Elgin Ontario Health Team

11/15/2025

November is Lung Health Month and Lung Cancer Awareness Month!

Your lungs work hard for you, and we can help you take care of them. Regular screening and early detection can save lives.

Don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner? You can now access comprehensive care for breathing-related conditions, such as COPD and asthma, through the Elgin Community Health Hub. Visit the website below for more information, or call 519-473-0530 x 2258.

Elgin Community Health Hub: https://thamesvalleyfht.ca/locations/elgin-community-health-hub/

Take a deep breath and take action for your lung health.

11/14/2025

📣 Calling Elgin & Area service providers who support people trying to navigate the mental health, substance use health, and addictions system 📣

We invite you to join us at our next Lunch and Learn: "Making Connections: Coordinated Navigation of Mental Health and Social Supports"

This is an opportunity to create local connections, share information and discuss strategies. We will identify some of the key roles that exist in Elgin to help you or your clients find appropriate services and supports, and share some upcoming work in this area.

📅 November 26, 12pm - 12:30pm
📍 Virtual. Join via Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/97095040610?pwd=IURQd1i5UJAh4iHejma23OBooH1AMV.1

11/13/2025

Registration is now open for Christmas Care 2025.

The program assists the lower income public of St. Thomas-Elgin to register themselves and/or their family for a little support that is meant directly for the Christmas season. They provide a hamper of food which includes cereal, cookies, canned goods, apples, potatoes as well as your choice of either turkey or ham, in order to make a complete Christmas dinner.

To learn more and find registration details, visit

At Christmas Care we work hard to make sure every dollar is put to great use. 99¢ cents of every $1.00 dollar received goes directly back into the community

11/12/2025

Today, the Elgin Ontario Health Team was joined by community partners and media for an announcement about new federal funding that will strengthen our local response to opioid-related harms.

Through Health Canada’s Emergency Treatment Fund, the City of St. Thomas will receive more than $640,000 over the next two years. This funding will support community-led initiatives that expand access to mental health, substance use, and addictions services, enhance local service capacity, and improve culturally safe support for those most affected.

Together with our community partners, the Elgin OHT has already been laying the groundwork to improve access to mental health, substance use, addictions, and social supports locally. This investment will help us build on those efforts and continue moving important initiatives forward.

More specifically, this funding will help to:

➡️ Strengthen The INN as a community service hub and expand outreach so people can connect to help where they are - without barriers.

➡️ Make it easier for people to talk to someone when they need support most - through faster, flexible, one-conversation-at-a-time counselling and coaching, focused on what matters to them in that moment.

➡️ Equip more local helpers with training in compassionate, trauma-aware care, so every interaction helps people feel safer, heard, and respected.

➡️ Enhance culturally safe care for Indigenous community members, guided by respect, relationship, and traditional approaches to healing.

This investment will help us bring care and support closer to where people are, in ways that are safe, responsive, and grounded in community.

📄 Read the full media release:https://www.elginoht.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025.11.12.ETF-Media-Release_Sealing-the-Gaps.pdf

City of St. Thomas

11/12/2025

Last week, we were proud to bring together navigators, healthcare leaders, and community organizations from Elgin, Oxford, and Middlesex-London to continue advancing health system navigation and equity across our region.

Key highlights included:

📞 Health811 updates: expanding digital and live-chat navigation supports, new partnerships with 988 for mental health crisis response, and upcoming initiatives to better assist caregivers and non-clinical inquiries.

👩‍⚕️ HealthCare Connect insights: updates on provincial strategies to connect people to primary care physicians and nurse practitioners and a look at how 235,000 Ontarians are being supported on the waitlist for primary care.

🤝 Cross-OHT collaborations: participants shared projects that embed community navigators and intake coordinators in local health centres to ease the burden on physicians and help connect residents directly to care.

🌍 Health Equity Panel: powerful conversations on Two-Eyed Seeing in Indigenous services, newcomer experiences navigating language and cultural barriers, and the role of mobile and community-based services in reaching people where they are.

We’re grateful to all the speakers, partners, and participants who joined us to share their insights and strengthen our collective work toward a more connected, equitable, and person-centred healthcare system.

Oxford OHT Middlesex London Ontario Health Team

11/11/2025

OHT members, community partners, and media are invited to attend a Media Release tomorrow, Wednesday, November 12th.

