Meet our Healthy Communities health promoter | In this edition we are featuring Hamzah, a Healthy Communities health promoter who is the municipal liaison for the County of Prince Edward (PEC). Hamzah is working to strengthen the partnership between Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH) and PEC by providing ongoing public health expertise to the municipality. To support implementation of the PEC Community Safety and Wellbeing (CSWB) Plan, Hamzah is a participating member of community’s Mental Health and Problematic Substance Use action team. Hamzah is also involved with the PEC Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence action team. As part of the Municipal Liaison Program, Hamzah engages in ongoing collaboration with PEC administration to understand and support municipal goals and activities that align with public health priorities. While acting as municipal liaison for PEC is a large component of Hamzah’s role, his portfolio also includes topics such as mental health promotion, suicide prevention, alcohol use prevention, as well as on- and off-road safety. Alcohol use prevention work includes the promotion of Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health (CGAH) to decrease alcohol-related harms within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties (HPEC). You can find more information on the CGAH below. Hamzah currently chairs the internal HPEPH Mental Health and Substance Use Committee which aims to champion mental health promotion for the public of HPEC. The committee has members from various teams within HPEPH and is working to implement recommendations from a recent organizational mental health situational assessment. For example, one of the action items is to share local mental health data with community partners, municipal decision makers and the public on a regular basis. Expect to hear more about this work over the coming months as the committee develops evidence-informed strategies to promote mental health and reduce harm from substances in HPEC. If you are looking for more information on public health recommendations related to substance use, mental health, or on/off-road safety, reach out to Hamzah! You can connect with Hamzah, as well as the rest of the Healthy Communities Team at healthycommunities@hpeph.ca or use the Contact Us form. | Active School Travel Campaign The recent Quinte Region Traffic Coalition (QRTC) Active School Travel campaign was a success! The goal of this campaign was to provide drivers with a visual reminder to slow down on the streets as they enter a school zone. This practice helps make school zones safer for children, while simultaneously encouraging the community to use active transportation for travelling. The campaign expanded from one to five municipalities and nine schools in 2024. The QRTC has received significant positive feedback about this campaign from school administration, crossing guards, and community members. Moving forward, each fall and spring the QRTC will change the location of these silhouettes within participating municipalities to promote safe driving and active transportation throughout the region. | Other QRTC initiatives The QRTC plans to proceed with other road safety campaigns throughout the year, including Safe on 62 which is expected to be launched in the summer of this year. Additionally, Safe on 7 is planned for the fall, and Festive RIDE will take place in the winter. Stay tuned for details about these upcoming campaigns. Additional resources | Respiratory illness dashboards In the fall of 2024, HPEPH will be launching an expanded respiratory illness dashboard, including local data related to COVID-19. The updated dashboard will serve to reflect the level of risk in the community. If the level of risk for any respiratory virus is such that additional public notification is required, HPEPH will notify partners or the public. While work is underway to finalize the new respiratory illness dashboard, the COVID-19 Dashboard and the Weekly Respiratory Infection Update will not be updated over the summer months. As the spread of respiratory virus is typically low throughout the summer months, reporting of respiratory illness indicators during this time will be limited to outbreaks in high-risk settings, and is also available through Public Health Ontario. Work to prevent and respond to COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses will continue, in alignment with the Ontario Public Health Standards, as it is now integrated into ongoing operations. Canada's Guidance on Alcohol and Health The Healthy Communities team continues its work on alcohol use prevention by promoting valuable and new evidence to decision makers. For example, Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health was released last year by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA). This new guidance indicates that any level of drinking can be harmful to health, and the risk to health increases with increasing levels of alcohol consumption. Reduced consumption will reduce one’s risk of alcohol-related harms. The CCSA highlights how municipalities may develop or update local alcohol policies. Municipal alcohol policies are one element of a comprehensive approach to alcohol policy to encourage a culture of safety and moderation, which is a recommendation of Canada’s National Alcohol Strategy. The CSSA recommends that municipalities continue to control the use of alcohol on municipally owned properties such as parks, beaches, arenas, and other community centres. The goal of this recommendation