Noting a gap in our community and listening to stories women shared with me during treatment sessions, I founded WECAN – a networking support group for Women Experiencing Cancer that I hold free of charge every other month at the clinic. I have additional training, experience and a passion for supporting women with breast cancer in their rehabilitation.
The women are so appreciative to have a safe space to talk about experiences, challenges, overcoming barriers, return to work, relationships, fears and to celebrate success! And the list goes on and on!
It is open to any woman who has experienced cancer – from just having been diagnosed, to during and after treatment and I even have some women years into remission.
I am proud to be able to provide this to our community.” – Kristen MacDonell
National Physiotherapy Month 2024, Ontario Physiotherapy Association members share the impact of physiotherapists’ scope of practice on their communities.
Jennifer Howey, PT:
“Movement is life and life is movement.” As physiotherapists, we are movement specialists, with the ability to diagnose and treat movement disorders and injury. Our scope of practice goes beyond the treatment room. It includes public education, injury prevention and promoting healthy activity throughout the spectrum of life. In today’s sedentary world, it is more important than ever to encourage movement with every generation.
At InsideOut Physiotherapy and Wellness Group, we found that Nordic Pole Walking (NPW) – walking with Nordic walking sticks- is fun, inexpensive, and people of any age or exercise ability can benefit. It can get us moving and keep us moving! NPW has been shown to help people rehabilitate post surgery, those with chronic conditions, diabetes, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s Disease and many more.
As a clinic, we have developed a significant NPW program with a great deal of community outreach. InsideOut has had a 6-year collaboration with the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association and University of Hong Kong Physiotherapy program. Two InsideOut physiotherapists went to Hong Kong and trained 25 physiotherapists to be instructors and started to support research within the University on NPW and its benefits with patients with Parkinson’s Disease. In Hong Kong, physiotherapists now get funding for NPW programs within their rehabilitation and community settings. We are currently advocating to get similar approval in Ontario.
As a physiotherapist, one of my proudest moments was when we had a group of clients enter as Nordic Pole walkers in the Scotiabank 5km walk. These clients would not have thought they were capable of doing an event like this! One of the participants had come to us using a scooter for full-time ambulation seven months earlier. She was completely deconditioned, having suffered years of low back pain and multiple chronic problems. We worked with her, using our physiotherapy treatment and home program that included NPW. Seven months later she was one of the participants completing in this 5 km walk, using the poles. She was so proud of her accomplishment she signed up for two more that year.
It is the impact we can have on the lives of others that motivate me as a physiotherapist and clinic owner. Happy National Physiotherapy Month!”
As a key partner, OPA received a letter from the Deputy Premier & Minister of Health and Dr. Jane Philpott as the Chair of the Primary Care Action Team. We were pleased to see the recognition that Primary Care Teams should be made up of family physicians or nurse practitioners along with nurses, physician assistants, social workers, physiotherapists and other health care professions.
It is vital that physiotherapists are included in primary care teams given their role in the assessment and management of physical conditions, supporting recovery from surgery or injury, living optimally with chronic conditions and with improving function in their homes and communities.
OPA believes very strongly in the importance of inter-professional care teams that can draw on the strengths, full scope and collaboration of the regulated health professions to ensure all Ontarians have access to comprehensive, excellent primary care. Expanding access to physiotherapy by physiotherapists through primary care teams will provide essential rehabilitative care.
Regardless of where they live or their ability to pay, it is essential that Ontarians have timely access to physiotherapists working to their full scope of practice to provide essential rehabilitative care across their life span.
For more information on OPA’s work and supports in primary care, please contact Amy Hondronicols.
OPA, in collaboration with the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario (CPO), provided an update to our long-standing Scope of Practice submission to the Ministry of Health. It was important to incorporate the voice of the profession through the Scope Survey and the almost 1100 responses received.
The Ministry team has received the update with a few minor questions in follow up and we look forward to our next meeting early in 2025. OPA took the opportunity to update Dr. Karima Velji, Chief of Nursing & Professional Practice and Assistant Deputy Minister for the Province of Ontario, with this information as well.
With the call for a provincial election and a date set for February 27, 2025, OPA recognizes the importance of the next four weeks in engaging candidates and prospective MPPs on the issues that matter. Watch Courtney Bean, OPA President, speak about the upcoming provincial election.
Polling data reinforces that health care and the state of our health system remains a priority for Ontarians. We know that this is a critical time to communicate the priorities of the physiotherapy profession with candidates so that we can continue to make progress and positive change. Ontarians face extraordinary barriers to needed care. This election we believe important issues must be tackled and responded to so that Ontarians have equitable, timely access to the essential services provided by physiotherapists, physiotherapy residents, and physiotherapist assistants.
