Archive for category: News

St. Catharines, ON – On International Harm Reduction Day, the Niagara Ontario Health Team – Équipe Santé Ontario Niagara (NOHT-ÉSON) wishes to acknowledge the significant contributions Positive Living Niagara has made through its Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site in St. Catharines, and to recognize the vital role evidence-based harm reduction services play in saving lives, reducing stigma, and connecting people to care.

Between 2019 and 2025, Positive Living Niagara recorded more than 88,000 visits and over 1,500 overdose reversals, underscoring the critical role it has played in saving lives, building trust, and creating community safety. This work has also created opportunities for engagement, support, and referrals that may not otherwise have occurred.

As this service is scheduled to end in mid-June, the NOHT-ÉSON recognizes that its loss will create gaps and risks for the population Positive Living Niagara and other partners of the NOHT-ÉSON have served. For many individuals, the site has offered not only supervised consumption, but also access to early intervention, prevention of HIV and Hepatitis C, direct access to health and social services, and a relationship-based entry point into broader systems of care. Its absence will have impacts both for individuals who rely on the service, the neighbourhood, and the broader health care system. As we have seen in other communities, the discontinuation of funding for sites has resulted in increased demand for emergency medical responses, increased hospital pressures, and additional strain on the health and social services sectors.

While the NOHT-ÉSON welcomes the investment to offer HART Hub services locally, they simply do not replace life-saving supervised consumption services. HART Hubs and consumption sites are complementary services within a comprehensive continuum of care. As this transition continues, it is important to acknowledge that these models serve different functions and populations, and that changes in service delivery may affect how people access care and support.

The NOHT-ÉSON urges the Province to continue supporting evidence-based harm reduction services in the community. Our network remains committed to supporting people who use substances in Niagara to ensure they have access to care in ways that are responsive, compassionate, and effective. We will continue to work collaboratively with partners across the region to protect health, preserve dignity, and improve outcomes for vulnerable residents.

At the NOHT-ÉSON’s January Planning Table meeting, partners endorsed the Niagara Children’s Centre (NCC) as a new NOHT-ÉSON partner—an important step toward stronger, more connected supports for children, youth, and families across Niagara.

Niagara Children’s Centre provides services for children living with physical, developmental, neurological, and communicative disorders or delays, using a family-centred lens that spans core clinical rehabilitation and infant/child development supports. As NCC CEO Noella Klawitter puts it, the organization’s focus is simple: “Niagara children and youth at their best… at home, school and in their community.”

The Centre’s reach is significant—and growing. NCC serves around 6,000 children each year and delivers more than 53,000 visits annually through a mix of in-person, virtual, school-based, and community-based supports. Over the past 15 years, the number of children served has increased by 120%, alongside major staffing growth and program expansion. Recent additions include the Infant and Child Development Program—a home-based visiting program supporting families, sometimes beginning right from the neonatal intensive care unit—and an Inclusion Quality Support Program, delivered in partnership with Bethesda (also a recent partner of the NOHT-ÉSON), to strengthen early years and daycare capacity to better support children with complex needs.

For Klawitter, joining the NOHT-ÉSON is about reducing fragmentation and strengthening coordination across the broader health and community system. “One of my biggest advocacy efforts is that children’s services shouldn’t be fragmented,” she said, noting the importance of being connected to the wider health sector to support “good, holistic, wraparound services for children.” She sees the partnership as an opportunity for increased collaboration and “seamless… service pathways for children,” along with clearer system navigation for parents and caregivers who can find the children’s service landscape complicated and overwhelming.

Looking ahead, the partnership is expected to move quickly from endorsement to action. The next step will be connecting NCC into the NOHT-ÉSON’s Planning Table and working groups so that partners can align priorities, share information, and identify practical ways to improve coordination across the system. This will include early service pathway and “system mapping” conversations aimed at making it easier for families to navigate between organizations and sectors, and reducing the silos that can create delays, duplication, or confusion. The shared goal is to strengthen wraparound supports not only for children and youth, but for the parents and caregivers who work hard every day to help them thrive.

Klawitter also brings a deeply personal perspective to her leadership. A former Paralympian who is legally blind, she describes her approach as “seeing potential, as opposed to disability,” shaped by resilience, tenacity, and the examples of people who overcame significant adversity.

Click here to learn more about the Niagara Children’s Centre.

St. Catharines, ON – This week marks four years since the tragic death of Heather Winterstein, a 24-year-old Anishnawbe Kwe community member. Her passing is a painful reminder to the Niagara Ontario Health Team – Équipe Santé Ontario Niagara (NOHT-ÉSON) and its partners of the urgent need to confront anti-Indigenous racism and long-standing inequities in health and social care.

On December 9, 2021, Heather went to Niagara Health’s St. Catharines site with severe back pain after a fall. She was discharged home with Tylenol. She returned to the hospital on December 10, 2021, and later collapsed and died while in the emergency department.

Following her death, an independent Emergency Department Assessment Panel reviewed Niagara Health’s emergency services and made 10 recommendations to improve care and experiences for Indigenous Peoples. In response, an Indigenous Health Services Plan was developed by Niagara Health to improve access, strengthen cultural safety, and support traditional healing practices within the hospital, including the creation of an Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation Team.

The NOHT-ÉSON remains committed to ensuring that health and social care planning in Niagara supports Indigenous communities and reflects reconciliation efforts, while continuing to work in allyship with Indigenous-led organizations to improve care in the region. Indigenous health is one of the six pillars in the NOHT-ÉSON 2024–2027 Strategic Plan, and learning opportunities, such as Indigenous cultural safety training, are offered to NOHT-ÉSON staff, volunteers, and partners.

We all have a role to play in making sure Indigenous people receive high-quality, safe, timely, and culturally-based services that reflect Indigenous traditions.

An inquest into Heather’s death was announced on June 5, 2024. A date and location have not yet been set. The NOHT-ÉSON is committed to listening and learning from the jury’s recommendations and working with Indigenous partners to help ensure that what happened to Heather does not happen again, and that Indigenous voices are prioritized in all aspects of care.