February 2022
CAPA MEMBERSHIP: WE’RE HERE FOR YOU
The past year has brought forward many challenges and we know that you have been working tirelessly to help get us through the pandemic. We thank you for your dedication and we want you to know that we’re here for you.
As April 1st is fast approaching, it is now time to renew your membership for the 2022-2023 membership year. Those who renewed before February 28th were entered into an early bird draw to win a subscription to EM: Rap, a monthly emergency medicine audio series full of CPD and the latest reviews and perspectives. The lucky winner is Riley Wieschkowski. Congratulations!
ADVOCACY NEWS
National
Meetings with Members of Parliament
Before the holidays, CAPA met with Member of Parliament (MP), Jaime Battiste (Sydney-Victoria, NS riding) and MP Marcus Powlowski (Thunder Bay-Rainy River, ON riding), who were looking to get an understanding of the PA role, why the profession is underutilized in parts of the country, and how the federal government could facilitate bringing PAs to provinces where they currently do not operate.
Since the initial meeting, CAPA has remained in communication with MP Battiste’s office who helped co-ordinate a Q&A for Atlantic MPs. Nova Scotia, where Erin Sephton our Alternate Director in Nova Scotia as well as Kristy Corrente, CAPA’s Manager of Advocacy and Stakeholder Relations – East presented on why Canada Needs PAs. In attendance were Darren Fisher, Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors in NS, as well as Lena Metlage Diab. The MPs were supportive of the profession and a large part of the discussion focused on the need for more PA programs to ensure the supply of PAs can meet the demands. As a follow-up, MP Battiste’s office is circulating to all-Atlantic MPs, a one-page brief on the profession that CAPA prepared.
As a next step, CAPA is planning a national virtual lobby week to take place in April 2022. MP Battiste’s office will be helping to promote the campaign.
British Columbia
Introducing PAs into BC received media attention in February through this article, which was picked up by several news outlets across the country. Regretfully, the Government of BC is quoted in the article stating that introducing PAs is not a priority. The article has gained the attention of the Leader of the Official Opposition and Health Critic, MLA Shirley Bond, who has reached out to CAPA to discuss PAs. CAPA will be advocating for the BC Liberals to include introducing PAs into their future election platform.
Alberta
Thank you to all the Alberta PAs who attended the town hall with Dr. Neil Gibson, to discuss the AHS compensation review. If you were not able to attend the session, you can view the recording here.
Dr. Gibson, works with Alberta Health Services as an Associate Zone Medical Director in the Edmonton Zone with responsibility for Acute Care Coverage and Faculty Liaison. Dr. Gibson also influenced the adoption and regulation of Physician Assistants within the province.
To recap the session, Dr. Gibson explained how the review of frozen salaries by AHS will be happening over a longer period than initially expected. CAPA is working closely with the AHS to ensure PA perspectives are being considered in these consultations.
CAPA will be meeting with the Alberta College of Pharmacists in March to discuss expanding prescribing ability for PAs. Stay tuned for more information on this in future news bulletins.
Manitoba
Steve Hall, Director Manitoba, has led the creation of a working group of 13 Manitoba PAs. This working group has been created to address the job creation process and funding models, with upcoming meetings with WRHA, Shared Health, PCAM, and MB health.
One of the goals in Manitoba is to raise public awareness. If you are interested in writing articles or letters to the editor, please contact Steve Hall shall@capa-acam.ca.
Staff and board members have been reaching out to the Government of Manitoba as well as sector stakeholders to arrange meetings to discuss furthering PAs in the province. Recently, we have met with Doctors Manitoba who reaffirmed their broad support for PAs. We look forward to meeting with Government to advocate for more funding for PAs in Manitoba.
Ontario
Dedicated Offload Nursing Program
The Ministry recently released a memo notifying of changes to the Dedicated Offload Nursing Program (DONP). CAPA advocated to the Ministry and DONP funding can now be used to hire PAs as well. CAPA met with the Ministry to discuss the changes and to advise that PAs can do more than just offload patients as they can assess, diagnose and treat patients getting them out the door more quickly. A letter was sent to all eligible hospitals encouraging them to use DONP funding to hire PAs and allowing them to practice to their full scope. A few hospitals have responded favourably to the letter and CAPA is in the process of meeting with them to discuss next steps. To see the full letter, please visit the CAPA website.
PA SURVEY FOR STUDENT PROJECT
A Manitoba PA student is doing their capstone project on the topic of assessing Physician Assistant attitudes towards trauma-informed care and has requested that CAPA send a survey out to Canadian PAs. If you would like to participate, please fill out this survey. More information about the survey can be found here.
CAPA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
CAPA 2022 is scheduled to take place November 10th – 13th in Quebec City and will be a hybrid event. Therefore, should you not be able to attend, there will be an option to participate virtually. The call for speakers is now available. Abstracts must be received by April 18th, 2022.
Honour and Remember
As part of the CAPA 2022 conference, a Remembrance Day ceremony will be held on Friday November 11, 2022, at 11:00. Details to follow in future News Bulletins and in the CAPA 2022 Program.
PAs IN THE NEWS
If you see members recognized within your workplace or in your community, let us know so we can spread the good news. And if you see local health care headlines and believe there is an opportunity to highlight PA contributions or follow up with a letter to the editor, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at admin@capa-acam.ca.
JOB LISTINGS
Visit the Job Listings in the members only section of the CAPA website for the latest career opportunities in family medicine, nephrology, and mental health.
If you have job ads to share, send them to us at admin@capa-acam.ca. We post job ads for free on the Job Listings page and, for a small fee we email job opportunities to all our members.
MEMBER BENEFITS
Tax season is upon us. Did you know that you receive a 20% discount with Liberty Tax Services?
Did you miss out on the early bird draw but are interested in the EM: Rap subscription? Not to worry, CAPA members receive a 10% discount.
For more information and a complete list of member benefits, visit the Members Only section of the CAPA website.
CPD EVENTS
Don’t forget to check out the CPD Events Calendar on the CAPA website where you’ll find upcoming events to help you meet your maintenance of competencies or maintenance of certification requirements. Many organizations share their educational events on our calendar such as the upcoming Physician Assistants for Global Health – 2022 Virtual Conference on March 31 and the Spring Dermatology Review Virtual Series with UBC on April 5.