Here are our four priorities that will contribute to building an effective Health Care system in Ontario:
1. INCREASE THE NUMBER OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS IN ONTARIO
Growing the number of physiotherapists in Ontario is critical to meet the increasing demands on our system for rehabilitation care in private practice, primary care, hospital care, long-term care and home and community care
2. ADD PHYSIOTHERAPISTS TO MORE INTERPROFESSIONAL CARE TEAMS
Expanding the investment in primary health care organizations by adding physiotherapists is necessary to ensure that all Ontarians have access to primary health care with integrated physiotherapy services. All Ontarians should have the essential healthcare they need, including care by physiotherapists to promote well-being and injury prevention, recover from surgery or injury, and live optimally with chronic conditions in their homes and communities
3. FINALIZE IMPLEMENTATION OF SCOPE OF PRACTICE
It has taken too long! We call on candidates to increase health system capacity and efficiency by finalizing the regulations needed for physiotherapists to practise to their full competencies, including ordering diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests. These include changes that were enabled by the Ontario Legislature in 2009 but have not been implemented by the Ministry of Health. Get it done.
4. RESOLVE PROGRAM AND COMPENSATION RELATED CHALLENGES
There is a need to implement policies and funding increases that support fair, equitable compensation and are comparable to increases in other disciplines of the healthcare workforce (e.g., nurses, mid-wives, physicians). Underfunding physiotherapy leads to service scarcity, long wait times, and poorer health outcomes for Ontarians in publicly funded and insurance-based programs. The inconsistent funding of physiotherapy services severely impacts recruitment and retention with many physiotherapists withdrawing services because of the lack financial viability to deliver.
It is essential that physiotherapists are accessible to Ontarians of all ages and abilities. To support the wellbeing and prosperity of the province, the sustainability of the physiotherapy profession is critical, and to reduce professional attrition, it is imperative that underfunded physiotherapy programs are improved administratively and fiscally, including (1) Community Physiotherapy Program (CPC) (2) Auto Insurance Programs including the Minor Injury Guideline (MIG) and Professional Services Guideline (PSG) and (3) Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) Programs of Care.
Join us in any way you can!
At OPA, we will continue to advocate for the priorities of our members and profession overall and have prepared a candidate brief that we hope will be of value in your discussions.
OPA, in collaboration with the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario (CPO), provided an update to our long-standing Scope of Practice submission to the Ministry of Health. It was important to incorporate the voice of the profession through the Scope Survey and the almost 1100 responses received.
The Ministry team has received the update with a few minor questions in follow up and we look forward to our next meeting early in 2025. OPA took the opportunity to update Dr. Karima Velji, Chief of Nursing & Professional Practice and Assistant Deputy Minister for the Province of Ontario, with this information as well.
OPA submitted comments to the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario on the most recently proposed standards:
Advertising and Marketing
Documentation (would replace Record Keeping)
Funding, Fees and Billing
OPA provided suggested ways to enhance clarity and comprehensiveness in each of the standards. There is also an opportunity in the Documentation Standard to include how the use of AI may impact record keeping, and any important considerations.
OPA submitted comments to the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario on the open consultation on four Standards:
Collaborative Care Standard
Conflict of Interest Standard
Dual Practice Standard (NEW)
Infection Prevention and Control Standard
This is the third set of consultations in the CPO’s process of adapting the revised Core Standards of Practice for Canadian Physiotherapists, developed in 2023 by the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators.
OPA provided feedback to the Ontario Health’s draft recommendation on Pelvic Floor Muscle Training for Stress Urinary Incontinence, Fecal Incontinence, and Pelvic Organ Prolapse.
OPA supports the recommendation for publicly funding pelvic floor muscle training for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. We commend Ontario Health for recognizing the evidence for this intervention, and how public access will help ensure that Ontarians have the rehabilitative care needed to improve their function, health, and quality of life.
In this submission, OPA highlights the following areas with further comments:
The role of physiotherapists
Equitable patient care: reducing stigma and increasing access
Additional considerations to support cost-effectiveness
Feasibility: how physiotherapists are currently prepared and equipped to act on this recommendation
Need for consultation
OPA is committed to supporting any outcomes from this recommendation through consultation with experts in pelvic health, research and system planning.
OPA submitted comments to the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario on the open consultation on two standards:
New standard, Evidence-Informed Practice
Revision to, Titles, Credentials, and Specialty Designations
This is the second set of consultations in the CPO’s process of adapting the revised Core Standards of Practice for Canadian Physiotherapists, developed in 2023 by the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators.
During National Physiotherapy Month in May, OPA joined CPA and physiotherapists to meet with federal MPs from Ontario ridings. These meetings have highlighted the benefits of full implementation of physiotherapy scope of practice, and how enabling physiotherapists to order diagnostic imaging and lab tests will improve care for the people of Ontario while reducing costs.
Some of the meetings to date:
Pam Damoff, MP Oakville-North Burlington
Peter Fragiskatos, MP London North Centre
Lindsay Mathyssen, MP London-Fanshawe
Anthony Rota, MP Nipissing-Timiskaming
Valerie Bradford, MP Kitchener South-Hespeler
OPA President, Courtney Bean, and OPA CEO, Sarah Hutchison, have followed up with Ontario’s Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones, and requested a meeting with her and the Deputy Minister, to discuss the outstanding regulations needed.
