Ontario Fall Prevention Collaborative – An Ontario System-Based Approach to Fall Prevention Among Older Adults

Thu, June 23, 2022
ZOOM Webinar

HOSTED BY Ontario Fall prevention collaborative & AFHTO

Falls are the leading cause of injuries, hospitalizations and injury-related deaths. Falls amongst older adults can greatly impact their quality of life and cause disability, decreased mobility, increased risk of premature death, mental health challenges such as fear of falling, confusion, and depression, increased isolation, and loss of independence. Older adults who experience a fall often transition into long-term care facilities. In Ontario, fall prevention initiatives for older adults vary in their scope, approach, implementation and measurement of outcomes. The heterogeneous, fragmented nature of fall prevention efforts make it difficult to ascertain what interventions are working, how interventions can be improved and where a greater investment of resources or an increased level of co-ordination and collaboration between key stakeholders is required to maximize impact. The Ontario Fall Prevention Collaborative is a diverse group of health and social service practitioners and clinicians from across Ontario who come together to share information, analyze trends and respond collectively to the need for change and innovation in fall prevention among older adults. In this webinar, we will hear about the work of the Collaborative as it pertains to identified priorities around fall indicators and falls risk screening and assessment and how we can better align our efforts across the province.

Presenters: 

  • Hélène Gagné is the Director of the Fall Prevention Program at Parachute and brings 30 years of experience working in the fields of health promotion, chronic disease prevention and injury prevention. Hélène was instrumental in the development and ongoing success of communities of practice (Loop and Loop Junior) and the annual Fall Prevention Month campaign. Hélène has also been involved in numerous research projects as a funder, advisor, and published author. She is a skilled bilingual facilitator and convenor of experts and practitioners with the goal to generate evidence-based, sustainable solutions to effect change at a practice, collective and system levels. Hélène holds a master’s degree in Applied and Experimental Social Psychology from the University of Guelph.

  • Wendy Carew is the Population Health Lead at Ontario Health NE in system and strategy planning. She has over 30 years’ experience employing community based population health strategies in northern Ontario. As a senior director for over 22 years within the public health system her areas of expertise includes: planning, research, implementation, evaluation, policy and community development, quality improvement and communication. Her focus is to advance and integrate population health strategies across the health continuum and within non-health sectors. She is the lead for the regional fall prevention strategy, Stay on Your Feet (SOYF); maternal child health and health equity.

 

When: Thursday June 23, 2022 (12:00-1:00 PM EDT)

Presentation Slides: Click here

Other Resources: 

  • Ontario Fall Prevention Collaborative Website
  • Loop Fall Prevention Community of Practice 
  • Report: Falls Prevention in Primary Care from March 2017- click here
  • Article: Building Nutrition into a Falls Risk Screening Program for Older Adults in Family Health Teams in North Eastern Ontario- click here

Recording: