Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Online Bulletin for Health Care Providers

January 7, 2021

From:
Dr. Piotr Oglaza
Medical Officer of Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

In this Issue:

1. New AEFI Reporting Form
2. Changes to HPEPH Vaccine Pick-up Schedule
3. STI Rates and Sexual Health Needs Remain High During COVID-19
4. Limited Sexual Health Services Available at HPEPH
5. Professional Development Opportunity - Child and Youth Mental Health

New AEFI (Adverse Event Following Immunization) Reporting Form

Public Health Ontario has released an updated version of their AEFI reporting form for health care providers to complete and send to their local Public Health Unit. If you have a patient that experiences an AEFI, please complete the form and fax to 613-966-1813, or email to CDCFax1@hpeph.ca .

• New AEFI Reporting Form
• AEFI Reporting Fact Sheet

Changes to HPEPH Vaccine Pick-up Schedule

Effective immediately, health care provider vaccine orders picked up at the Picton HPEPH office will be available for pick up ONLY on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month. Vaccine orders must be placed 3 business days prior to pick up date. For example, January pickup dates will be January 7th and January 21st, orders must be received by Public Health by Jan 4th and Jan 18th.

If you are unable to pick up your vaccine on specified day, special arrangements can be made with Debbie at the Picton Family Health Team by calling 613-885-7871.

STI Rates and Sexual Health Needs Remain High During COVID-19

HPEPH continues to receive and respond to higher than normal rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The local gonorrhea (GC) outbreak continues and there is evidence of rising numbers of STIs such as HIV, syphilis and chlamydia. For local and provincial STI rates, please visit our HPEPH Fast Facts Dashboard, Password: fastfactsHPE.

We truly appreciate the assistance of our emergency and community health care providers who continue to provide sexual and reproductive health services for patients and would like to remind our partners of the following recommendations:

Appropriate Treatment and Management of Reportable STI’s

Treat GC with first-line dual therapy due to compelling evidence of efficacy and current antimicrobial susceptibility patterns in Ontario [1]. First-line therapy includes:

• Ceftriaxne 250 mg IM WITH Azithromycin 1 gm po given during the same visit.
• Remind patients treated for STI’s of the importance of abstaining from all sexual contact x 7 days after treatment.
• Inform your patients that if they test positive for a reportable STI. A Public Health Nurse will call to provide education, assess them for treatment tolerance and complete contact tracing.
• Health Care Providers can order publicly funded (no cost) STI medications, including first-line GC treatment, from HPEPH BY using the HPEPH Vaccine/STI form available online a hpePublicHealth.ca

[1] According to Public Health Ontario, World Health Organization, and CDC, “Treatment of gonorrhea with two antimicrobials is recommended on the theoretical basis that dual therapy may potentially improve treatment effectiveness and thereby reduce the likelihood of transmission of resistant strains and having two antibiotics with different mechanisms of action should in theory hinder the development of resistant strains”. In addition, “dual therapy for pharyngeal gonorrhea is supported by studies demonstrating poor cephalosporin penetration of the pharynx”. Ontario Gonorrhea Testing and Treatment Guide

HPEPH Sexual Health Program Offering Limited Services

Due to our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, HPEPH has temporarily reduced sexual health services to the public including:

• No routine STI testing for persons with OHCN and access to own health care provider or local walk in clinic
• No HPV/Genital Wart Treatment
• No PAP testing
• No IUD insertions or removals
• If your health care setting has the capacity, please continue to offer as many of these services to your clients as possible.

For more information on STIs, refer to the HPEPH Sexual Health webpage for current and evidence-based resources, reporting forms and sexual health resources, call the Sexual Health Program at 613-966-5500 x 418 or visit Public Health Ontario’s Sexually Transmitted Infections Best Practice Guidelines and the Canadian Guidelines on Sexually Transmitted Infections.

Professional Development Opportunity: Child and Youth Mental Health by CHEO

Are Child and Youth Mental Health problems a challenge in your practice?

Are you interested in learning more about child and youth mental health? Do you have any child/youth cases that you would like to run by specialists and fellow PCPs for advice and suggestions? Can you (or your team members) commit to 1 hr/week for 24 weeks? Do you want to learn more about how to navigate the child and youth mental health system and the CYMH services available to your patients in your area?

If you answered, "Yes!" to any of these questions, then ECHO Ontario Child and Youth Mental Health is for you!”

Limited spots available. The next cycle begins on February 4, 2021. These weekly ECHO sessions take place via Zoom from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. EST every Thursday for 24 weeks.

Target Audience: Family Physicians, Pediatricians, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses 
Register: https://cheo.echoontario.ca/register/
Cost: Free
Contact: ECHO_CYMH@cheo.on.ca or (613) 737-7600 ext. 3246

Back to Summary

Contact Information: 

To give us your comments: etubbs@hpeph.ca

To report communicable diseases:613-966-5500 x349

To report AEFI or DOPHS: Online / Fax: 613-966-1813 or CDCFAX1@hpeph.ca

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