RESOURCE - Health literacy and readability tools

Health information is often confusing because of the advanced language used. This language can lead to misinformation, confusion and unequal access. Readability is an important part of ensuring that health information is accessible and clear.

The Iowa Department of Public Health website lists a number of tools that assist with readability. The tools can be viewed here: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/health_literacy/readability.asp
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PANEL (Toronto) - Stranger in a Strange Land: How does immigration impact on mental health?

What happens when travel is not a fun escape from the daily grind, but a necessity? When, for economic,political or security reasons, one decides to make a home and find employment in a new country? Adapting to a new country, learning a new language and being separated from family can create significant strain.
Employment circumstances may be stressful when jobs are low-paid or temporary. And, some refugees may be coping with post-traumatic stress. With all the challenges of being “new” to Canada, how do immigrants and refugees get help with mental health concerns?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 7 p.m.
Gladstone Hotel (North Ballroom)
1214 Queen Street W., Toronto

Experts:
Laura Simich, PhD
Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

Peter Smith, PhD
Scientist, Institute for Work and Health
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

Martha O’Campo, RN
Manager, Education and Resources
Across Boundaries Mental Health Centre

Moderator:
Kwame McKenzie, MD, MRCPsych
Senior Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Professor, University of Toronto
and University of Lancashire

Please join us for refreshments and a lively discussion about the latest health research evidence and community perspectives on this issue. This event is presented by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and its Institute of Population and Public Health, in partnership with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Mental
Health Commission of Canada.

Space is limited.

RSVP: cafescientifique@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca
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Echo and OWHN want to hear your voice on October 21, 2009 (Toronto)

Echo and the Ontario Women's Health Network invite you to join us for
the day on Wednesday October 21st, 2009, in discussing The Minister of
Health's 10-Year Mental Health and Addictions Strategy.

Your voice will be heard by the Ministry of Health!

Please see attached flyer for details, as well, please post in your
work-place and pass on to your networks. We want to reach as many women
in Toronto as possible!

This event has limited space and is intended for community women,
service providers & community planners.

To register: please contact OWHN at owhn[at]owhn.on.ca or call us at
416-408-4840 no later than October 16th, 2009.

Ontario Women's Health Network
180 Dundas St. West, Suite 1900
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z8
416-408-4840
www.owhn.on.ca
owhn[at]owhn.on.ca
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WORKSHOP (Toronto) - Barbados Nurses' Association of Canada - Wellness Workshop on Elder Abuse and Pancreatic Cancer - Oct 17/09

The Barbados Nurses' Association of Canada (Toronto Chapter) is offering a Fall Wellness Workshop on elder abuse and pancreatic cancer.

Date: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2009
Time: 9:30am -1:30pm
Location: 867 College Street (Ossington and College Streets)

Speakers from 13 Division Community Response Unit and the Canadian Cancer Society.

Free admission.

Refreshments provided.
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COMMUNITY FORUM (Toronto) - Arguments for Publicly Funded Dental Care - Oct 14/09

What's The Difference Between a Tooth Ache & An Ear Ache?
Arguments for publicly funded dental care

When: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 5:30 to 7 p.m. - RSVP by Oct. 8/09
Where: The Mustard Seed, 791 Queen St. E, Toronto

Everyone is welcome at this community forum to share ideas and information about health and fairness. Free admission, sandwiches & snacks.

Participants will discuss why dentistry was excluded from Canadian Medicare and the impacts of this decision on our health. Public financing of dental care in Ontario would be good public policy.

With:
Carlos Quiñonez, Assistant Professor and Director of the Specialty Training Program (Dental Public Health) at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, & Associate Researcher at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St.
Michael's Hospital,

Paula Fletcher, Toronto City Councillor, Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth,

Sister Georgette Gregory, CSJ, Director of In Good Company, Fontbonne Ministries, Sisters of St. Joseph & Member of the Toronto Oral Health Coalition.

RSVP by Oct. 8 to Anne-Marie Tynan (ext. 2522) tynanma@smh.toronto.on.ca
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Rainbow Health Ontario 2010 Conference: Call for Proposals - deadline Oct 16/09

Rainbow Health Ontario (RHO) is seeking presenters for its first bi-annual provincial conference focused on the needs and issues of our diverse and vibrant LGBT communities. The Rainbow Health Ontario 2010 Conference: Improving Access and Equity in Health for LGBT People will be held in Toronto, Ontario from March 24 -26, 2010. (Note new date)

Conference Overview
The Rainbow Health Ontario 2010 Conference will provide a forum for health and social service providers, community members, researchers and policy makers to share knowledge, experience and ideas, to network and develop partnerships, and to find inspiration for their ongoing work. RHO invites you and your colleagues from around the province to join us for this unique opportunity to share your work and to learn more about LGBT health and wellness issues in Ontario.

