Register today for Wednesday’s (June 17) webinar “Public Health Updates for Halton Physicians: Focus on opioids and pain"

Quick facts

• Register now for this Wednesday’s Mainpro+ accredited webinar, Public Health Updates for Halton Physicians: Focus on opioids and pain (external link). The session “From guidelines to practice: Safe opioid prescribing made practical” (external link) is on June 17, 2026 from 7-8 p.m.
• Join pain medicine expert, Dr. Hance Clarke (President, Canadian Pain Society and Director of Pain Services and the Pain Research Unit at Toronto General Hospital) and Dr. Joanna Oda (Associate Medical Officer of Health at Halton Region Public Health), to learn more about 
  • describing current patterns and trends of opioid use and opioid-related harms in Halton Region and across Ontario. 
  • summarizing and implementing key recommendations from the 2025 Canadian Opioid Prescribing Guideline for Chronic Non-Cancer Pain. 
  • applying effective chronic pain and addiction management strategies for patients who use opioids. 
  • referring patients to local and regional resources for multidisciplinary pain management, harm reduction services and addiction treatment to support comprehensive patient care.
• Safer opioid prescribing remains critical in preventing patients from turning to unregulated sources for pain management, such as fentanyl which contributed to 75% of opioid overdose deaths in Halton in 2024.

Key messages for healthcare providers

• Current information on opioid screening, reporting and treatment is available on the Substance Misuse – Alcohol, Tobacco, Vaping, Cannabis and Opioids Information for Physicians page on halton.ca/physicians. 
• Sign up online for monthly snapshot reports of opioid activity in Halton Region, including paramedic services calls and emergency department visits.