Ontario Concussion Prevention Network
(OCPN) Minutes
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Time: 2:00 – 4:00pm
Location: Teleconference
CHAIR: Silvana Farrace-Perry, York Region
RECORDER: Amber Schieck, Grey Bruce Health Unit
Participants: Silvana Farrace-Perry, Loretta Bernard, Eva Jasansky, Cindy O'Keefe, Theresa Ko-Cheung,
Janis Harvey, Amber Schieck, Cindy Gignac, Colleen Cooper, Lorna Boratto, Stephanie Cowle, Lisa Clark,
Heather Quance, Anna Bera, Krista Skutovich, Karin Marks, Lorraine Gravelle, Tara MacDaniel, Meagan
Melling, David Amot, Yemisi Aladesua, Todd Bright, Muriel Rounthwaite, Katie Muirhead, Sunitha Ravi
Kumar, Brenda Soper Manning, Kelly Wilson, Paula Waddell, Tina Skjonsby-Mckinnon, Brandy
Tanenbaum, Pat Cliche, Glenna Rogers, Sharon, Josee Bisson, Marita Campbell
Regrets: Zsuzsi Trim, Jacqui Candlish, Janine Monahan, Marie-Josee Boulerice, Jennifer Robertson, Sue
McMahon, Marylou Albanese, Rosemarie Vandenbrink
Absent: Amber Ghosh; Carolyn Jones, Cindy Kirkpatrick, Dr. Michelle Keightley, Joanne Hegazi, Joelle
Aubin, Kellie Flynn, Lara Paterson, Laura Dekroon, Marty Paul, Mia Brown, Michele Crowley, Nicole
Stone, Paula Mattie, Robyn Hurtubise, Sandy Kambouris, Sarah Kozinski, Sheryl Farrar, Steve Soroko,
Tawnya Boileau, Velma Hansford, Ashleigh Atkinson
1
Welcome
Silvana welcomed everyone to the call and provided an update that former chair Tracy has
had a baby boy. Congratulations Tracy!
2
Guest
Speaker
Katie Muirhead, Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA) shared a presentation on the
OBIA. Katie Muirhead is the Advocacy Specialist with the Ontario Brain Injury Association.
Her educational background is in Psychology and Linguistics and brings over 10 years of
experience to her current position. Katie has experience working with diverse populations
including developmental, mental health and ABI service sectors in different capacities
across the lifespan. She brings experience to the position from previous employment as a
behaviour therapist, rehabilitation therapist, and instructor therapist and strives to raise
awareness about ABI through education and information sharing opportunities and
presentations. Within her role at OBIA, she sits on several provincial committees including
the Ontario Caregiver Coalition, and is the current co-chair of the Provincial Parent
Association Advisory Committee on Special Education Advisory Committees.
Katie will stay on as a member of this group.
3
Roll call was taken. Welcome our new members: Katie Muirhead-OBIA, Brandy
Tanenbaum-Sunnybrook First Office for Injury Prevention & Play Safe Initiative, Stephanie
Attendanc
e and
Recording
of Minutes
Cowle-OIPRC, Ashleigh Atkinson-Windsor Essex Public Health, Sunitha Ravi KumarParachute.
4
Agenda accepted as distributed
Chatham-Kent, Elgin St. Thomas Public Health, Eastern Ontario Health Unit were not
available on the call. Based on alphabetical order of health units, Amber Schieck, Grey
Bruce Health Unit agreed to record the minutes for today’s meeting. Thank you to Amber.
Additions
to Agenda
5
Review of
Previous
Minutes
December 2nd Minutes approved. Thanks to David from Durham Region for taking
minutes.
As a follow up from the last meeting, a working group (Loretta, Silvana, Jacqueline Quirk
Concussion and Pamela Fuselli, Parachute, Stephanie Cowle, OIPRC and Brandy Tanenbaum,
Awareness Sunnybrook) had a teleconference to discuss how the CATT could be adapted for Ontario.
Training
Pamela met with Dr. Babul to obtain permission and work on developing co-branding of
Tool
resources for Ontario. Stephanie from OIPRC shared that the downloadable CATT
(CATT) in
resources have now been co-branded and are now available on the OIPRC website:
Ontario
(http://www.oninjuryresources.ca/publications/item/catt ). A new educators toolkit will be
released in the spring of this year and OIPRC will work with BC Injury Prevention and local
stakeholders to see how it can be adapted to fit the Ontario context.
6
7
Communic
ation with
physicians
re: PPM
158
Using IP Chat-Hamilton Public Health-Zsuzi Trim was wondering if there had been any
outreach to physicians regarding PPM 158. They were getting early feedback from board
reps there are some problems with getting physician support for subsequent follow ups
with their concussed patients with regards to return to learn/activity.
Todd Bright, Ministry of Education provided an update that his contact at MOHLTC
confirmed that a memo has not been sent to physicians; however MOHLTC is aware of this
issue and plans to work on it in the future.
Some health units have begun doing their own outreach:

