The Ontario government and the Ministry of Health have introduced a bold new structure through Ontario Health Teams (OHT). OHTs are being established to help improve patient transitions/coordinated care, enhance digital communication including virtual care, and optimize the “appropriate level of care in the appropriate setting, at the right time.”1 The University of Waterloo is a signatory on the KW4 OHT application in our region, which provides a multitude of opportunities for collaboration in patient care, education, and research.
The School is continuing the excellent work initiated by the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) in conjunction with St. Mary’s Hospital. A priority area for optometry and ophthalmology is to promote eReferrals for cataract surgery, develop pathways for decreasing wait time, and acquire evidence of impact in patient related outcomes and experience. We continue to engage local optometrists through the UWaterloo and You meetings every other month to provide updates and encourage broad participation in the development of the OHT.
On the School front, another academic year is well underway. We’re excited about a number of changes that we believe will enrich our students’ educational experience. These include a successful update to enhance the Clerkship program. We have increased the number of domestic sites, while providing additional support for preceptors. We’re grateful to those of you who have chosen to open your practices to our students and invite others who are interested in the program to consider joining. Future growth includes residency training, so stay tuned if you’ve developed a speciality practice.
Our research programs continue to thrive, powered by collaboration within the School and across campus. New initiatives include a shared biomedical research facility and the ongoing pursuit of funding that we hope will promote activity in ocular imaging research from the cellular level through to clinical applications. In other research, Dr. Kristine Dalton, founder of the School’s sports vision clinic, is featured in Waterloo Magazine for her work with Paralympic athletes.
Ocular imaging research is a key component of the Seeing Beyond 2020 campaign, launched at CAO Congress this July, which will support the creation of the Waterloo Eye Institute. Recently, the campaign received a huge boost thanks to a transformational gift by alumna Marta Witer and the Ihnatowycz Family Foundation. As we launch our community campaign this January, we hope that you’ll consider supporting this initiative in whatever way you can.
In this issue, we’re pleased to recognize some of the people and organizations who contribute to the School and our profession. Read about our Alumni of Honour Award recipients and how funding from COETF provides research support and new educational resources for both students and alumni.
In student life, we have photos to share from this year’s Orientation as well as the mission trips our students participated in over the past year. And those of you who remember Marie Amodeo will be pleased to see that the Optometry Rack Pack met a major fundraising milestone this year in the fight against breast cancer.
As much as we are excited by the developments at the School, we are proud to be a part of the wider University of Waterloo community. As part of the University’s Indigenization Strategy, we’ve partnered with the University’s Schools of Pharmacy, Social Work and Public Health to create cultural safety training for clinical educators. We realize there’s much work to be done as we move toward reconciliation, but we are ready and willing to contribute.
I look forward to meeting many of you at Association gatherings across the country this year. I hope you’ll join us at the events we have planned as we ramp up our Continuing Education programming and celebrate the year of vision ̶ 2020. In the meantime, I wish each of you a safe and peaceful holiday season.
Sincerely,
Stanley Woo, OD, MS, MBA, FAAO
Director
1http://health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/connectedcare/oht/docs/guidance_doc_en.pdf
