Asthma Canada Webinars

Asthma Canada’s Speaker Series Webinars connect asthma community members to new research, best practices, and the general education that is necessary to make informed choices about their health. Each webinar includes a Question and Answer session at the end of the presentation.

Have an idea for a topic you would like to see covered? Let us know! Email info@staging.asthma.ca

Tips to Prepare for the September Peak

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood and affects people of all ages. We know that in Canada, 20-25% of all children’s admissions to hospital for asthma occur during the month of September. Back to school shouldn’t be a challenge for your child. Being prepared is the best way to avoid the September Asthma Peak. This webinar teaches how you can help your child return to school, healthy and safely.

Severe Asthma Charter Series – Your CHOICE + OCS from Asthma Canada on Vimeo.

Severe Asthma Charter Series: Your Choice and OCS (Oral Corticosteroids)

In Part One of our Severe Asthma Charter Series webinars, we welcome back Dr. Alan Kaplan for “Your CHOICE + OCS”

People living with Severe Asthma often experience adverse effects from treatments used to manage asthma attacks, like oral corticosteroids (OCS). If these treatments are used long-term, the resulting adverse effects may include weight gain, diabetes, osteoporosis, glaucoma, cardiovascular disease, and more. These effects can have a significant impact on a patient’s other health conditions and overall quality of life.

Now that new, targeted treatment options are available, there is a growing call for Severe Asthma care to be less reliant on the long-term use of OCS to prevent asthma attacks.

What you’ll take away:

Severe Asthma vs. uncontrolled asthma
Steps you can take to evaluate and manage your asthma
Treatment options
Some information you may not have even thought about!

COVID-19 and Asthma

This special event webinar with Dr. Alan Kaplan focuses on questions around COVID-19 and its impact on those with asthma or caring for those with asthma.

What you’ll take away:

Updates on the current situation with updates from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the World Health Organization
An understanding of COVID-19 risks to the general population and specifically to those living with asthma
Steps people with asthma can take to stay healthy
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Living Well with Asthma as an Older Adult

There are over one million Canadians over the age of 50 living with asthma.

Older adults face unique challenges in managing asthma, and often disproportionately bear the burden of asthma. Some common challenges include misdiagnosis and under-treatment, confounding co-morbidities, Severe Asthma, and accessibility barriers.

What you’ll take away:

- Tips on how to manage asthma in older adults with co-morbidities
- Safety information about common asthma medications
- The principles of self-advocacy for older adults with asthma
- Approaches to asthma management for optimal health

Vaccinations: Stop the Spread of Flu and Pneumococcal Disease

Guest Speake Dr. Allison McGeer presents. Influenza, also known as the seasonal flu, and pneumococcal disease are unpredictable and highly contagious infections. An influenza infection in the lungs can trigger asthma attacks and a worsening of asthma symptoms, which can also lead to pneumonia and other acute respiratory diseases. Pneumococcal pneumonia can cause severe complications in people living with asthma, with hospitalizations and even loss of life.

What you’ll take away:

What are the latest trends of flu and pneumococcal disease in 2019?
What are the risks to those with asthma?
What are common vaccination myths?
What approaches could lead to better health outcomes?
Tips and advice from a medical professional

Red Flag: Overusing your Rescue Inhaler

Guest Speaker Dr. Alan Kaplan presents. Excessive use of relievers (four or more times per week for adults) is indicative of poor asthma control. There are many risks associated with the inappropriate use of rescue medications including decreased quality of life, increased risk of severe, life-threatening asthma attacks and permanent damage to the lungs. If overused, relievers may cause more frequent asthma flare-ups, may lead to frequent hospitalizations and can have an impact on mental and physical activity.

What you’ll take away:

Why must asthma be treated as a chronic disease that needs to be managed; not as episodic?
What are the risks of over-reliance?
What is good asthma control?
What are the new changes to GINA and how does this impact patients?