London Middlesex created a newsletter insert that is intended for physician
outreach. It will be sent to over 400 healthcare professionals in the area.
New legislation
newsletter insert.pdf

Grey Bruce has sent a letter from the MOH to healthcare providers.
Grey Bruce Letter
Health Professionals Re Concussions.pdf

Kingston has put together Healthy Directions newsletter articles:
(February 2014 – General concussions)
http://www.kflapublichealth.ca/files/campaign/Healthy_Directions/2014_Februar
y_Healthy_Directions_Newsletter.pdf
(April 2015 newsletter – focused on PPM 158)
http://www.kflapublichealth.ca/files/campaign/Healthy_Directions/2015_April_H
ealthy_Directions.pdf
Kingston has also organized an educational evening for healthcare providers and a
briefing note was sent from the MOH.


8
Ministry of
Education
update
Brenda from Halton shared that their MOH did a joint webinar with the school
board for parents. The webinar was well received and they are considering
offering a similar webinar for physicians.
As a reminder to the group, Stephanie shared that Hamilton has put together a
pediatric concussion algorithm for physicians and it is available on the OIPRC
website: http://www.oninjuryresources.ca/publications/item/concussion-algorithm .
Information for adapting the tool with local information is there as well.
Todd provided an update for the group. The date for school boards to have a policy in
place was January 31. Implementation will be ongoing.
There is currently a coroner’s inquest underway in the Ottawa area following a death after
multiple concussions. http://news.ontario.ca/mcscs/en/2015/03/inquest-date-into-thedeath-of-rowan-kerry-stringer-announced.html
Todd has met with Early Years to share work on concussions so they are up to date.
Todd suggested that members consider Parents Reaching Out (PRO) grants as an
opportunity to build capacity with parents around the issue of concussion.
(http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/parents/reaching.HTML)
The Ministry of Education is currently looking to the future and what the next stage of
support from the ministry will be in supporting the concussion policies.
The group was reminded of the upcoming Niagara District School Board Concussion
Summit in April.
9
Muriel provided an update that the concussion webinar was launched yesterday. It
OPHEA
Update
focuses on the Ontario Physical Education Safety Guidelines, which is the minimum
standard for school board policies. Anyone can access the powerpoint. It can be
downloaded and modified as needed to fit the local board’s policy. It could be used in a
staff training day.
Ophea’s Concussion Training Webinar launched on March 30th. This free webinar
(available in English and French), for elementary and secondary teachers, coaches,
intramural supervisors and school staff addresses the critical components of Prevention,
Identification and Management of a Diagnosed Concussion – Return to Learn, Return to
Physical Activity. The content of the presentation focuses on the minimum standards as
outlined in the Ontario Physical Education Safety Guidelines Concussion Protocol
For those boards that have localized their concussion protocol and/or forms, the
presentation can be used as a template to customize as per board protocol and
implementation tools.
Recognizing that some audiences will require more in-depth training, the webinar has
been developed with flexible viewing options for boards.
To access English Version: http://safety.ophea.net/professional-learning
To access French Version: http://safety.ophea.net/fr/perfectionnement-professionnel
OPHEA will be delivering a workshop at the Niagara concussion summit. They have asked
boards about their implementation strategies and challenges. If you would like to share
your work with others across the province, please email Muriel
10
Local school boards – policy progress, next steps
Local
School
Boards
Silvana asked the group about monitoring and evaluation of the school concussion
policies. The Ministry of Education is interested in hearing from the field.
11
OIPRC Injury Prevention Managers & Network Chairs In-Person Meeting, Feb. 24th, 2015
OIPRC
Injury
Prevention
Managers
Meeting
Silvana represented OCPN at this meeting and provided an update on what OCPN has
been doing as a network and how public health has been involved in the role of
concussion prevention & management. Injury Prevention managers recognize the
importance we have to play in the concussion field and expressed support for many
initiatives in this area including physician outreach, recreation, and policy. This is
evidenced by the tremendous participation we have at this network.
12
Eva Jasansky from York provided an update from the RRFSS concussion working group.
York Region has been the lead health unit involved in the development of 2 concussion
modules working with their epidemiologist Bill Kou. Shortly after the last OCPN meeting,
RRFSS
update
the RRFSS concussion work group (five health units: York Region, Durham, Niagara,
