Before departing for summer vacation, the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health will have one last meeting to talk about the ongoing work about keeping the community healthy. In this agenda, there are four big reports including the annual one about all of their works, and on a more granular level, the board will look at their early childhood health programs, the yearly injury surveillance report and the health effects on climate change. Check it out below!
NOTE #1: This meeting will held in-person at the Chancellor’s Way office and 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 June 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.
PRESENTATIONS:
These presentations are tied to full reports provided in the agenda below.
- 2025 Annual Community Report
- Children’s Health Services: April 2025-March 2026
- Building Community Resistance to Climate Change
2025 Annual Community Report – It’s that time of year again, time to get the glossy 20-page review highlighting the good work of Public Health. You can see the full report here, but it discusses – among other things – public health’s ongoing endeavours like food and well water inspections, monitoring mosquito-borne illnesses and measles, equity in healthcare, radon risk, reducing stigma, and piloting innovations like the service’s use of A.I.
Children’s Health Services: April 2025-March 2026 – This report focus on public health’s efforts to support families, from pregnancy through to school entry, through the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program and while prenatal and early childhood screening numbers have increased compared to previous years, postpartum screening has declined somewhat. Extensive feedback was received from the participating families and while there was a lot of positivity, there were also suggested improvements including more hands-on learning opportunities, additional digital resources, and greater awareness of the program during pregnancy so they could access services earlier. Public health has already started addressing that last concern with a pilot through EarlyON in Dufferin that’s about to be expanded to other locations including Guelph.
Injury Surveillance Report – In the last 20 years, public health has noted that transport-related injuries have declined significantly, but there’s some renewed cause for concerns. There were modest increases in injuries between 2021 and 2024, and while disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted those trends, it does indicate that there’s still some room for improvement. There’s also a matter of health equity here because rural communities can face increased risks due to higher travel speeds, limited cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and longer emergency response times. Also, children, youth, older adults, cyclists, pedestrians, lower-income residents, and people who rely on active transportation may be particularly vulnerable to transport-related injuries.
Building Community Resistance to Climate Change – Extreme heat, poor air quality, and flooding are the most significant climate-related threats facing the region, and the risks disproportionately affect vulnerable populations including seniors, children, people with chronic illnesses, low-income residents, outdoor workers, and those experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. That’s the bottom line for this follow-up to 2022’s Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Assessment, which also has new tools and resources for future action including an interactive regional map that identifies cooling centres, warming centres, clean-air spaces, drinking water locations, splash pads, public pools, and washrooms throughout Wellington, Dufferin, and Guelph. Public health is also developing a dashboard that will combine environmental data with health indicators such as emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and paramedic calls that will help government officials better understand the impact of extreme weather events.
CLOSED SESSION:
The Modern Enterprise – This is a matter concerning the “security of the property” of the Board of Health, so it will be discussed in-camera to wrap up the meeting.
Guelph Politico 