Membership Updates's blog

Be sure to check out the Patients’ Association of Canada blog to read new entries by Sholom Glouberman, President of PAC. Read the most recent post:

1. A response to Taking Action to Prevent Chronic Diseases: Recommendations for a Healthier Ontario. We at PAC have long advocated the issue of chronic care management and the health care system’s inability to recognize the need for patient participation in prevention efforts. Though we applaud the publication, the findings omit crucial suggestions that include patient involvement.

PAC’s governance project The Patient Voice in Ontario’s Health Care Boards is moving along well. On March 1st and 2nd, members and volunteers of PAC went to Kingston General Hospital to learn about its Patient and Family Advisory Council. Read more about the trip here.

To learn more about the project, access all the information here. You can also access our web-based library which contains project-relevant articles on Canada’s health care system, governance, patient engagement, and quality of care.

Patient services in health care organizations and hospitals are for the most part developed with patients in mind, but with very little patient participation. In order to incorporate the patient point of view into service design and delivery, we’re working with Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care to redesign the “Day of Moving In.”

So far, we have had a number of independent meetings with family members and residents of Baycrest to prepare them for the redesign process. The two formal design meetings were very successful. We witnessed a positive shift in the project’s tenor brought on by the group’s dedication to producing patient-centred services. Everyone shared simple ways to alleviate stress during the move in process and we’re eager to continue the dialogue. We’ll have a report in the upcoming months!

PAC’s second conference on Patient Participation in Guiding our Health Care System is fast approaching!

Join patients, health professionals, managers, and policy makers at the Toronto Reference Library on May 29, 2012 for this event that will model new ways to conduct a public dialogue about health care. Space is limited to 100 participants so sign up quickly. You can register online here.

Welcome new members! Each new e-member enhances the voice of patients and a large membership adds to the growing movement of dedicated patients engaged in our healthcare system.

There are many ways to contribute to the Patients' Association of Canada. The easiest way is to register as an e-member, but if you want more involvement you can sign up to volunteer by filling out the volunteer application form.

If you're interested in contributing financially, we accept online donations or donations by mail. We provide charitable receipts for gifts of $10.00 or more. For other fundraising inquiries, please contact Christina Spencer at (416) 785-2500 ext. 2472 or email.

After much thought, we have decided to redesign PAC’s website and your feedback is crucial to the process. We have designed a short survey to evaluate your experience with PAC’s website and your participation would be greatly appreciated. Take the survey now!

Given that we have a range of users with different backgrounds we want to create a website suitable for everyone. If you’re interested in becoming more involved, please contact us.

Be sure to check out the Patients’ Association of Canada blog to see new entries by Sholom Glouberman, President of PAC.

Some of the most recent posts include:

1. Canadian Institute for Health Information’s release of Health Care in Canada, 2011: A Focus on Seniors and Aging. Sholom highlights key figures cited in the report, and discusses how greater patient engagement in our health care system can help to overcome current and imminent challenges.

2. The very high readmission rate after heart attacks in the US seen as a result of excessive fragmentation of care and poor patient engagement.