Latest news with #OntarioMinistryofHealth
Cision Canada
6 days ago
- Business
- Cision Canada
ImageTrend Delivers Ontario-Compliant Dataset to Support EMS Compliance with Provincial Standards
EAGAN, Minn., June 4, 2025 /CNW/ -- ImageTrend, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for EMS, fire, and hospital services, is actively supporting EMS agencies across Ontario following the successful March 2025 delivery and implementation of the Ontario Ambulance Documentation Standards (OADS v4.0) dataset within its platform. EMS agencies can now apply the new standards in their day-to-day operations with the backing of ImageTrend's compliant technology and dedicated support teams. The updated standards, introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Health, define new requirements for how ambulance call reports are documented, submitted, and used to support data quality and performance improvement efforts. ImageTrend's platform was adapted to fully support the revised dataset, enabling agencies to maintain compliance while enhancing documentation workflows. ImageTrend worked closely with Ontario EMS agencies to prepare for the transition and ensure their systems were fully aligned with the new standards. Agencies currently using the ImageTrend platform are now implementing the updated dataset with support from ImageTrend's technical and client services teams. "We worked closely with our partners in Ontario to ensure they had what they needed to meet the province's documentation requirements without disruption," said Patrick Sheahan, President and CEO of ImageTrend. "We're now focused on helping agencies apply these standards effectively, with tools and support that strengthen documentation workflows and improve patient care." This milestone reflects ImageTrend's ongoing commitment to the Canadian EMS community and its ability to support agencies through evolving regulatory changes with scalable, user-centered technology. To learn more about the ImageTrend platform, visit About ImageTrend ImageTrend transforms incident data into actionable intelligence, empowering frontline teams to effectively manage surging demands and resource constraints, driving impactful change in the communities it supports. Founded in 1998, the company serves more than 3,100 customers, including 20,000 agencies across Fire, Emergency Medical Services, and Hospital segments. With its deep industry knowledge and advanced data analytics capabilities, the software provider helps its customers streamline operations, shape long-term strategies, and dramatically improve outcomes. Its comprehensive software solutions and dedicated team provide the confidence and intelligence first providers need to tackle today's challenges and prepare for tomorrow's uncertainties.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
ImageTrend Delivers Ontario-Compliant Dataset to Support EMS Compliance with Provincial Standards
EAGAN, Minn., June 4, 2025 /CNW/ -- ImageTrend, a leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for EMS, fire, and hospital services, is actively supporting EMS agencies across Ontario following the successful March 2025 delivery and implementation of the Ontario Ambulance Documentation Standards (OADS v4.0) dataset within its platform. EMS agencies can now apply the new standards in their day-to-day operations with the backing of ImageTrend's compliant technology and dedicated support teams. The updated standards, introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Health, define new requirements for how ambulance call reports are documented, submitted, and used to support data quality and performance improvement efforts. ImageTrend's platform was adapted to fully support the revised dataset, enabling agencies to maintain compliance while enhancing documentation workflows. ImageTrend worked closely with Ontario EMS agencies to prepare for the transition and ensure their systems were fully aligned with the new standards. Agencies currently using the ImageTrend platform are now implementing the updated dataset with support from ImageTrend's technical and client services teams. 'We worked closely with our partners in Ontario to ensure they had what they needed to meet the province's documentation requirements without disruption,' said Patrick Sheahan, President and CEO of ImageTrend. 'We're now focused on helping agencies apply these standards effectively, with tools and support that strengthen documentation workflows and improve patient care.' This milestone reflects ImageTrend's ongoing commitment to the Canadian EMS community and its ability to support agencies through evolving regulatory changes with scalable, user-centered technology. To learn more about the ImageTrend platform, visit About ImageTrend ImageTrend transforms incident data into actionable intelligence, empowering frontline teams to effectively manage surging demands and resource constraints, driving impactful change in the communities it supports. Founded in 1998, the company serves more than 3,100 customers, including 20,000 agencies across Fire, Emergency Medical Services, and Hospital segments. With its deep industry knowledge and advanced data analytics capabilities, the software provider helps its customers streamline operations, shape long-term strategies, and dramatically improve outcomes. Its comprehensive software solutions and dedicated team provide the confidence and intelligence first providers need to tackle today's challenges and prepare for tomorrow's uncertainties. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE ImageTrend LLC
