After taking January off, we’re back to the usual business of regional public health with this month’s Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health meeting. Coming up in the realm of public health this month is an update from the region’s top doctor, updates about the work of public health across a variety of areas, and changes to the board’s most public facing function, the health inspections. All that, and some elections too!
NOTE #1: This meeting will held virtually 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 February 7 at 11 am.
NOTE #2: The meeting begins at 2 pm.
2024 Inaugural Meeting Elections and Nominations – This is the first Board of Health meeting for 2024, so that means there’s some immediate business to take care of if you were paying attention to all the other boards and committees that met last month. First things first, the board will chose a new chair, vice-chair and secretary-treasurer, which are presently George Bridge, Rodrigo Goller and Chris White respectively. They will also confirm membership for standing committees, dates and times for meetings, and the appointment of auditors.
MOH Update(s) – Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer will deliver her verbal report on current matters facing Public Health.
PRESENTATIONS:
Check Before You Choose – There’s a full report about this later in the agenda.
Health Protection Q4 Summary Report – Along with the report about the changes to the Check Before You Choose site coming up on this agenda, the actual work that’s compiled on that site – the inspections of salons, eateries, pools and retail stores – was 100 per cent complete in 2023.
Clinical Services Annual Review – The total number of hepatitis C cases in the region held steady year-over-year with one less than there were in 2022. Meanwhile, there was a decrease in cases of gonorrhea after some big peaks between the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022. There was only one case of the multi-drug resistant version of gonorrhea, and the region was 100 per cent in compliance for the treatment of all tuberculosis cases in Wellington, Dufferin and Guelph.
Check Before You Choose – If youen’ve been on the Check Before You Choose site lately, then you know that there’s be some changes. Last year, Public Health performed some upgrades to the site to make it easier to us, especially for people using the site on a mobile device who make up 60 per cent of the people using it. Also, since 2019 there’s been about 1,000 extra annual requests for inspections, or complaints from the public that requires inspection, there was a greater need to streamline all that new information on the site, especially since it’s all public information.
International Plowing Match and Rural Expo – This massive annual event took place in Amaranth Township in Dufferin County last September, so making sure that the water was safe to drink and that the food was safe to eat fell under the responsibility of our own local public health authority. This is a good news report through because the thousand hours that WDGPH staff spent on site resulted in a safe and enjoyable plowing match for everyone thanks to good communication on-site and extensive pre-planning before the event.
Smart Cities Final Report – The work of the Our Food Future office ran was completed at the end of last year, but its work on food insecurity and equity is now under the bailiwick of Public Health. Using the lessons learned from the project, Public Health will continue to work with community partners to build the healthy eating portfolio and create new projects to increase healthy eating and reduce the barriers to nutritious food. The Arrell Food Institute will be hiring a Community Food Lead, a two-year position that will continue community engagement and food access co-ordination activities
Oral Heath Report – The good news is that dental health screenings resumed in the last school year, and the fluoride varnish was introduced in all publicly-funded schools in the region. Also, seniors are being taken care of with the Seniors Dental Care Program, which has been in business in Guelph since 2021 and Orangeville since 2022. Having said that, there are still tremendous barriers to dental care for a great many Ontarians who are no longer students and not yet seniors; in fact, not all seniors are eligible for that program. Public Health is currently advocating to the Ministry of Health to expand access to dental care programs since poor oral health leads to higher rates of respiratory illness, diabetes complications, and quality of life.
Infectious Disease Spotlight – Public Health is required by legislation to keep a constant eye on several different infectious diseases, and this spotlight is being put on meningitis. If you’re unaware, meningitis can be caused by many different viruses and bacteria and can be spread through direct contact of respiratory droplets or throat secretions (saliva or spit). Anyone can be infected by meningitis, but the largest group of affected people are children under five. There were nine total cases of Neisseria meningitidis serotype B in the region in 2022-2023, which is a very virulent strain of the disease, and requires an “urgent public health response.”
Guelph Politico 