Chronic Disease Prevention and Management

The 2nd Chronic Disease Prevention & Management (CDPM) Conference was held October 12, 2012

Multidisciplinary Approach to Managing Chronic Disease:

Advancing Chronic Disease Prevention & Management within the NE LHIN

What the conference did:

• Highlight innovative approaches, programs and tools.
• Provide skill building and knowledge transfer opportunities.
• Build a CDPM community in the NE LHIN through collaboration, partnerships, and knowledge exchange.

Who attended:

• All health care providers - physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, health educators, therapists, and others
• Public Health Units, CCAC
• Community organizations (CSS) & individuals committed to CDPM

Northeastern Ontario’s health profile shows a higher prevalence of chronic diseases including:

• arthritis/rheumatism - 24.0% vs.16.8%;
• asthma - 10.0% vs. 8.2%;
• high blood pressure - 23.% vs. 17.2%;
• hospitalizations due to heart conditions - 314 vs. 216 per 100,000 people.
• And, an alarming rate of people living with diabetes – at 7.2% vs. 6.4%; - in fact in some communities along the Hudson and James Bay Coast, more than half of some communities have people living with diabetes.

Factors compounding the prevalence of chronic disease in the NE LHIN region:

• 17% of people in our region are age 65 and over. This number is expected to increase to 30% in 20 years.  Chronic diseases are more prevalent in older population groups.
• The Statistics Canada 2010 Health Profile reports that there is a smaller proportion of NE LHIN residents who report their health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ compared to Ontarians overall.   The profile shows a higher prevalence of self-reported activity limitation in the NE LHIN compared to Ontario - 34.8% vs. 27.8% - and a higher proportion of people who report pain or discomfort preventing activities - 17.4% vs. 13.2%.

Next Steps:

• Creation of a NE LHIN CDPM Action Plan
• Follow-up CDPM Forum in the Spring

NEO Stroke Network

Part of the Ontario Stroke System since 2003, the Northeastern Ontario Stroke Network includes District Stroke Centres in North Bay, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie in addition to an Enhanced District Stroke Centre in Sudbury. These centres, along with their partners across the stroke care continuum (pre-hospital, emergency care, acute care, rehabilitation, community, stroke prevention and health promotion) are tasked with implementing best practice stroke care across the region.  The network is also responsible for operating the region’s four Stroke Prevention Clinics in addition to providing stroke clinical education to health care professionals across the North East.  Each year, approximately 1,100 patients are admitted to a hospital with a diagnosis of stroke in the North East. 

Information on the Northeastern Ontario Stroke Network can be found at: www.neostrokenetwork.com. 

For more information, please contact:

Erika Espinoza, Officer, Chronic Disease 

erika.espinoza@lhins.on.ca / 705-840-1579