Submission Information
RHO invites proposals which present new information or insight into LGBT health and wellness issues, with particular emphasis on the main areas of focus:

- LGBT emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health and wellness issues
- Recent LGBT health research from Ontario and Canada
- Innovative and creative LGBT health promotion programs
- Public policy and activism: current issues and strategies
- Education and training: effective teaching tools and resources

Proposals will be accepted for oral presentations, skills-building workshops, panel discussions and poster sessions. All presentations will be 90 minutes in length and may be delivered in either French or English.

Call Deadline
Submissions must be made online at www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/conference and must be received no later than FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2009, 5pm EST.

For more information, please visit:
www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/conference/callforproposals
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Plenary (Toronto) - Research with Pride - Oct 2/09 3pm

Research with Pride

Join us for our PUBLIC closing plenary ‘Next Steps: From Research to Policy’ with Nick Mulé and Loralee Gillis.

From Health Research to Healthy Policy: Challenges and Responsibilities of LGBT Knowledge Transfer

October 2, 2009
3:00-4:30pm
Room 610
Health Science Building
155 College St.
*Free*

You do NOT need to register for this plenary and we welcome everyone who can attend!


ABSTRACT

From Health Research to Healthy Policy: Challenges and Responsibilities of LGBT Knowledge Transfer

Presenters: Nick Mulé & Loralee Gillis

This session will focus on both the challenges and responsibilities LGBTs have in 1.) prioritizing broad health and wellbeing issues; 2.) conducting community-based research; 3.) producing recommendations that effect change; and 4.) lobbying for those changes in political arenas. An historical overview of the development and politicization of the broad health issues affecting LGBTs in Toronto, Ontario and Canada will shed light on the challenges and responsibilities that have and continue to be faced in an era that has been dominated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Interactive in its approach, this session will outline what is meant by broad LGBT health and wellbeing issues from a social determinants of health perspective. It will capture some of the important principles involved in conducting community-based research, discuss the fluidity of social locations all stakeholders move through, and it will highlight crucial differences between the community and academic worlds and that of the political world. Just as Canadians have long treasured health care as a basic human right, we need to question why we LGBTs are having difficulty getting accessible, equitable, informed and sensitive health care. This is not only an issue of our health and wellbeing this is an issue of social justice.

For more information: info@researchwithpride.org
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REPORT (United Stated) - The Poor Pay More - Poverty's High Cost to Health

The Poor Pay More - Poverty’s High Cost to Health

George A. Kaplan, Ph.D. Thomas Francis Collegiate Emeritus Professor of Public Health
Founder Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health - University of Michigan
September 2009

Available online as PDF file [39p.] at:
http://treefortremotecontrol.com/users/spotlight_on_poverty/RelatedFiles/e995cd7a-8416-4b89-983a-4f39fbf6de39.pdf

“….describes factors that can result in poor health for low-income people, including neighborhood safety, housing quality and access to nutritious food. The report examines policies for addressing these problems such as increasing the minimum wage, investing in early childhood education and increasing aid to jobless workers. This report was issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in conjunction with Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity.

“…..This report describes many of the ways in which being poor is bad for one’s health and points to policies that have the potential for restoring the prospect of good health to the lives of the poor. We present compelling evidence that poverty has an impact on not just the body politic but the body corporeal as well—that being poor leaves a broad footprint on the health of individuals….”

Content:
- Introduction
- The Social Determinants of Health
- Finding Solutions
- Conclusion
- End Notes
- Figure References
--
Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health www.sph.umich.edu/cseph University of Michigan
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In the News - the POWER Study

POWER study results support the need to re-evaluate depression treatment in Ontario
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20091001/POWER-study-results-support-the-need-to-re-evaluate-depression-treatment-in-Ontario.aspx

October 2009 04:42
Research finds even for those hospitalized for severe depression, many receive little follow-up
Less than half of men and women in Ontario who may be suffering from depression see a doctor to treat their potentially debilitating condition, according to a new women's health study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). What's more, many hospitalized for severe depression fail to see a doctor for follow-up care within 30 days of being discharged, and many head to hospital emergency departments for care. The findings suggest the need for a comprehensive care model involving a multidisciplinary team of health-care professionals, including family doctors and mental health specialists, to help women and men and better manage depression and improve their quality of life.

"As a leading cause of disease-related disability among women and men, depression puts a tremendous emotional and financial burden on people, their families and our health-care system," says Dr. Arlene Bierman, a physician at St. Michael's Hospital and principal investigator of the study Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-Based Report (POWER). "Many Ontarians with depression are not treated for their condition and those who are often receive less than desired care. While there is a lot that is known about how to improve depression, we need to apply this to our work with patients if we want to improve the diagnosis and management of depression. "This involves better co-ordination among primary care and mental health-care professionals in both community and hospital settings," added Dr. Bierman, a researcher at ICES.

Nearly half a million Ontarians, aged 15 and older, suffer from depression. Worldwide, an estimated 154 million people are afflicted by the condition, which is responsible for lost productivity, increased disability claims and greater use of health-care services.