Chatham-Kent and London-Middlesex) finalized the module questions and responses for
the two modules. In early 2015 the ISR group (the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at
York University) pre-tested the general population concussion modules among 20 adults
(14 females and 5 males). Of the 20 respondents, 5 of them had children between 5 and
17, so they were also able to test the parents of children and youth module. The pre-test
went very smoothly, and there were no issues reported by interviewers or respondents.
ISR’s only suggestion was regarding the question related to symptoms. Sixty-five percent
of people mentioned 'other' symptoms that were not on the initial list. Their suggestion
was to add some the common “other” answers to the list. Five additional signs and
symptoms (vision loss/blurred vision; dizzy/light headed; speech problems/slurred speech;
sleepy/tired; passing out/not conscious) were added to the list and resubmitted to the
RRFSS coordinator for the May data collection.
The final modules are attached below. If any other health units are interested in
implementing either/both modules, they should connect with their epidemiologist to
make the request.
Here are the Concussions General and Parents Data Dictionaries & User Friendly
Questionnaires:
Concussion General Concussion General Concussion, Parents Concussion, Parents
Population - Moudle 1_UFQ.DOCX
Population - Moudle 1_DD.DOCX
Of Children & Youth - Moudle
Of Children
2_DD.DOCX
& Youth - Module 2_UFQ.DOCX
13
Educationa
l
Opportunit
ies
o
o
3rd Annual International Concussion Summit in Niagara – April 23rd and 24th
Dr. Tator, Brock University, Monday, May 4th 7-9pm
LDRC-Speaker_Serie
s-Charles_Tator-May_2015.pdf
o
See the Line - August 12, 2015, London
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Continuing Medical Education (CME) Session - bringing
together physicians and leading experts, this concussion session is perfect for
physicians, residents, medical students and Allied Health Professionals.
Registration fees apply for the CME, excluding residents and medical students.
1:00 – 4:30 p.m. | See the Line Symposium - community lecture featuring the
latest concussion research and insight from world-class medical experts and
professional athletes.
*New morning event* | Concussion Education Workshop - presented by the
Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic and focusing on sport concussion
identification, acute management and OPHEA guidelines.
See the Line will be hosted at a new location this year: Natural Sciences Centre,
Western University. View a campus map.
Stay tuned for more information or email comms@schulich.uwo.ca.
o
o
Katie shared with the group that the Ministry of Education is hosting a Special
Education advisory group conference. Katie will be attending. This network could
consider sending a resource or information along. Silvana and Katie will discuss.
Silvana was invited to participate in One Voice in June. This is an international
symposium on pediatric concussion with the goal of establishing consensus and
building an action plan. Silvana will provide input from Public Health and the OCPN
perspective. She will provide updates on this initiative at upcoming meetings.
 International Symposium on Pediatric Concussion entitled "One
Voice". This symposium will provide a forum for international
leaders in pediatric concussion to: (1) Share Knowledge, (2) Build
Consensus, (3) Mobilize Information, (4) Establish an Action Plan.
THE GOAL: Upon completion of the symposium, develop consensus
in pediatric concussion, and build an international, multistakeholder action plan to help kids with concussion do the things
they want, need, and love to do.
The process involves a delivery of knowledge sharing webinars and
we (OCPN & Public Health) have been selected to provide a short
webinar on our current role in supporting concussion management
happening in May to set the stage.
THE ATTENDEES: 60 individuals from various stakeholder groups will be
invited to attend the symposium based on their outstanding dedication
and contributions to pediatric concussion. These stakeholder groups
include clinicians, researchers, educators, sports organizations, policy
makers, youth and parents.
THE FOCUS QUESTION: In the next 3-5 years what do we need to do to
help children with concussion do the things they want, need and love to
do?
The Symposium Event, June 3, 4: The two-day symposium will utilize
facilitated workshops and consensus building activities in order to
generate an action plan to better meet the needs of children, youth and
their families specific to concussion. The goal of the event is to build
capacity, facilitate decisions and work toward consensus. We will draw on
various innovative facilitation methods that will allow us to facilitate
consensus and weave diverse perspectives into a common plan.
14
York Region - Silvana Farrace-Perry and Cindy O’Keefe
Update
from
Members
School Board Presentations – PPM158