Asthma and Mental Health

Guest Speaker Dr. Kim Lavoie presents. Studies have shown that anxiety and depression are 1.5 to 2.4 times more common in people with asthma than people without asthma. In people with Severe Asthma, this link is even stronger. Alongside poor asthma control, mental health issues like depression and anxiety can greatly contribute to impairing the quality of life in people with asthma. If you are suffering from anxiety, depression or other mental health concerns, it is important to reach out so you can get the help and support you need!

What you’ll take away:

What is the link between asthma and mental health?
What are some potential effects of oral corticosteroid use on mental health?
What are some risk factors and treatment options?
What approaches could lead to better health outcomes?

Proper Diagnosis and Correct Testing

Guest Speaker Dr. Shawn Aaron presents. A recent study led by Dr. Shawn Aaron shows that over 30% of Canadians may have been incorrectly diagnosed with asthma. While some patients may have experienced a remission since their diagnosis, there are concerns in both the scientific and patient communities that asthma diagnoses are often made without proper testing. Likewise, a significant percentage of Canadians also live with undiagnosed asthma.

What you’ll take away:

Common reasons for the misdiagnosis of asthma in Canada
Steps to take in order to address the issue of misdiagnosis
An idea of how should asthma be assessed and diagnosed
What you can do to ensure a correct diagnosis from your healthcare provider

Phenotypes of Asthma

Guest speaker Dr. Patrick Mitchell presents. Asthma phenotypes are distinguished through identifiable clusters of demographic and clinical features, lung function and patterns of inflammation. While different phenotypes can produce similar symptoms, the underlying mechanisms can be very different, and can be predictive for response to treatment. Insight into asthma phenotypes can lead to personalized treatment and targeted therapies.

What you’ll take away:

What asthma phenotypes are
How to know what type of asthma you have
How our knowledge of asthma phenotypes be used in treating asthma and Severe Asthma
What’s new in the field of asthma phenotype research

Asthma in Children: Management and Support

Susan Balkovec, Registered Respiratory Therapist and Certified Asthma Educator in the Respiratory Medicine Division at SickKids Hospital, presents.

What you’ll take away:

What happens when your child is diagnosed with asthma
Best practices for managing your child’s asthma
Understanding of what support a child living with asthma need in their daily life
Understanding of what support a child living with asthma needs in school or at the playground

Impact of the Environment on Asthma

Guest presenters Dr. Christopher Carlsten, Associate Professor of Medicine and Canada Research Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease and James Scongack, Vice President of Corporate Affairs & Environment for Bruce Power, discuss how the environment affects asthma.

What you’ll take away:

How the environment affects asthma
Why climate change affects respiratory health
How the phase-out of coal positively impacts air quality
If other regions can learn anything from Ontario’s experience in phasing out coal

Paradoxes of Asthma Management

Guest speaker was Dr. Anne Ellis, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at Queen’s University, presents on the paradoxes of asthma management.

What you’ll take away:

How the paradoxes of asthma management affect you
What you need to know about effective asthma management
Why your asthma controller so important
How asthma is currently being treated in Canada

Living Well with Severe Asthma

Guest presenter Dr. Ron Olivenstein discusses Severe Asthma.

What you’ll take away:

What Severe Asthma is
What you need to know about Severe Asthma
What questions to ask your healthcare provider
How you can self-advocate for support, further testing and treatment options
What the is difference between Severe Asthma and uncontrolled asthma
How Severe Asthma is currently being treated in Canada
What biologics are. and how the treatment landscape is changing

Severe Asthma and Biologic Treatments

This 1-hour webinar features respected physician Dr. Catherine Lemière (Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal).

It provides the most up to date information on biologics including information on dosage, potential for targeted therapies, research/development ,and more. It also includes information on new and emerging treatment options, and an in-depth discussion on the personal, social, medical, and economic burden of Severe Asthma in Canada.

Asthma Canada Webinars