Key findings of the POWER study released today include:

Less than 50% of men and women with depression visited a doctor for care for their condition
33% of men and women discharged from hospital for severe depression did not see a doctor for a follow-up visit within 30 days
17% visited a hospital emergency room within 30 days of discharge from hospital while about 8% were readmitted to hospital
Many older adults started on antidepressant medication did not receive the recommended number of follow-up visits to manage their condition.
The lack of co-ordinated care for patients suggests the need for a collaborative care-model involving a team of health-care professionals, including mental health professionals and primary care providers.
"Research shows that patients cared for using a collaborative model are more likely to see improvement in symptoms, are able to better manage their depression and avoid multiple visits for emergency care," said Dr. Elizabeth Lin, lead author of the chapter and a research scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). A study by CAMH released earlier this year also found collaborative care to be a less costly and more effective way of providing mental health treatments for people on short-term disability leave for a psychiatric disorder.

The study titled POWER (the Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-Based Report), is funded by Echo: Improving Women's Health in Ontario, an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. It is the first study in the province to provide a comprehensive overview of women's health in relation to gender, income, education, ethnicity and geography. The findings are detailed in the report titled Depression - the third to be released this year as part of the study. Findings can be used by policymakers and health-care providers to improve access, quality and outcomes of care for Ontario women.

"The findings clearly support the need to re-evaluate the treatment of depression in Ontario," says Pat Campbell, CEO, Echo: Improving Women's Health in Ontario. "We need to provide better access and delivery of more appropriate and effective courses of care. The POWER Study makes a strong case for the adoption of collaborative care models - a key finding that can help inform system planning, program planning and policy development."
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New POWER Study Chapter Available - Depression

From the POWER Study:
"Although women from lower-income areas were more likely to have probable depression than those from higher-income areas, they had similar rates of use of OHIP core mental health services (Exhibit 5A.5). However, women from higher-income neighbourhoods incurred greater OHIP core mental health costs per capita than women from lower-income neighbourhoods
(Exhibit 5A.6)." (page 7)

See note from POWER team:

The POWER Study (Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-based
Report) Depression chapter is now available for download.

The POWER Study is producing a two-volume Women's Health Report to serve as an evidence-based tool for policy makers, providers, and consumers in their efforts to improve health and reduce health inequities among Ontario women.

In the Depression chapter, the patterns of depression care in the province and how these vary by sex, income and geography are presented.

A set of evidence-based indicators, based on the continuum of depression care are reported at the provincial and Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) levels. Indicators included background measures of the need for, use and supply of mental health care services, and indicators of primary and specialty outpatient care and acute and specialty inpatient care including measures of transition back to into the community after a hospital stay for depression.

Download the Depression chapter at http://powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/depression.

The Depression Chapter Highlights document, which outlines the chapter’s key findings and recommendations, will be available in French at http://www.powerstudy.ca/l-etude-power-/volume-1/depression

Also available for download:

Chapter 1, Introduction to the POWER Study, provides an overview of Volume 1, outlining the health issues being addressed and the collaborative research model developed to produce the Report. Also included is a brief introduction to the development and use of indicators for improving health.

Download Chapter 1, in English, at http://www.powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/introduction-to-the-power-study

and, in French, at http://www.powerstudy.ca/l-etude-power-/volume-1/introduction

Chapter 2, the POWER Study Framework, describes the conceptual framework developed to provide context for the analyses and describes the indicator selection process used. Download Chapter 2, in English, at http://www.powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/the-power-study-framework

and, in French, at
http://www.powerstudy.ca/l-etude-power-/volume-1/cadre-de-letude

Chapter 3, the Burden of Illness, reports on the overall health and well-being experienced by Ontarians, and how it differs by sex, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and geography. It identifies opportunities for improvement and presents objective evidence to inform priority setting and to provide a baseline from which to measure progress. Download at
http://www.powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/burden-of-illness

Chapter 4, Cancer, reports on the leading causes of cancer in women, including cancers of the breast, reproductive system, lung and colorectal cancer. Indicators assess cancer incidence and survival rates; and include indicators that capture the continuum of cancer care (prevention, screening, treatment and follow-up, and end-of-life care) and assess differences by gender, income, age and geography. Download at http://powerstudy.ca/the-power-report/the-power-report-volume-1/cancer

The Burden of Illness Highlights document and the Cancer Chapter Highlights document, which outline each chapter’s key findings and recommendations, are also available in French at
http://www.powerstudy.ca/l-etude-power/volume-1

Chapters on Cardiovascular Disease and Access to Health Care Services are forthcoming.

The POWER Study is funded by Echo: Improving Women's Health in Ontario, an agency of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of Echo or the Ministry. We welcome your thoughts and feedback on the Report.

Arlene S. Bierman, MD. MS
Echo’s OWHC Chair in Women’s Health University of Toronto and St Michael’s Hospital
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