is to mitigate the harms created by drinking alcohol in public spaces. These harms include but are not limited to injury, violence, crime, and vehicle collisions. The infographic below lists the level of low, moderate, and high alcohol consumption and associated risk. It also lists standard sizes of beer, cider, wine, and spirits. | Public Health Planning 101: For Public Health Professionals - OPHA Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) is offering Public Health & Planning 101 to expand knowledge about the built environment. The built environment is the human-made design and layout of the communities in which people live, work, and play. The design of neighborhoods, workplaces, homes, schools, sidewalks, bike paths, and other infrastructure can improve the community’s health. This course will offer information to explain the relationship between land use planning, community design, and the determinants of health. Some of the topics included in this course are: - Health and the built environment
- Policy, legislation, and standards in planning
- Roles and responsibilities in planning
- Public health and planners working together
Register for Public Health & Planning 101: For Public Health Professionals at OPHA.ca.on.ca. | Foundations of Collective Impact - Tamarack Institute The Tamarack Institute is offering a Foundations of Collective Impact course, which aims to build a foundation of knowledge and practice for implementing a collective impact. Collective impact is a disciplined, cross-sector approach to solving complex issues on a large scale. The learning objectives of this course include: - Appreciate – the uniqueness of the Collective Impact as per community change agenda.
- Access – to seek community’s willingness to engage and identify community assets useful for this purpose.
- Create – an action plan to gain multisector input to develop, implement, and sustain a Collective Impact Initiative.
- Enhance – ability to lead this initiative by using necessary tools and resources.
This course is $249 for individuals or $199 per registrant for groups with at least three or more individuals. | Connections for healthier communities | Anti-stigma campaign This spring, Peer Support South East Ontario (PSSEO) launched its mental health anti-stigma campaign “Get the Monkey off Your Back”. The goal of this campaign is to start conversations about mental health and addictions, and promote an anti-stigma approach. PSSEO offers services for anyone 16 or older who may be experiencing addiction and/or mental health concerns. PSSEO offer services in Belleville, Trenton, Madoc, Bancroft, Napanee and Kingston. Peer support is also offered to inpatients discharged from hospitals in Belleville, Kingston and Brockville. | Community Drug Strategy HPEPH has been facilitating the development of a local Community Drug Strategy (CDS). This CDS is being drafted collaboratively in consultation with various partners, and is guided by a steering committee with representation from several local agencies. Partners who have contributed to this consultation process include, but are not limited to health-care service providers, frontline workers, local enforcement agencies, and non-profit organizations. The CDS will be structured in alignment with the four foundational elements of the Canada Drug and Substances Strategy: - Prevention and education – aims to increase awareness about the effects and risks of unregulated substances.
- Substance use services and supports – includes harm reduction and recovery options, as well as social services.
- Evidence – data and research to help create evidence-informed substance use policies.
- Substance controls – activities that permit the use of controlled substances in a manner that reduces risk and addresses the harms of unregulated substances.
The CDS aims to develop a strategy to make progress on issues related to unregulated substances in the region, using a humanistic approach. Stay tuned for more information as this project progresses. | Healthy communities success story | Quinte Coordinating Commitee Against Violence The Quinte Coordinating Committee Against Violence (QCCAV) works to promote individual and community awareness of issues relating to sexual and domestic violence. The Committee also works to co-ordinate a community-wide response aimed at eradicating violence through education and advocacy for effective intervention and therapeutic services in the Quinte area. QCCAV is a group of individuals from various agencies within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties. In March, the QCCAV successfully hosted an all-day event with guest speakers to discuss recommendations from the Renfrew County inquest, prioritize these recommendations at the local level, and develop a community-wide action plan to influence meaningful change to end intimate partner violence. More than 100 participants attended this event, which sought input from all individuals in attendance. Multiple HPEPH staff participated, and provided a public health perspective to violence prevention and prevention of adverse childhood experiences. | Stay tuned for our next bulletin coming in the Fall of 2024! If you have any colleagues or partners who may be interested in receiving information and updates from Healthy Communities, please share this bulletin and encourage them to subscribe through our online subscription form. | Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is situated and provides services on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee people. | | | | |