With the launch of the PPM 158 we have co-presented with Curriculum
Consultants from both school boards. The York Catholic presentation was to
Superintendents and Administrators and the Public Board audience was the
Secondary School Physical Education Heads.
Their polices and forms are now on both school board web sites
Will continue with our education support piece and follow up with both
Curriculum Consultants in the Fall
Student Concussion Education




As a result of the PPM launch we have received a number of requests from both
Administrators and teachers for concussion education for their students.
Continue to do Concussion Workshops for grades 4-8 and include information in
bike safety presentations to grades 1-3
Have developed a Concussion 101 Trivia wheel which we will be piloting this week
over 2 days at the York Region District School Boards Healthy Schools Network.
This is attended by elementary and secondary school teachers and students
Concussion articles were featured in elementary and secondary schools electronic
e-newsletters for February and March
The Burden of Injury in York Region Children and Youth Report


York Region Community and Health Services have just released the Burden of
Injury in York Region in Children & Youth report. It examines the type and
frequency of unintentional injuries affecting children and youth under 20 years of
age in York Region.
The rate of ER visits due to a concussion among York Region children and youth
has increased significantly between 2004 and 2012, but has remained lower than
the provincial rate. In 2012, there we 626 ER visits related to a concussion among
York Region children and youth. Male youth were much more likely than females
to visit an ER
Literature review for concussion (MTBI) information in children age 5 years and younger

Our Injury Prevention Program has just completed a preliminary literature review
for concussion/mild traumatic brain injury information in children age 5 years and
younger and we will be reviewing and determining next steps to outreach to this
group. To date we have provided an article for our York Region day care providers.
Opportunities: to share information with our Ontario Early Years Centres and
school boards (kindergarten)
Concussion lit review
0-5 years_March2015.pdf
Physician Algorithm Adaptation

York is adapting this resource from Hamilton and will be including Holland –
Bloorview as a clinic resource and OBIA as general resource
Community Concussion Campaign

Have developed our Community Concussion Campaign for 2015 which includes:
Revision to Community Concussion Resource to make it more generic, not just
sports based
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Rec Centre digital ads, PSA’s and Zoom media)
Parks and Recreation Concussion Policy Support

Will be sending out a correspondence email to our Parks and Recreation partners
on concussion resources available and workshops for camp staff. Have also
provided information and offered support for the development of their
concussion policies.
Windsor-Essex County Health Unit – Cindy Gignac






