in place by April 1st.
These agreement will clearly establish service standards and targets that providers are expected to meet, and will also include protocols for monitoring and reporting as well as possible strategic interventions by LHINs if and when improvements are deemed !
necessary.
After April 1st, service providers will:
Be responsible for meeting service quality and outcomes specified in their accountability agreements with LHINs
Be accountable to LHINs for their use of public funds, and
Have their governance structures accountable to LHINs.
Integration and service coordination
Integration is at the core of the LHIN mandate. To that end, they have been working and will continue to work with local providers to adapt and customize health services to address local needs and priorities.
Providers will need to work closely with LHINs and with each other to create a system where patients experience health care services almost seamlessly, with the impact of boundaries between organizations almost negligible.
After April 1st, service providers will:
Be responsible for aligning their service planning within the overall LHIN fram!
ework
Implement the direction for integration laid
out in accountability agreements with LHINs
Demonstrate continuous improvement in service integration and coordination, and
Take part in agreements and initiatives designed to further provincial objective in areas such as access, quality, safety, and efficiency.
Funding and allocation
Probably the most obvious change brought about by LHINs is in the way money will flow through the health care system. LHINs are responsible for assessing needs and priorities at the local level and determining service configuration based on those needs and priorities. They will allocate and provide funds to providers accordingly. Nearly two-thirds of the provincial health care budget - approximately $20 billion - will come under control of the LHINs.
LHINs will also monitor fiscal performance as well as the contribution made by providers to ensure integration and system sustainability, to ensure that all ag!
reed-upon standards are met.
After April 1st, service providers will:
Submit business and service plans as required by their accountability agreements, and
Be responsible to LHINs for delivering programs and services on budget.
Local health system planning
LHINs sprang from an understanding that health care priorities are best determined at the local level, by people familiar with the specific needs of their communities. LHINs are also required by legislation to develop and release Integrated Health Service Plans (IHSPs), the first of which were completed in the Fall of 2006, that reflect the needs and priorities of communities, are consistent with broad ministry goals, and optimize the use of current resources.
The development of IHSPs would not be possible without extensive input from providers, and the execution of those plan would be unthinkable without their full participation.
After April 1st, service providers will:
Participate ful
ly in LHIN planning exercises
Align their strategic plans with those of their LHINs, and
Provide the input and information necessary for the development of LHIN plans.
Local community engagement
In late 2004, LHINs began the process of engaging and consulting their communities about local health care concerns. LHINs are to be successful in determining local needs and priorities, it is a process that will never end. Local health service providers have two obvious roles to play in these consultations - they are in a real sense members of the community being consulted, and they have a clear interest in hearing the views of other community members.
After April 1st, service providers will:
Be expected to play a role in informing the community and general public about opportunities for involvement in LHIN initiatives
Participate fully in LHIN community engagement a!
ctivities, and
Be responsible for any issues or concerns relevant to their organization that come up in the course of consultations.
If you would like to read more about these changes and the direction of the LHINs, check the Ministry of Health's website at http://www.health.gov.on.ca/transformation/lhin/lhinmn.html for the latest news on the ministry's transformation.
This update is produced by the LHIN Coordination Project. For more information call INFOline AT 1-888-779-7767 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday or email transforminghealth@moh.gov.on.ca
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Forgo forgiving for giving."
MIKE HALL
"If we do something good
when no one is looking,
we wish to be praised or
recognized, and we go
around telling people
what we have done.
If we are not appreciated
or are slandered, we are
disappointed and feel that
what we have done is less
worthwhile. When we
have done something bad,
we are afraid that others
may find out, and so we
try our best to hide it. If
we have managed to hide
it, we feel we have gained
something...[but] the
fact of our action remains
a fact, which will
eternally make up one
page in our life, serving as
either a positive or
negative factor in the
formation of our character...it becomes
a karmic force that
accompanies us."
REV. SHUNDO AOYAMA
NAIKAN, Gregg Krech
Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection
Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, California
Gregg was a presenter at our Spring Conference 2006
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