Healthcare Professionals

To ensure people living with ALS receive the best possible quality of care, their primary care physicians must be knowledgeable about the disease and work in collaboration with an ALS specialty team. The resources on this page will help you better understand ALS and support your patients who are living with it.

ReferALS is a program designed to help non-ALS general or community neurologists recognize and understand the signs and symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and how and when to refer suspected ALS cases to a specialty Canadian ALS Research Network (CALS) Clinic. The initiative aims to reduce the time to diagnosis of ALS across Canada, expediting critical access to multidisciplinary care, approved treatments, and clinical trials, which may slow disease progression and/or improve quality of life.

Canadians affected by ALS must receive the best possible standard of care regardless of where they live. The Canadian ALS Best Practice Recommendations (BPRs) reflect the Canadian healthcare system’s reality and address issues relevant to Canada, including timeliness of care, disease-modifying therapies, medical assistance in dying (MAiD), and caregiver support.

The recommendations empower advocacy for access to the best and most appropriate care for people living with ALS.

This guide is for general practitioners who have a patient who has been diagnosed with ALS or who is suspected to have ALS. The goal is to assist primary care physicians in recognizing the signs and symptoms of ALS, understanding ALS progression, symptom management, changing patient needs, the importance of interdisciplinary ALS care, and more.

The Canadian ALS Research Network (CALS) is a network of clinicians across Canada who specialize in ALS research and clinical care. Membership to CALS is open to clinicians at ALS clinics who aspire to adhere to the Canadian Best Practice Recommendations for the Management of ALS (BPRs) and have an interest in research or already participate in it.

A referral to a CALS site can expedite access to a multidisciplinary care team, early intervention, and access to clinical trial opportunities.

The ALS Canada equipment program is available to people living with ALS who reside in Ontario. It provides people who are living with ALS with access to essential assistive equipment for maintaining their safety, comfort and functioning. As a physician, you will help people living with ALS to assess the type of equipment they need and how to access it.

If you live outside of Ontario and would like to learn more about access to equipment, please contact your provincial ALS Society.

This booklet is designed to help healthcare professionals reinforce with their patients the importance of considering family dynamics in the care and management of a person living with ALS, and in particular, how to help young children understand the diagnosis and management of their parent’s disease.

The ALS Canada Gene Hub is intended to be a central resource for global ALS genetic information and opportunities. The Gene Hub provides an overview of how genetics work and information and resources on genetic counselling and testing.

We encourage patients with a genetic form of ALS or those looking for more information on ALS genetics and testing to refer to our Gene Hub.