February 2010 - In Addition…

The Public Health Agency of Canada announces its new and improved Canadian Best Practices Portal

The Public Health Agency of Canada is pleased to announce that on January 20, 2010, a new and improved version of the Canadian Best Practices Portal, www.phac.gc.ca/cbpp will go live.

The Public Health Agency of Canada’s Portal is a virtual front door to community and population health interventions related to chronic disease prevention and health promotion that have been evaluated, shown to be successful, and have the potential to be adapted and replicated by other health practitioners working in similar fields.

As a public health program decision-maker, the portal can make your work easier by providing you with access to well evaluated and effective interventions.

What's New?

The updated version includes new functional features such as a centralized search centre, a video and a rotating spotlight section on the home page to showcase specific interventions and news stories. ‘Best’ and ‘promising’ practices in priority gap areas have been added. New content focuses on topics that include:

  • Asthma and lung disease;
  • Children and youth aged 3 to 17;
  • Hypertension and cardiovascular disease;
  • Misuse of medications;
  • Adults and seniors;
  • Tobacco and alcohol;
  • Chronic gambling;
  • Food security;
  • Physical activity; and
  • Aboriginal populations.

The Portal is now more user friendly by including streamlined navigation, improved visual aesthetics, more simplified language and easier access to key features such as topic-specific pages and Interventions at a Glance. A revised feedback form has been added to make it easier for users to provide comments on specific interventions and share information with their peers.

The Portal’s main components are:

  1. a catalogue of best practice systematic review sites from organizations such as The Campbell Collaboration, Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and The Cochrane Library;
  2. a searchable database of community level interventions; and
  3. resources to help you reach your public health planning, chronic disease prevention and health promotion goals.

These resources will be organized according to the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools seven steps of Evidence-Informed Public Health.

For more information on the Portal, please contact Nina Jetha, Manager, Canadian Best Practices Initiative, Public Health Agency of Canada, tel: 613-952-7608, email: Nina_I_Jetha@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

 

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Heart month is just around the corner and we wanted to keep you updated on our progress and activities with Spark

To start it off, our Toronto Heart Month campaign will be launched on February 1st at City Hall (100 Queen Street W, Toronto) with David Sculthorpe, Deputy Major Joe Pantalone, Honourable Margarett R. Best, Honourable Jean Augustine. There are also a number of exciting events and initiatives that Spark will be involved with throughout the month of February.

We are extremely happy to inform you that the LCBO has chosen HSFO to be their charity of choice in the LCBO Provincial Donation Box Program during the month of February. During Heart Month every LCBO store (there are a total of 608!) will have coin boxes at the checkout with Spark Together for Healthy Kids™ backer cards and Spark posters will be displayed on the store bulletin boards.

At all of the major TTC stations our volunteers will be handing out our Spark buckslips during the morning and afternoon rush hour, Monday – Friday, February 8 -12 to help build awareness of the initiative.

For the month of February we are back at the Ontario Science Centre (OSC): HSFO has partnered with the OSC for the Body Worlds exhibit. There will be a Spark presence every weekend throughout February. A 50" X 50" Spark Together for Healthy Kids Food Fun game will be located in the Great Hall of the Science Centre that everyone can participate in.

The Spark policy prioritization poll is still online and to date over 1400 people have participated. Please continue to encourage your partners and networks to participate and make their voice count. The online poll will close at the end of February and we will have the results of the poll to share with you shortly thereafter.

As a part of our ongoing Spark evaluation process we will be asking you, our partners to complete a partnership survey. In the next few weeks you will be receiving more detailed information by email. If you have any question, please feel free to contact me. [Karen Donaldson-Howden: Tel: 416 489 7111 ext. 496; Fax: 416-489-7003]

Again, we thank you for your continued support of Spark Together for Healthy Kids.

 

There’s still time to register for OPPI’s Feb. 18th webinar on “Planning By Design: A Healthy Communities Handbook”

PLANNING BY DESIGN: a healthy communities handbook is the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute. Approved by the Province and much anticipated by planners and other stakeholders across the province, this document is a must-read for anyone interested in creating and fostering healthy communities.

OPPI is hosting a webinar on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 from 10:00-11:30 am. Participate in the webinar and join your colleagues and professionals in planning and public health who want to create and foster healthy communities.

How does a webinar work? It is just like attending an in-person session except that you can watch the presentation in the comfort of your own office without having to travel to a meeting place. You will be able to ask presenters questions and know who the other attendees are in the session. This is a very effective learning tool and easy to use.

What do you need? A computer and a phone. If more than one of you are participating in, you will need a speaker phone. If there are many of you participating in one location, you may want to use a computer projector and a speaker system.

Cost: $25 per connection. In other words, you can have as many people around the computer and you only pay for one connection.

Please note: Participants should go to the webinar provider's website and register at least 30 minutes ahead of the webinar. (You will need to create a name and password so that you are a registered user. Just takes a few easy steps.) All registrations are through the webinar provider: Cullbridge Marketing and Communications. Please do not send any registrations to the OPPI office.

To register and for further information, please go to: http://www.ontarioplanners.on.ca/content/Events/eventsearch.aspx