This month’s Board of Health meeting focuses on matters of everyday health. For instance, there was an incident in the Dufferin part of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health where people got sick from food at a public event. There will be a report about that, plus a report about Public Health’s communications strategy last year and something called “Adverse Childhood Experiences”.
NOTE #1: This meeting will be in-person at the Public Health office on Chancellors Way and it will also be available to watch online. To get the link you will have to send a request to join the meeting via an online form that you can find here. Deadline to send in the request is Wednesday May 3 at 11 am.
NOTE #2: The meeting begins at 2 pm.
MOH Update(s)– Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer will deliver her verbal report on current matters facing Public Health.
PRESENTATION: Food Safety Program Report: Women’s Day Enteric Outbreak. This presentation is tied to the report that’s discussed two spaces down.
Health Protection 2023 First Quarter Performance Indicator Summary January–March 2023 – There are the stats from the first quarter of 2023 covering all the inspections that Public Health did over the first three months of the year, from the regular food safety inspection schedule to infection and communicable disease prevention and control.
Food Safety Program Report: International Women’s Day Luncheon Event Enteric Outbreak – Part of a formal presentation mentioned above, this report deals with an incident where 88 people reported gastrointestinal illness after attending an event at the Best Western Plus Orangeville Inn & Suites last month on International Women’s Day.
Apparently, food that contained Bacillus cereus spores are to blame, likely in the chicken bowl. Despite the rather high number of people at the event that reported symptoms, only two people surveyed sought medical assistance. Fun (?) fact: There were 57 suspected foodborne illness complaints at the WDGPH last year, but unlike this event, there were no food-related enteric outbreaks.
Corporate Communications Annual Report 2022 – Public Health sent out 82 per cent fewer messages last year when compared to 2021. Obviously, this is tied to a less “intense pace” of outreach in this waning phase of the pandemic. On the other hand though, Public Health has seen a growth of 500 per cent in engagement across their various communication channels when compared to pre-pandemic times.
Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Wellington Dufferin-Guelph – What is an ACE? As defined in the report it’s a “potentially traumatic or stressful events occurring in the first 18 years of life that can have negative effects on children’s developing brains.” Does this mean abuse? It can, but it might also mean household dysfunction like having a parent in crisis, or emotional and physical neglect, which includes matters of poverty like not having enough to eat or proper healthcare.
Would it surprise you to learn that among the 990 participants in a survey in the region that 80 per cent reported at lease one ACE in the their lives? Also revealing is that 30 per cent had four or more, 40 per cent lived in a house with problematic substance abuse, 46 per cent experienced emotional neglect, 21 per cent physical neglect, and 55 per cent had experienced emotional abuse.
The report will also cover the health equity implications of ACEs, what communities that are especially in danger because of them, and what Public Health and community partners are doing to combat them.
Committee (Verbal) Report(s) – The only reports this month come from Finance +Audit Committee and include the 2022 Draft Audited Financial Statements plus a compliance report for Stewardship of Management Operations, one of the many regular review processes that was, until recently, paused as Public Health battled COVID-19.
CLOSED SESSION:
MOH Update(s): Labour relations or employee negotiations – Labour matters can be discussed in-camera due to Section 239(2) (b) of the Municipal Act relating to “personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees.”
2023 Insurance Renewal: Liability and Cyber – Since this is a matter related to security, it can be discussed in-camera under Section 239(2) (a) of the Municipal Act, “the security of the property of the municipality or local board.”
Guelph Politico 