By Deron Hamel
The operations manager of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s Exceptional Access Program (EAP) says a March 26 educational session delivered to staff members from the Ontario public drug programs division enhanced people’s understanding of epilepsy and the issues faced by those living with the condition.
Richard Lin says the lunchtime PowerPoint presentation by neurologist Dr. Carter Snead was delivered in a manner that was comprehensive, concise and informative to people, regardless of their health-care knowledge or professional background.
About 30 people attended the event, which was hosted by EAP in partnership with Epilepsy Ontario. The EAP helps Ontario patients with exceptional circumstances obtain medications not funded by the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) formulary, or where no alternative pharmaceutical is available.
Snead’s presentation, which was created in collaboration with Epilepsy Ontario, provided background about the different types of epilepsy as well as drug treatment options for people living with the condition.
Snead also addressed the importance of medication access to people with epilepsy and how treatment has changed during the past 10 years.
“More importantly, he talked about how epilepsy as a disease is going to be treated and managed in Ontario and where that’s going right now,” Lin tells Voices of Epilepsy.
“(The presentation) was important for staff to understand how epilepsy, as a disease, impacts patients, but also the burden of the condition on their caregiver and on our health-care system.”
Lin says there wasn’t a particular element of the presentation that was most valuable – attendees were engaged throughout the entire session, he notes.
“I think all of it was relevant to understand the disease itself and its impact on the public, on society, and how (medications) tie into managing epilepsy,” he says. “I thought that everything Dr. Snead spoke about was very relevant.”
There was a question-and-answer session following the event. Lin says it was encouraging to see attendees and Snead asking and answering each other’s queries.
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