Every year, respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) place a heavy burden on Ontario’s healthcare system and pose serious risks to infants and young children. Preventing the spread of RSV requires coordinated planning, education and resource sharing across the province.
Ontario’s regional maternal-child health networks (“regional networks”) play a vital role in RSV prevention by tailoring provincial resources to local needs. This article highlights how three regional networks are working to prevent the spread of RSV in their communities.
Combining public awareness with clinician resources
To prevent the spread of RSV in Ontario Health (OH)’s Central Region, the Women and Children’s Health Network (WCHN) launched a comprehensive strategy that involved the creation of clinician-focused resources alongside broad public awareness efforts.
“Our goal is to make sure every family has the information and support they need to protect babies from RSV,” said Marnie Lightfoot, WCHN Regional Director. “By raising awareness and improving access to prevention, we’re working toward fewer hospitalizations and healthier outcomes for children across our region.”
WCHN developed its RSV Prevention Toolkit for providers, which they distributed to hospitals throughout their region. The Toolkit makes use of PCMCH’s RSV resources and includes the latest clinical guidance, eligibility criteria for vaccines, parent education materials, and more.
In addition, WCHN rolled out a successful public awareness campaign. This multi-faceted campaign involves social media messaging; the production and sharing of a video featuring a local mother and baby who received an intramuscular injection of a monoclonal antibody treatment (i.e., Beyfortus); and promoting RSV-related information on digital screens in emergency department waiting rooms.
With a system-wide approach, WCHN works in partnership with OH Central Region leadership and associated regional paediatrics table. Extracting feedback from the 2024/25 RSV season, a key learnings document was developed with recommendations to advance efforts moving into the 2025/26 season.
Ensuring equitable access to care in Northern Ontario
In OH’s North West and North East Regions, where geography and resources present distinct challenges, the Northern Maternal Child Network (NMCN) is focusing on building capacity and ensuring hospitals are ready to respond to seasonal surges.
“Due to the vastness of the region, families often have to travel long distances for care,” noted Crystal Lawrence, Regional Manager for NMCN. “Preventing RSV through education and planning is essential. By streamlining information and tailoring training, we’re supporting partners to deliver equitable, high-quality care even in the most remote communities.”
The regional network accomplishes its objectives by bringing together obstetric and paediatric inpatient hospitals through a regional acute care roundtable to review data, share lessons learned and plan for upcoming needs. Presentations from emergency management experts and RSV specialists provide timely, practical guidance. NMCN’s standing committees, communities of practice, newsletter and website serve as key channels for hosting and distributing resources, such as PCMCH’s RSV fact sheets, the RSV Prevention Toolkit (adapted from the WCHN toolkit) and educational webinars. Together, these efforts are helping align standards across the region and supporting hospitals as they prepare for the seasonal surge.
Recognizing the challenges faced by smaller, rural hospitals with limited resources, NMCN is enhancing support through simulation training, virtual education and peer-to-peer collaboration. This year, NMCN’s Regional Leads also conducted site visits to support best practices and standardized care, provide targeted education, and strengthen nurses’ confidence.
Implementing RSV prevention in the clinical setting
Serving OH East Region, the Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program (CMNRP) has focused on promoting and operationalizing the province’s RSV prevention program.
Prior to the start of the viral season, CMNRP hosted an implementation webinar to inform partners of the RSV prevention program and to identify opportunities, gaps and challenges for regional implementation — such as recommendations for documentation and timing of administration. They also distributed related resources and webinars throughout the RSV season via the regional network’s Weekly News email newsletter and communities of practice.
Recognizing the need for ongoing engagement, CMNRP offered a Q&A session to their regional network members, facilitated discussions during site visits with Level 1 hospitals, and encouraged networking through their communities of practice. The CMNRP team shared public health information to raise awareness about access to RSV immunization in the community and circulated examples of medical directives. Throughout the process, CMNRP engaged with their obstetrical and neonatology regional clinical leads and subject matter experts to help guide and inform implementation.
“We want hospitals and providers to feel equipped not just with knowledge, but with a practical roadmap for how to implement the RSV prevention program in their own settings,” said Darlene Rose, Regional Director for CMNRP.
Strengthening the province’s RSV response
The efforts of WCHN, NMCN and CMNRP reflect the collective power of Ontario’s regional networks to address challenges such as RSV. By equipping providers, raising awareness among families, and building capacity across diverse healthcare settings, the regional networks are strengthening the province’s ability to respond to RSV and other respiratory illnesses.
Interested in learning more about Ontario’s regional maternal-child health networks? Visit the PCMCH website for more information, including links to the different networks. Learn more about the key functions and features of the regional networks.
Access PCMCH’s RSV resources:
- RSV Fact Sheet for Parents and Expectant Parents (English| French | Simplified Chinese | Traditional Chinese | Arabic | Italian | Punjabi | Spanish
- RSV Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers (English| French)
- RSV Fact Sheet for Indigenous Parents, Caregivers and Families (developed in collaboration with the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council) (English | French | Cree | Inuktitut | Ojibway| Mohawk)
- RSV Poster