Undergoing a restructuring of the school health team that will aid in providing
concussion information to schools. Providing resources as requested to schools.
We did have the opportunity to review and give feedback to one of our local
school board’s draft concussion policy.
Working collaboratively with partners to be identified as support for developing
concussion policies to municipalities, and other organizations as needed.
Lending support to the BIAWE in - developing a concussion package that is
heading to physicians this spring and for their upcoming 3rd Annual local brain
injury conference entitled Assessment & Treatment of Concussion & Mild
Traumatic Brain Injury on May 30th, 2015.
Some concussion content was developed and featured on WECHU Facebook and
Twitter accounts
The Concussion information page on the WECHU site was updated with local stats
and links to resources.
Wellington Dufferin Guelph – Glenna Rogers and Sharn Khinda
In our area, both of our larger school boards had their policies in place in the fall and have
been doing well to provide education material for parents, students and staff.
The school boards asked for assistance from Public Health to facilitate communication to
Physicians.
Typically our MOH communicates factual Medical information with direction so the
Concussion information is a little unique for us. We are struggling with that
communication and have not yet sent anything out to the Physicians in our area.
We are still very interested in viewing other Health Units’ communication to Physicians
about school board Concussion policies to assist us in moving forward.
Any information regarding communication to Physicians about the new Concussion
policies and expectations would be appreciated.
Waterloo Region - Coleen Cooper
With regard to our internal process of looking at what is happening across the province in
health units

Public Health Unit Survey complete; 86% of Health Units across Ontario completed
the online survey. 87% of these Health Units are currently engaged in activities
addressing concussions in some way.
Experience of Health Units





Public Health Units reported they are carrying out a mix of both primary and
secondary prevention strategies to address concussions
Public Health Units reported they are working with school staff, children,
teens and parents on the topic of concussions
Most Public Health Units reported they are carrying out concussion activities
in school settings
Common indicators for determining the success of concussion activities could
not be identified
Collaborations may facilitate the success of concussion work, but potential
barriers should be considered when determining a local concussion strategy
(e.g. staff capacity, funding, access to information)
Recommendation


Additional information about the scope of specific concussion-related
activities to adapt as part of local prevention strategy
Next steps in research process: Stakeholder Consultations. Plan is for this to be
complete in September 2015.
Oxford - Lorna


No new report
Lorna is working with a group on the issue of motor vehicle collisions resulting in
concussions.
Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre – Stephanie Cowle


The OIPRC will continue to work with York Region Public Health and Play Safe
Initiative to ensure the CATT Educators’ Toolkit (to be released spring 2015) will be
relevant and applicable for educators in Ontario.
The OIPRC will be working with OIPPN in the coming months to do strategic
planning on the issue of motor vehicle collisions and concussion in adults.
Parachute Canada – Sunitha Ravi Kumar


Stephanie shared a reminder that Parachute’s Horizon is a great source for
concussion resources. Parachute’s Horizon is a solution hub that contains leading
practice and evidence based injury prevention solutions. Solutions come in many
forms: videos, tip sheets, legislation charts, databases and more. Parachute’s
Horizon is located at horizon.parachutecanada.org. Organizations are welcome to
submit resources to be included on the hub. If you would like to suggest a
resource, complete the intake form and email it to
horizon@parachutecanada.org.
Parachute, as a member of the Canadian Concussion Collaborative, is developing
concussion management protocols following on the policy publication last fall. Any
questions can be directed to Pam Fuselli - pfuselli@parachutecanada.org
Niagara – Kelly Wilson




Concussions and Minor Sports Project website launched (Sept. 2014)
http://www.niagararegion.ca/health/activity-nutrition/concussions/default.aspx
March/April 2015 - Promoting project and services again with summer sports right
around the corner (social media, mail outs of promotional tear off slip and PCRT,
community partners, PSA’s, media).
Interactive Concussions and Sports Awareness Booth – brain guess game, spin
wheel with brain cards/questions, print materials including local tear off pad
which promotes project/services http://www.niagararegion.ca/health/activitynutrition/concussions/invite-us.aspx
Just completed 2nd recruitment and training of volunteers to staff booth for
Spring/Summer events; were very busy with minor hockey tournaments
September 2014-March 2015; booking now for spring/summer sports.