💬 Topic: Health Canada's Emergency Treatment Fund
📍St. Thomas Social Services Building, 230 Talbot St.
🕒 3:00pm

More information: Email info@elginoht.ca

City of St. Thomas

11/10/2025

This , we recognize and thank Nurse Practitioners (NPs) for the essential role they play in keeping our communities healthy.

NPs provide comprehensive, person-centred care - supporting individuals and families across all stages of life. Their expertise helps strengthen our healthcare system, expand access to care, and improve health outcomes.

We extend our appreciation to all NPs in Elgin for the meaningful impact they make every day. Your expertise, leadership, and dedication make a lasting difference in our community. Thank you for all that you do. 💚

11/07/2025

We've partnered with local school boards, elected officials, and community agencies to adopt the internationally-recognized Icelandic Prevention Model for youth substance use prevention. It's called Planet Youth!

👉Two new coalitions have formed - Planet Youth Elgin-St. Thomas, and Planet Youth Oxford. Give them a follow Planet Youth Oxford Elgin St. Thomas 🫶

An upcoming survey will help steer local Planet Youth actions:
✅Students in Grades 9 and 10 in the region are invited to participate
✅Consent forms have been sent home by school boards to parents/guardians
✅All responses are completely confidential. Your child's answers will not be identifiable in any way.

Learn more: https://www.swpublichealth.ca/news/posts/swph-supports-community-partnership-to-prevent-youth-substance-use/

11/07/2025

In June, we hosted a webinar to help health and social service providers better understand and support Low German-Speaking (LGS) Mennonite older adults and caregivers.

For those who couldn’t attend, or anyone looking for a refresher, the attached resource includes:
➡️ An overview of the LGS community
➡️ How historical experiences and faith influence present-day beliefs and interactions with care providers
➡️ Key learnings and practical strategies for providing culturally sensitive support

If you’re a health or social service provider in our community, we encourage you to save this resource as a quick reference guide.

For more information and additional resources on cultural considerations and supporting newcomers, visit 🔗 www.stelip.ca

This webinar was hosted in partnership with the Regional Geriatric Program of Southwestern Ontario, Mennonite Community Services , Central Community Health Centre, and the East Elgin Family Health Team.

11/06/2025

Last week, we attended the St. Thomas-Elgin Local Immigration Partnership (STELIP) 14th annual Walk with Me Service Provider Networking Event. This event was an opportunity for frontline service providers to expand their referral networks, take part in professional development, and promote their own work to improve overall service delivery in St. Thomas-Elgin.

Some of our key takeaways:
➡️ Gaining insight into how systems and structures can reinforce health inequities
➡️ Building connections with education, legal, settlement, employment, health, and social service providers
➡️ Being reminded to recognize and build on the strengths newcomers bring to our community and our work

Thank you for having us, STELIP!

11/05/2025

Hey Elgin County,
We're running pop-up cancer screening clinics at Elgin Community Health Hub.

This is available to all residents of Elgin County whether or not you have a family doctor or nurse practitioner.

The clinics will each offer the following services:

◼️Cervical Cancer Screening: Onsite testing
◼️Colorectal Cancer Screening: Information and requisitions
◼️Breast Cancer Screening: Information and requisitions

Clinic Dates:

🗓️ November 18, 2025
🗓️ December 17, 2025

Call to book: 519-473-0530 extension 2258

Learn more: https://thamesvalleyfht.ca/elgin-ipct/pop-up-cancer-screening-clinics

Elgin Ontario Health Team

11/05/2025

We’ve shared a new update from our Executive Director highlighting recent progress toward more team-based, connected, and equitable care in Elgin.

Here are a few key highlights ⬇️

✅ Strengthening Primary Care Access
The Neighbourhood Health Home Model has been approved! This is a major step toward team-based, community-focused primary care for everyone in Elgin. A funding proposal is in development, aligned to this Model, to expand interprofessional care teams and help more residents connect with a family physician, primary care nurse practitioner or primary care team.

✅ Mental Health & Addictions Care
Local providers are being trained in “one-at-a-time” therapy - an evidence-based approach that provides timely mental health support without long wait times.

✅ Chronic Disease Management
The Elgin COPD Integrated Care Pathway is now live, with the goal of providing consistent and coordinated care for people living with COPD across the region.

These initiatives reflect our collective commitment to building a stronger, more connected health system for everyone in Elgin.

Read the full update here:https://www.elginoht.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025.10.26_ED-Update_ElginOHT.pdf