Best Practices Day 2023
Optimizing the potential of rehabilitative care
— May 5, 2023, Virtual —
Best Practices Day 2023 — Conference Summary
The GTA Rehab Network and the Conference Planning Committee are pleased to report that Best Practices Day 2023 was a great success! The virtual conference was attended by 180 delegates from all across Canada.
The conference provided insights on:
- Rehab as a solution for optimizing the future of the health system
- Strategies for managing rehab-specific human healthcare resource pressures
- Long COVID-19 rehabilitative care framework and workforce toolkit
- Post-fall pathways in ED, paediatric physiotherapy in rural communities, virtual-reality rehab post-stroke and many other best practices in rehabilitative care
Note: Slides and video recordings have been made available via email to the conference registrants.
Download a copy of the conference program by clicking HERE.
Our Speakers
Opening Keynote
Rehabilitation Practice – Opportunities for Healthy Communities and Health System Transformation
This presentation highlighted the six areas of innovation that underpin the Health Human Resource (HHR) strategy in Ontario. The opportunity to leverage team-based practice to address HHR challenges will be outlined. The presentation will culminate with a call to action on how to further optimize rehabilitation practitioners/practice to create healthy communities.

Dr. Karima Velji
RN, PhD, CHE, FCAN; Chief of Nursing and Professional Practice; Assistant Deputy Minister of Health
Closing Keynote Panel
Optimizing Rehabilitative Care by Addressing Human Health Resources Challenges
The panelists explored concepts of moral distress due to increasing pressures, rehab professional’s value in the post-pandemic system, and clinical insights on key principles to changing models of care in response to HHR challenges.
Sponsors
Thank you to our sponsor!
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Planning Committee
Dr. Larry Robinson | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre/St. John’s Rehab ~ Chair |
Patricia Dickson | Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre |
Allison Freeman | University Health Network/Toronto Rehab |
Helen Johnson | Ontario Health – West ~ Chatham region representative |
Alin Khodaverdian | Humber River Hospital |
Charissa Levy | GTA Rehab Network |
Martha McKay | Sinai Health System/Hennick Bridgepoint Active Healthcare |
Sanja Milicic Iafrate | GTA Rehab Network |
Melissa Monardo | Lakeridge Health |
Manny Paiva | St. Joseph’s Health Centre ~ London region representative |
Danielle Petruccelli | Hamilton Health Sciences ~ Hamilton region representative |
Jennifer Shaffer | Sunnybrook Health Science Centre/St. John’s Rehab |
Whitney Sherman | Baycrest Health Sciences |
Paula Shing | Sinai Health System/Hennick Bridgepoint Active Healthcare |