This project seeks to understand the decisions people are making every day about how to structure their day, use their time, look after themselves and those they love, and how to act in the best interests of the population. Crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic exert a double jeopardy on vulnerable populations, often having multiplicative rather than simply additive effects. … Read more »
Between December 2020 and April 2021, 459 Canadians with disabilities participated in a survey about their willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when the opportunity arose. This was part of a larger survey on the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people in Canada. In this sample, 73% said a definite “yes” to vaccination, 7% a definite “no”, and 20% were… Read more »
The Canada Health Act, a framework to the Canadian Health System, covers medically necessary hospital, physician and limited long-term services but not prescription medications (Dewa, Hotch, & Steele, 2005). Countries similar to Canada in terms of the economy like Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have universal coverage of prescription medications while Canada does not… Read more »
As Canada considers national pharma-care, Dr. Shikha Gupta has recently highlighted the special situation of people with disabilities regarding the cost of prescription drugs. Using a national sample of 160 people with spinal cord injuries, she has shown that despite having insurance for prescriptions drugs, out-of-pocket costs, like co-payments, dispensing fees and deductibles, are 5x higher than the national average. … Read more »
As a result of a number of inquiries about this topic, we have developed a response to the question of whether or not medical documentation should be necessary in order to substantiate a claim for disability-related accommodations or compensation. There is considerable controversy about the need for medical documentation when providing benefits or resources. Some say it is essential —… Read more »
As Canada considers national pharma-care policy, people with disabilities represent a special population whose needs must be accounted for. People with disabilities are among the most economically disadvantaged in Canadian society, and often medication costs represent a further burden. Shikha Gupta, a doctoral student working with the CDPA, has recently received funding from the Mark S. Lodge Fund to conduct… Read more »
Recent data from the College of Family Physicians of Canada (2010) shows that only 17.5% of family practices are open to new patients. Given the acknowledged shortage of family physicians in all jurisdictions, the CDPA’s third accessibility initiative was a study that investigated whether patients with disabilities had greater difficulties finding a family physician in Ontario. Primary care is especially important for… Read more »
An example of the Learning Collaborative methodology in action was the CDPA’s Health services team’s initiative to enhance accessibility in Ontario’s Family Health Teams. Working with our partners at Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, we reached out to 186 Family Health Teams and 25 Nurse Practitioner-led clinics to ensure that they were meeting their obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with… Read more »
In December 2012, Dr. Mary Ann McColl presented on the principal lessons learned about knowledge translation for disability research from her work with the CDPA and the Actionable Nuggets project. This presentation outlined the definition of key terms such as knowledge translation, mobilization, exchange, and brokerage. Goals such as knowledge creation, selection, and products were also identified and discussed. Knowledege… Read more »
Afghanistan has seen more Canadians affected by military service-related injuries and illnesses than any time since the Korean War, yet Canada still lags behind its allies in research on military, veteran and family health. As our military personnel return from Afghanistan, there is an urgent need to understand military and veteran health. This project involves a scoping review of the… Read more »