New York Times
17-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Measles Outbreaks in Canada and Mexico Bring Grim Prognosis
As the United States struggles to contain a resurgence of measles that has swept through swaths of the Southwest, neighboring countries are responding to their own outbreaks. Canada has reported more than 730 cases this year, making this one of the worst measles outbreaks in the country since it declared the virus 'eliminated' in 1998. Mexico has seen at least 360 measles cases and one death, most of them in the northern state of Chihuahua, according to Mexican health authorities. Many of the communities grappling with measles have large Mennonite populations that public health officials have linked to outbreaks. The multinational resurgence has concerned epidemiologists, who fear that simultaneous outbreaks near the U.S. border will make it more difficult to contain the virus. 'It's just a line on the map that separates them — we share air, we share space,' said Lisa Lee, an epidemiologist at Virginia Tech. Falling vaccination rates have left the United States more vulnerable to the highly contagious virus, she added. 'If we don't have a buffer or herd immunity to keep the virus out,' she said, 'we will be at risk as long as any of our neighbors are at risk.' The outbreak in the Southwest shows no signs of slowing. Since late January, the virus has sickened more than 560 people in Texas, 63 people in neighboring New Mexico, and a dozen people in Oklahoma. More than 30 cases have been reported in Kansas, which public health officials believe may be linked to the Texas outbreak. Alarmed, officials in several states have issued warnings to their residents. The governor of Nebraska released a measles response plan though the state hasn't yet reported any cases. New York State officials earlier this month issued a travel advisory about trips to Ontario and several U.S. states, warning that measles is 'only a car ride away.' The virus has spread so widely in North America this year that the Pan American Health Organization published an alert in late February, warning that the region's elimination status was at risk if nations did not strengthen their vaccination and outbreak response efforts. A risk assessment by the organization concluded that measles posed a 'high' risk to public health in the Americas. The outbreak in Canada, which began in late 2024, has been 'disproportionately affecting' people from Anabaptist communities, including Mennonite and Amish people, and can be traced back to a large Mennonite gathering people in the fall, according to the Ontario Ministry of Health. The largest outbreak in the United States began in a Mennonite community on the western edge of Texas. Areas with smaller outbreaks, like Oklahoma and Southwest Kansas, also have sizable Mennonite communities, according to Steven Nolt, who studies Mennonite and Amish groups at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. There is no religious doctrine in the Mennonite faith that bars vaccination; however, many in the community avoid interacting with the medical system and adhere to a long tradition of natural remedies. Highly contagious viruses, like measles, take root in close-knit, undervaccinated communities. In 2019, measles spread through a large Orthodox Jewish population in what became the largest outbreak in recent U.S. history. Even if the virus doesn't break into the broader community, measles can infect hundreds by hopping between pockets of vulnerable people. Outbreaks have the potential to spread over country borders and hundreds of miles if the virus finds a network of unvaccinated communities. That appears to be part of the story in the current measles resurgence. The virus was first brought into a Mennonite community in Chihuahua by a 9-year-old boy who visited Texas with his family, according to Rodolfo Cortés, a spokesman with the state's health ministry. Mennonite groups across North America are extremely interconnected, Dr. Nolt said. While he's unaware of large, organized gatherings between the groups, he said that Mennonites will often cross borders to visit extended family. While no firm link has been established to the Canadian cases, the same virus type has been detected in all three countries, according to data presented this week at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meeting. Measles cases have not been confined to Mennonite communities, however. More than half of U.S. states have reported at least one case this year, and there have been outbreaks in Ohio and Indiana with no known connections to other outbreaks. In a public meeting Tuesday, David Sugerman, a C.D.C. senior scientist, said recent threats to local public health funding meant the agency was now 'scraping to find the resources' to support Texas and other states grappling with outbreaks. On average, each measles case costs between $30,000 and $50,000 in public health response work, he said. While there have for decades been insular, undervaccinated communities, Dr. Lee said the people surrounding those groups have generally had high immunization rates. But in recent years, national childhood vaccination rates have fallen. 'That ring around those groups are not protected.' she said. 'And so there is, for lack of better words, leakage out into communities.'
