Common Ground | Terrain commun A Culture of Health

I applaud efforts to emphasize health as a collective responsibility, i.e. encouraging citizens to see themselves as active participants in preventing disease and illness and in working in partnership with their healthcare professionals to achieve the best outcome in their health and their treatment. I believe that values-based (also referred to as ethical leadership) is essential to ensuring that our patients receive ...more »

Ingratiation of All Aspects of Palliative Care: Why not have a entire floor or a wing in every hospital dedicate to only people who require palliative care. Why should those patents be moved to a different hospital to receive Palliative care. Should there not be more than 10 beds for palliative care patients in a city of over 175,000. Not everyone has the options of dying at home. 90% of the patients prefer to ...more »

As our urban areas are increasingly made up of large condo towers, former industrial areas have now become primarily residential. As a result we have new residential neighbourhoods where the speed limit is too high (50 or 60 km/h) which is unsafe and unsuitable for pedestrians and cyclists. The maximum should be no more than 40km/h.

The current mental health system is really a mental "illness" system. Access especially by the most vulnerable citizens is not possible until one is severely mentally ill. We must re-orient the system so that a "continuum" of mental health services is available beginning at the earliest point through to acute care phase of illness.

Ontarians with lung disease and their families need access to education and rehab to help manage their disease. Bill 71 is a step in the right direction, but there hasn’t been any new action on it since 2016. Please give this important piece of legislation the attention necessary to allow educators the resources needed to make a real difference to the many people living with COPD, asthma and other lung disease.

Whether a person lives with Chronic Pain from a hereditary condition like EhlersDanlos Syndrome and either of its comorbid conditions where life saving treatments and quality of life giving surgeries may be required, or if they live with acquired Chronic Pain, as a disease in its own right, there are gaps in access to care that go well beyond surgical treatments. The federal government is not recognizing chronic pain ...more »

The Province of Ontario needs to build more hospitals - particularly in the Greater Toronto Area which is currently experiencing explosive population growth - to deal with the overcrowding crisis. The City of Toronto alone brings in over 100,000 newcomers each and every year in addition to natural population growth. No other municipality in Canada has such ongoing and sustained population growth. I believe that the ...more »

The 3 month waiting period for OHIP coverage after gaining eligibility is being currently applied people who have been living in Ontario for years and years with OHIP-ineligible but legally valid immigration status - for example, in the case were that person was doing research in a PhD program under a study permit. It seems common-sensical that there should be no such waiting period in this case. More generally, there ...more »

The deinstitutionalization of psychiatric services connotes an event that took place through the late 1960s and early 1970s, when many psychiatric hospitals and inpatient beds were closed and psychiatric inpatients were discharged into the community. However, the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric services has in fact been continuous for the past 40 years. The idea that deinstitutionalization is a completed event ...more »

Access to chronic pain management including life-saving and quality of life-giving neurosurgeries for rare diseases such as Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

When it becomes legal next July, Marijuana should not be sold through a government monopoly! Distribution of this legal product should be provided by the existing dispensaries albeit Provincially licenced and regulated! The Ontario government should not be setting up their own monopoly!! Include the Mom and Pop shops in your plans! The monopoly plan is doomed to failure with too few retail outlets (40) to start!

School boards need to abolish the policy of asking for doctor's note when a student is sick. If a parent writes a note, this should suffice. I have a Grade 9 child this year entering high school, I think this policy is ridiculous as it wastes the GP's time to just see a patient for a note. Yet, the doctor will charge the Ontario gov't for seeing that patient (all because of a flu). This also frees up the doctor's time ...more »

The Government of Ontario should guarantee women's rights to reproductive choice and guarantee access to free at the point of use abortion on demand for all women. While abortion is currently covered under OHIP - they are typically performed in abortion clinics - which are usually only available in larger Ontario cities. All Ontario hospitals shouid be required to provide abortion services and free transportation should ...more »

Many people have have benefits from employment (or by buying insurance) that include disability coverage from insurance companies to replace income due to illness or disability. Ever try collecting this? The insurance companies like Manulife act in bad faith to deny benefits on spurious grounds - particularly if they are dealing with mental health disabilities such as depression. They will claim the coverage is not ...more »

There are people with mental health problems who nonetheless work steady jobs. Often therapy programs are scheduled only during the normal work day, which requires employees to get time off, but employers may be unwilling to allow them to do so. This often means a choice between getting therapy and earning a living and staying on career track. Mental health programs ought to be offered “after hours” so that patients ...more »