Agenda

Every healthcare organization across the country is facing staffing shortages, and no one has yet nailed down a failproof strategy for attracting and retaining staff. But all have tried, and many have seen some successes.

Join us for a discussion of how others are working with their teams to address their greatest staffing challenges, from front-line staff to back-office staff.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What strategies are reaping the greatest successes
• What are the best opportunities for communicators to reach candidates
• What would they have liked to have known sooner
• Best practices in working with HHR to maximize you message and reach
• What platforms and social media are they using to extend their reach
• How to include your current workforce to attract your ideal candidates

Connecting and engaging with your patients and partners are essential components of your communications strategy. You plan it out and execute with a clear vision. But accurately measuring your reach and effectiveness is not always easy. Yet it is vital when conveying this to your executive team.

In this session we will explore some of the best practices other organizations have developed for measuring communications success.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What communications practices are most effective in reaching and engaging your audience
• Which tools and platforms are most effective in capturing data to determine reach
• How can reach accurately be measured – and particularly engagement

Every patient and caregiver has a story to tell and their unique lived experience with the health care system can inspire improvements in health care design, delivery and advocacy. With more than 100 patients and caregivers on-boarded as formal care partners, St. Joseph’s Health Care London is harnessing the power of lived experience to improve care, services and patient outcomes.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Important factors to consider when engaging, communicating and partnering with patients and caregivers
• The benefits of designing a storytelling strategy with patients and caregivers
• How to use effective communication as part of co-design

Large-scale digital transformation is difficult and becoming more common. It can be disruptive, and it can create tension among and between teams. Hamilton Health Sciences experienced this, and planned ahead for those challenges we all expect to occur.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Getting buy-in from your workforce early and often
• Creating a culture of pride and celebration – before you need it
• Communicating effectively to multiple stakeholders with different needs
• Developing a project identity to excite and engage

The Schlegel-UW Research in Aging Institute (RIA) connects research to the real world to tackle the biggest issues facing an aging population. The RIA communications team plays a key role in supporting the RIA’s mission to change the culture of aging in Canada.

Leveraging their recent research, delve into the dichotomy of addressing both general older adults and healthcare professionals, with considerations for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in communicating research and best practices.

The role of communications in changing the culture of aging, and the role of co-design values in shaping communications.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How to tailor communication to diverse audiences with varying levels of expertise and priorities, and how to bridge the gaps through mediums such as marketing and storytelling
• Ensure your communications play a role in changing the culture of aging by being aware of how we speak to and about older adults and the places they get care, with special considerations around leading Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
• The importance of co-design principles ensures the active involvement of older adults and healthcare professionals by engaging in partnerships in the communication planning and co-creation of materials
• How to effectively translate complex, anonymized research findings into accessible and actionable information that speaks to the personhood of individuals, not just their disease or issue

The pandemic was particularly challenging for long-term care home residents, families, staff and volunteers. Communications teams had to counter negative media and public perceptions, leaving many homes in a seemingly continuous state of crisis communication and emergency preparedness. During the most catastrophic event ever to confront long-term care and Canada’s seniors, the organization undertook a deep research dive and engaged a variety of stakeholders to unearth the real story and purposes of the organization and rebranded as Perley Health.

Perley Health, one of Ontario’s largest and most progressive communities of care for seniors and veterans, responded to the pandemic with open and transparent communication. This values-based approach was instrumental in generating support from residents, family members, their dedicated staff and other caregivers during lockdowns.

This session will address proactive efforts to effectively counter negative media coverage of the sector, through the introduction of vaccines and the attendant misinformation, while acknowledging the efforts of the Perley Health community to rally together to confront common challenges behind a new brand.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How Perley Health’s communications strategies fostered the restoration and expansion of public trust.
• How a pre-planned strategic re-brand emphasizing adaptability, safety and compassionate care was successfully completed during the pandemic.
• How Perley Health was able to build on core values of exceptional care and dedication to safety through the innovative use of song and champion testimonials.

Many organizations are now struggling to share important messaging and engage with employees with fewer opportunities for in-person connections. At VHA Home HealthCare, a large not-for-profit home care organization in Ontario, the majority of the staff have always worked remotely.

Learn about the successful strategies they’ve employed and how you could apply them with your team.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Developing and sustaining multiple communication channels with limited resources
• Harnessing existing networks across the organization
• Engaging team members with relatable and meaningful content

Social media is an essential tool for patient and public engagement. Its effective use can have incredible benefits; its ineffective use can be detrimental to your goals.

And while we all consume social media and have seen some great examples of how to use it well, in practice, this is remains challenging. This discussion will break through the noise and try to parse the value of social media, and how it can be used more effectively and positively.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What content is your audience looking for, and how does it shift over time
• How should it be delivered – on which platform, and in which tone
• What constitutes effective social media, and is it replicable or must it be organic

When creating communication strategies targeting caregivers, it has been crucial to involve experienced caregivers in the development process to ensure the materials and strategies used are effective and relevant.

Presenters will discuss their tactics for cultivating a diverse Caregiver Advisory Group (CAG), their collaborative planning process, and project execution of the Communication Initiatives co-designed with the East Toronto Health Partner’s CAG.

We will also discuss challenges encountered, considerations for developing caregiver advisory groups, and meaningful and empowering methods to engage caregivers in co-design.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Describe the knowledge translation process used to create a bridge between Healthcare Communications-based issues and the solution(s) to address it
• Identify methods to successfully co-design and strengthen partnership with caregivers
• Develop strategies to support a meaningful, sustainable partnership with caregivers

There have been remarkable successes in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), but significant challenges persist.

Join in the discussion as we explore the progress and obstacles in EDI, highlighting the success as we work toward creating more equitable and inclusive environments.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Where are we seeing successes with increased diversity across departments
• How are organizations addressing systemic barriers build improved integration
• Cultural Competency Education: Growing emphasis on fostering cultural competency fosters greater understanding and empathy across diverse communities.
• Where are future efforts being directed, and how are policies and practices changing

By now everyone has had some awareness of ChatGPT and AI, but how many have begun to use it in a real setting. When deployment in healthcare communication, there are more concerns than we would see in many other industries.

Through a highly interactive session of polls, demos and discussion, we will explore when and how to effectively address the challenges and harness the tremendous opportunities that AI presents in the healthcare sector.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How to manage the challenges of AI in healthcare communication
• How ChatGPT can be directed toward patient and stakeholder communication
• What AI can do well, and what it can’t do well
• Real-world uses and case studies specific to healthcare

Media relations has changed a lot over the past few years. Between 2008 and 2018, 250 Canadian news outlets shut down. In 2020, the first pandemic year, an additional 50 media outlets closed in six weeks. With a reduced media landscape, reduced media budgets and reduced media staff, opportunities for media coverage can sometimes seem scarce.

But still, media remains an important channel to communicate your organization’s message.

So how do you cultivate better media relationships and better media coverage?

Join in on the discussion as we encourage you to share your best practices from across the healthcare industry.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What constitutes best practices in public relations and media interaction
• Case studies on working with the media, with examples from CMHA
• Tips for increasing media coverage and creating messages that resonate with both media and patients/clients

The CEO or senior leadership of a health care organization is often looked to as a trusted voice in the community. However, meeting these expectations requires consistent and ongoing effort to engage with a range of internal and external audiences. This requires being thoughtful and strategic in your engagement  so that your senior team is prepared – in good times and bad.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Working with your senior leadership team to communicate strategically and effectively
• Building trust and credibility: the importance of ongoing engagement and communicating with authenticity
• Creating the conditions for ongoing coaching and development