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Winter 2015 - Education sessions for minor hockey coaches (hockey presentation
developed) and distribution of Concussion Info Kits and whistles; draft minor
hockey concussion policy developed
March 2015 – Niagara - Parent Concussion Quiz:
http://www.niagararegion.ca/health/activity-nutrition/concussions/concussionquiz.aspx (in partnership with HP in School Health Program); targets parents of
school aged children; currently being promoted through various channels;
developed based on school board request re: parent concussion
awareness/supports board re: implementation of PPM158. Also advances
Concussions and Minor Sports Project in Niagara.
DSBN Summit 2015 - Concussion Booth
Dr. Tator will be speaking at Brock University May 4, 2015, 7-9pm – free
community event for parents, coaches, teachers etc. Learn more and register
online. Information has been shared with local contacts (minor sports, municipal
parks/rec, MTCS regional rep, Central West Concussion Working Group members,
Thinkfirst Niagara chapter) and my colleague in School Health has shared it with DSBN
and NCDSB.
Lambton Public Health – Lisa Clark
Created an article on concussion awareness and school board policy development
in our LPH School Newsletter - Health Buzz
Developing a letter to be sent out to parents at all school board schools - to
inform them of the new policies/protocols and of the importance of reporting out
of school concussions to their child's principal, also to provide links to the school
boards' policies and an attached copy of the Concussion Guidelines for Parents
from Parachute
Developing a letter to be sent from our MOH to all Lambton County Physicians
and NP - to inform them of the policies and resources/CAAT
Updating our website on concussions
Along with Playground Safety - Falls Prevention campaign - linking the importance
of falls prevention to concussion awareness and prevention
KFL&A Public Health – Heather Quance


The Limestone District School Board and Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic
District School Board are rolling out their concussion policies.
KFL&A Public Health issues an electronic newsletter, Healthy Directions, six
times a year to provide relevant, timely, and practical information for health
care providers to use in their practice. There have been two articles on
concussion. The first article (February 2014) focused on diagnosis and
resources, the article in the April 2015 edition focuses on PPM 158 and the
role of Primary Care.





http://www.kflapublichealth.ca/campaign/HealthyDirections.aspx
Two community events are being planned to support the policy.
April 29, 2015 - evening event for Primary Care Practitioners. School Board
representatives will provide an over view of the policy. Two area Physicians
will orient primary care practitioners to the management of concussions,
including guidelines for returning to learn and play. We have applied for CME
accreditation for this event.
Concussion
Management Event 2015--REG FLYER_distributed.pdf
September 29, 2015 – evening event for parents, coaches, trainers, and
teachers highlighting the policy and providing an overview of the diagnosis
and treatment of concussions as well as return to learn and play guidelines.
Dr. Gemmill, MOH, has distributed a Briefing Note to area Primary Care
Practitioners providing information on the Ministry of Education policy on
Briefing
note-concussion-HQ_JM_DL_IG-Feb 27 15 (V2) (2)




concussion for school boards.
Public Health developed an ad for the Recreation and Leisure Spring/Summer
Guide. This half page ad was targeted to school age children and youth.
Concussion
2015--AD-modified.pdf
Public Health partnered with our local ThinkFirst Chapter to offer Brain Day to
area schools. Queen’s University Medical, Psychology, and Life Science
students presented in 29 classes to 725 students.
‘Wheel Safety’ information packages have just gone out to all elementary
schools. As well as school based resources, Grade 3 and 4 teachers are invited
to register for a 30 minute bicycle safety presentation which includes
information on the anatomy of the brain and helmet use.
Hamilton – Zsuzsi Trim and Jacqui Candlish
Concussion Algorithm for Primary Care Providers

Sent algorithm and resources via email to the 750 members of the Hamilton Academy of
Medicine January 16th
 400 algorithms and 1600 RTS and RTA guidelines distributed to participants at the
Hamilton Academy of Medicine Clinical Day January 28th
 30 algorithms and 145 each of the RTS and RTA guidelines have been mailed to area
physicians
 Todd Bright, Ministry of Education, shared the algorithm with school boards January 12th
 Other health units that have taken the algorithm to adapt for their community.
Concussion Website

