Improving Spinal Cord Injury Standards in Canada – Taking a People-Centered Approach to Achieve an Integrated Rehabilitation Program Webinar

February 18, 2025 at 9am (PST)/ 12pm (EST)

Online Webinar

Praxis Spinal Cord Institute (Praxis), the Health Standards Organization (HSO) and Accreditation Canada (AC) invite you to join us on February 18th  to learn about the new Canadian National Standard for spinal cord injury (SCI) for health care programs providing care to people with SCI. CAN/HSO S3402:2024 (E) Integrated People-Centred Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program is a new standard that consolidates two previous HSO standards: HSO 3401:2018 (E) Spinal Cord Injury Acute Services, and HSO S3402:2018 (E) Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Services.

This 90 min webinar will allow key stakeholders, including people with lived experience of SCI (PLEX), hospital leadership, and clinicians, to learn about the new standard and principles behind its development. There will also be an interactive question and answer opportunity.

We hope you’ll join us as we start the conversation about the future of SCI accreditation in Canada.

Learning Objectives:

1. Increase awareness of the new SCI Standard
2. Provide an opportunity for key stakeholders to learn more about the Standard development and future of SCI accreditation in Canada
3. Share key initiatives, best practices, and other SCI resources which contributed to the Standard, as well as showcase real-world examples on integrating criteria within the Standard
4. Opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions directly to Accreditation Canada/HSO/Praxis

Register Now/S’Inscrire

Speaker Bios:

Amy Prince

My name is Amy Prince and I am currently in the role of Spinal Cord Injury Navigator/Coordinator at the L.A. Miller Centre, in St. John’s, Newfoundland.  I have a Masters in Occupational Therapy and prior to coming to this new role I worked for over 15 years in Rehabilitation. During my time as a full time clinician, I worked primarily with individuals with a spinal cord injury in an inpatient and outpatient setting, as well as in Complex Seating.  I have a passion for working with individuals with Spinal Cord Injury and ensuring quality care through all aspects of their healthcare journey, and in my new role my work is focusing on process improvement and quality care for those individuals with Spinal Cord Injury in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

Jeff Conway 

Jeff Conway lives with a T12 spinal cord injury in Newfoundland and Labrador. He advocates for change in a health care system that has historically had little focus on persons with spinal cord injury. This advocacy included the need to create an SCI health care navigator.

Dr. Ian Rigby

Ian Is a Calgary based physician who himself has a spinal cord injury. He has previously served on the Board of Directors and as Board Chair for the Praxis Spinal Cord Institute. He had the privilege of serving as co-chair of the HSO Advisory Committee for the development of the Integrated People-Centred Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program standard.

Peter Athanasopoulos

Peter Athanasopoulos has devoted his life to building relationships benefiting people living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) for the past 17 years. He started his rewarding career at Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, formally the Canadian Paraplegic Association Ontario, in 2001 as a Provincial Peer Support Coordinator. Peter has nurtured, grown and expanded Peer Support at Spinal Cord Injury Ontario. In 2008 he continued in the position of SCI Networks and Services Manager as a relationship builder working with people with SCI, service providers, researchers and other stakeholders to strengthen planning and delivery of services for Ontarians with SCI.  Presently, Peter has been enhancing his services to people with SCI by working with communities across Ontario to address and resolve systemic barriers that impact quality of life of people with SCI through his roles as Senior Manager, Public Policy and Government Relations, and Executive Director of the Ontario SCI Solutions Alliance.

Erin McHattie

Erin joined Accreditation Canada in May 2022 as a Client Engagement Lead after 22 years working in Ontario healthcare. A Registered Kinesiologist by background, Erin spent most of her clinical years working in the Ambulatory Care programs including Orthopaedics, Cardiac, Pulmonary, Stroke and Spinal Cord Rehabilitation in addition to leadership roles within a Regional Health Centre. Erin has a passion for driving best practice and quality improvement in our healthcare system.

Andra Stancu

Andra is a Senior Program Manager, Standards at Health Standards Organization (HSO), combining skills in research and content development, project management, and public engagement.

Her academic background is in global health (MSc) and most recently worked to improve health equity through rights-based advocacy prior to joining HSO.

She is delighted to be working alongside Praxis colleagues and Technical Committee members to support awareness and uptake of the recently published National Standard of Canada CAN/HSO S3402:2024 Integrated People-Centred Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program, and a comprehensive suite of standards and other quality improvement solutions developed by HSO