Improving Healthcare Amidst Structural Vulnerabilities

Overview

How do we value dignity at the end of life?

Is it the same for everyone?

There is growing recognition that what makes Canadians sick, is more than just biology or genetics. In fact, it is estimated that up to 60% of what causes us illness, is related to how we live, learn, work and play.

These factors, known as the social determinants of health, are often overlooked in our healthcare delivery systems.

Meanwhile, it is well known that Canada’s structurally vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness, mental illness & people who use drugs, suffer from higher morbidity and mortality due to illnesses often stemming from social and societal circumstances.  All the while, dying in social isolation, falling through the cracks, with few people around them, very few supports and often, with a lack of dignity.

Through a health equity and human rights lens, Dr Dosani's keynote address will highlight narratives of compassion from his work providing street & shelter-based palliative care for structurally vulnerable people with life-limiting illnesses, describe innovative approaches to social accountability in healthcare at the micro, meso and macro levels and challenge our thinking around traditional care models.

By dissecting the ways that poverty, racism, ableism, trauma, housing insecurity, isolation and other social ailments impact the healthcare journey of people in our communities; we may be able to actualize our full potential, flipping conventional approaches on their head, to provide equity for individuals from all walks of life.

In our society, it is clear that we live differently.

But, should we really die differently?

This course is available in English and in French. 

Audience

This online course is available to all healthcare professionals. It is brought to you by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association (CPA).

This course was recorded at the Canadian Physiotherapy Association Congress in May 2022.