McMaster Children’s Hospital will host a concussion web page for Brain Smart Hamilton
Committee to direct parents, coaches, healthcare providers and schools to relevant links
for the prevention, identification and management of concussion
 The webpage should be in place by the end of May 2015.
Helmet Strategy for Early Learning Settings in Hamilton


Public Health in collaboration with the Best Start Network, Hamilton-Wentworth Public
School Board and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board will be
collaborating on developing and implementing a helmet use strategy for early learning
settings. A steering committee will be struck May 2015.
Public health developed a framework after a review of the literature and stakeholder
interviews.
Halliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit – Krista Skutovich
 No active concussion project work; resources available upon request, and
recently added to our website (links to Parachute, ONF materials).
Grey Bruce – Amber Schieck



Working with local school boards to review and provide feedback on concussion
policies
A letter from the MOH has gone out to area healthcare providers to highlight
concussion awareness and PPM 158
Our website has been updated to include a section for concussions with links to
resources.
Brant County Health Unit – Anna Bera


As we share the same school boards, the Brant County Health Unit and Haldimand
Norfolk Health Unit have been working together on helping both the separate
board and the public board with writing and editing their concussion policies and
with the delivery of presentations. Both boards now have their policies
implemented.
Since January, we have delivered concussion presentations, related to the policy,
to key staff at both boards. Staff in attendance included teachers, principals, vice
principals, sport department heads and administrators.


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Both boards have concussion resources up on their website.
In partnership with our separate school board concussion working group, Brant
and Haldimand Norfolk Health Units will be providing a training session to the
regional parent council in late May.
Next step will be the creation and dissemination of concussion information
packages to physicians in the Brant and Haldimand Norfolk areas. Again, this will
be a collaborative effort between the Brant County Health Unit and the
Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit.
Haldimand Norfolk – Karin Marks
Working with Anna Bera, my colleague from Brant Health Unit, we have completed a
presentation to local Ontario Early Years Centre Staff (March)
We will be doing a presentation to local sports groups in April, a presentation to parent
council chairs for Separate School Board May. I will be doing a presentation to Child Care
Centre Supervisors regarding creating a policy around Concussion ( May)
Thank you to Todd from Ministry of Education for connecting me with Senior Policy
Analyst from Ministry of Education, Child Care Quality Assurance, Licensing Branch,
working on proposal for policy decision regarding the existing Serious Occurance Process
under the Day Nurseries Act.
Durham Region – David Amot

The development of a concussion prevention parent resource titled “Heads Up On
Concussions: What Parents Need to Know” is now complete. This resource
is available on our website at durham.ca/sportsinjury
Algoma Public Health - Lorraine Gravelle
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
Partnered with Safe Communities Sault Ste Marie to deliver Brain Day
presentations from March to June 2015 in local grade 5 classrooms. Concussion
component included. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook at #AlgomaBrainDay.
Concussion article being submitted in next issue of “Knowing & Growing” for
parents of 0-30 months
Display provided at the “Partners in Prevention” Health & Safety conference on
March 26, 2015 in Sault Ste Marie, targeting worksite employees. Dr Stacy Irvine
B.Sc. Kin, M.Sc. D.C. CSCS presented on Concussions: What We Know Now!
Display at local OHL hockey game in March with plans to launch a concussion
campaign in September at another OHL hockey game.
Free baseline concussion testing by our students in the O.T. and P.T. program at
Sault College for community from Jan to March and will be offered again in
October 2015
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
Supporting school boards with implementation of policy and policy education
Local Concussion Awareness Community Education Committee meets every two
months: brochure of where to go for baseline testing and help is developed to
disseminate locally. Letter to sports organizations have not generated any
requests for presentations to date. PPP created in preparation for such requests.
Preliminary plans to offer information sessions twice a year.
15
June 2015
Next
Meeting
Silvana will send out a doodle to the group to set the date.