CBC
14-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Sudbury midwife survives brain tumour, but is now shut out of the profession
Social Sharing About a decade ago, Krysta Moland decided to become a midwife after giving birth to her own daughter and seeing how the profession helps empower women. She was loving her work with Sudbury Community Midwives, helping dozens of people every year through their pregnancies, until she got diagnosed with a congenital tumour in 2019. The condition has a 30 per cent mortality rate, so Moland was rushed off to Toronto for an emergency surgery that left her with an acquired brain injury. "When your brain touches the air, you're never quite the same," she said. Months of rehabilitation later, Moland was ready to return to work as a midwife, but she could no longer work extended hours or night shifts on call, and needed to be supervised during deliveries. Sudbury Community Midwives did not renew Moland's contract. Because they are the only employer of non-Indigenous midwives in the city, Moland says she effectively has no other potential employer to turn to. She is suing the Sudbury practice for wrongful termination, and says the case raises issues of human rights because the employer was not willing to accommodate her disability. In court documents, Sudbury Community Midwives deny any wrongdoing. They argue they had no obligation to renew Moland's contract or provide alternate work arrangements, because Moland was hired to work as an independent contractor. Moland says she would love to reintegrate the profession. She says even if she can no longer do births and be on call, she could provide prenatal and postpartum care. "My midwifery could look a little different," said Moland. "I could take on women that need C-sections, for example. I know it's not ideal, it's not what we normally do, but it would be a way for me to work and offer pregnant people care." Ministry pays midwives for entire course of care that includes birth Still in court documents, Sudbury Community Midwives explain that they can only bill the Ontario Ministry of Health for a full course of care, which includes an attendance at birth. They say meetings to find alternate work arrangements for Moland were unsuccessful. "[Moland] was not able to explain how her ideas would benefit the practice or how the transfer payment agency could be billed to support any of these ideas," they write. They add that they invited Moland to write a proposal to obtain additional funding to cover her services but she did not take them up on the offer. Moland worries no midwifery practice in Ontario will be able to accommodate her disability. "No one wants to accommodate somebody they do not know, right?" she said. Liz Darling, assistant dean of the Midwifery program at McMaster University, says the billing system with the province offers little flexibility for midwives, but that it doesn't have to be that way. "In BC and Alberta, midwives can bill for care directly to the Ministry rather than having to work in a practice group," she explained. "Those billings can be separated down into smaller pieces of care." She says it's not exactly a fee for service, but it does allow for more flexibility. "There is a lot of discussion within the profession here in Ontario to explore other mechanisms to pay midwives to make use of the skills we have," said Darling. "There are lots of gaps and needs within the system where midwives could be making a difference… but funding can be a barrier." She explains that if a midwifery group was to accommodate someone with a disability by letting them do the prenatal and postpartum care, they would need to find an employee that has inverse needs, and can only be on call for deliveries. "If we had options for people to actually be compensated for their work, midwives who aren't able to do everything could still do a lot of valuable work without it meaning that somebody else has to be doing more births." The case involving Moland and Sudbury Community Midwives is set to head to trial.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Windsor getting new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub
Windsor will be getting a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub, according to a news release issued Monday by the Ontario Ministry of Health. The hub will be operated by Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. More to come.
