Downtown East Toronto Ontario Health Team

DET FPN

About Us

The Downtown East Toronto Family Physician Network (DET FPN) is a collaborative network of family physicians from diverse practice models. We are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of patients and communities in Downtown East Toronto (DET) by sharing our unique knowledge and expertise as family physicians to inform local health system planning.

The DET FPN is a signed member and active collaborative partner of the Downtown East Toronto Ontario Health Team (DET OHT). Currently, approximately 160 local family physicians are signed members of the DET FPN.

Our Purpose

  • Engage family physicians in DET to collaborate and identify system gaps, solutions, and priority areas for development and funding support.
  • Act as a unified voice to communicate these opportunities and recommendations to health system partners and funders.
  • Identify network family physicians to represent the FPN at the DET OHT Core Group and Working Groups in order to inform planning and implementation of the governance structures, programs and change initiatives of the DET OHT.

Meet Our Executive Council

The FPN Lead and the Executive Council members are elected every two years by the member physicians of the DET FPN.

Curtis Handford, DET FPN Lead

Dr. Handford was elected as the DET FPN Lead in 2022, following his role as interim co-lead from 2020 to 2022. He is a family physician with over 20 years of experience, practicing with the St Michael’s Academic Family Health team. He also serves as the Deputy Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Medical Director of the Primary and Community Care Program at Unity Health Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital.

From April 2019 to October 2020, he chaired the DET OHT planning table, collaborating across sectors to develop the DET OHT application, which received Ministry’s approval in fall 2020. Between 2016 and 2020, Dr. Handford served as the Primary Care Clinical Lead for the Mid-East Toronto Sub-Region of the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). He is passionate about strengthening engagement with local family physicians and primary care providers in DET, aiming to create meaningful connections to the system-improvement work of the DET OHT.

Laura Pripstein, DET FPN Treasurer

Dr. Pripstein is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and a family physician at Sherbourne Health’s Family Health Team. For the past 17 years, she has practiced family medicine in DET committed to delivering holistic, wrap-around primary care to marginalized populations. In her role as CMO, she also serves on several DET OHT planning committees, including SCOPE Physician Advisory Group and the Interprofessional Primary Care Team steering committee.

Judith Peranson, DET FPN Secretary

Dr. Peranson is an academic family physician with the St. Michael’s Hospital Academic Family Health Team, based at the Sumac Creek Health Centre in Regent Park. She has leadership experience in quality improvement, education for team-based and interprofessional care, and program evaluation.

Resources for Primary Care

Seamless Care Optimizing the Patient Experience (SCOPE)

SCOPE is a virtual, inter-professional care team that connects primary care providers with specialists, hospitals, community care, and mental health resources in real time. In the Downtown East Toronto area, SCOPE is administered by Unity Health Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital in partnership with the Downtown East Toronto Family Physician Network (DET FPN) to support local family physicians and other primary care providers.

SCOPE services for the Downtown East Toronto area include:

  • General Internal Medicine
  • Home & Community Care Support Services
  • Nurse Navigator
  • Medical Imaging
  • Infectious Disease
  • Mental Health Navigation to Community Resources

Hours of Operation:
Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

To register for SCOPE, please click here.

For more information, please email SCOPE at [email protected].

Hospital and Provincial Resources

Recently Updated Referral Forms

DET OHT Lower Limb Preservation Program

To support Ontario Health’s Lower-Limb Preservation Strategy, the DET OHT has developed and implemented lower limb care pathways for individuals with high-risk feet in the DET communities. This approach integrates primary and community care, specialized foot and wound care, as well as acute care. The DET’s implementation efforts aim to:

  • Reduce preventable, non-traumatic major lower limb amputations within the DET.
  • Improve equitable care pathways for early identification, prevention, and wound care.

Read more.

DET OHT Counselling Stepped Care Program

The DET OHT is working to address gaps in mental health and addiction services by developing a stepped care model of counselling and psychotherapy. This model prioritizes the most effective and least resource-intensive treatment as the initial step, and recommends a ‘step up’ to more intensive services when necessary, depending on the degree of need. The Stepped Care Model is focusing on the needs of patients/clients experiencing mild to moderate depression and anxiety.

The ‘Stepped Care Pilot’ is a collaborative effort involving community members with lived experience and a diverse group of care providers, including family physicians, a mental health navigator – provided in partnership with the St Michael’s SCOPE program – and community mental health providers. Read More.

Online Appointment Bookings

Details coming soon.

Public Health Resources

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)
Seasonal Influenza

Flu season typically runs from late fall to early spring. Starting in early October, free flu shots will be available for those most vulnerable and high-priority populations. Starting October 28, free flu shots will be available for all individuals 6 months of age and older who live, work, or go to school in Ontario.

Get the flu shot as soon as it becomes available to you.

For more information, talk to your doctor, nurse practitioner, pharmacist or public health unit or visit Ontario’s flu vaccination program.

COVID-19 Vaccination

Recommendations for Fall/Winter 2024-2025 COVID-19 Vaccination

Please see below for updated information regarding COVID-19 vaccine this fall/winter to provide protection against prevalent strains.

Vaccines are available at select pharmacies and some primary care providers. Additionally, they are available at Toronto Public Health clinics for children 6 months to 4 years of age by appointment through online booking portal.

Pneumococcal Vaccination

Pneumococcal disease is common in young children, but older adults are also at greater risk for complications.

There are two new formulations of vaccine to protect against pneumococcal disease. For more information, please click here.

Mpox Vaccination

Mpox is an infectious disease which is typically spread through close, intimate, or sexual contact with an infected person, or by touching contaminated surfaces or materials. While most people recover quickly, some can become seriously ill.

Getting two doses of the Mpox vaccine provides the best protection from the virus.

Appointments are available for eligible residents at Toronto Public Health clinics or through walk-ins at The 519 Community Centre on select days.

Toronto Public Health Clinics

By appointment only. You can book through the online booking portal. No Ontario Health Card or health insurance is required to receive the vaccine.

The 519 Community Centre

519 Church St, Toronto, ON, M4Y 2C9
Clinic dates and hours:

  • Friday, November 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (The Ballroom)
  • Saturday, October 26, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (The Ballroom)

Join us

If you are a family physician practicing in Downtown East Toronto or a family physician serving the population of this area, we invite you to join our network. Membership is easy, free, and can be withdrawn any time.

To sign up, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Contact Us

For any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].