Leading health economist Bob Evans famously coined the phrase ‘zombies’ to refer to ideas that have been solidly and repeatedly refuted by scientific evidence, but keep coming back – usually promoted by powerful professional or commercial interests.
Why Hospitals Need to Build Health Equity In
I was speaking to a hospital board member about the challenges of hospitals building health equity into their planning and service delivery. Some hospitals have shown significant leadership in prioritizing health equity and identifying ways their services can address health disparities and access barriers; others less so. I think there are five key arguments to […]
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“Get Real: ” For-Profit Care is the Wrong Prescription
Karen Selick of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, who are challenging the Ontario government for its “monopoly” health system in court, advises us to “get real” about profit and health care delivery in a Globe and Mail article. Of course, part of getting real may be recognizing that it was precisely the unbridled drive for profit […]
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Implementing Mental Health Equity in Hospitals
Mental health is a crucial part of health and health equity. I presented to Grand Rounds Psychiatry at a Toronto academic hospital on how to build equity into planning and delivering high-quality psychiatric treatment.
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Markham, Richmond Hill need new community health centre to tackle health inequities
The Wellesley Institute’s Michael Shapcott joined hundreds of community leaders at a forum at Markham Civic Centre on August 11 to support a new community health centre for Markham and Richmond Hill sponsored by the Social Services Network and the Association of Ontario Health Centres. The principal focus of our work at the Wellesley Institute […]
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Wellesley Institute Forum on Health Equity
with special guest Cory Neudorf Tackling Health Inequities: Lessons Learned from A Leading Health Region Cory Neudorf, Chief Medical Health Officer for Saskatoon Health Region, will be making a special lecture and leading a discussion on addressing health inequities at a local community level. Saskatoon has led the way in Canada in sophisticated research […]
Should social assistance help you to scrape by, or to get a good job?
Social assistance is about more than just providing enough money for people to survive. Social assistance should also work to ensure wider opportunities for people to find employment or pursue further training or education. Investing in individuals – from early childhood through high school, to college or university, and work training and experience – creates […]
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When do we talk about health? Ontario’s option paper needs to build a stronger vision of a health-enabling social assistance system
Today the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance in Ontario released its much anticipated options paper. The paper sets out some interesting ideas and poses some challenging questions that will help to shape the debate around social assistance in the coming months. In our submission to the Commission, we started by arguing that the […]
Equity Dialogues: Equity in Decision-Making and Service Delivery
Equity and population health are among the fundamental principles enshrined in Ontario’s Excellent Care for All Act, and equity has become broadly accepted as a key health system/provider goal. But how can we drive implementation? How do we ensure that equity is embedded within system/organizational planning processes, performance management, deliverables and incentives. Further, how do we […]
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Public Health is a Key Driver for Health Equity
Public health have long been leaders in advancing health equity: whether developing comprehensive equity strategies, conducting local research on the roots of health inequities, providing innovative programs and support to health disadvantaged populations, working in broad collaborations to create and sustain the social and infrastructural foundations of healthy communities, or creative initiatives to shift the […]
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