 |
Association Update |
News from the Board of Directors
Highlights of the most recent meeting of OPHA's Board of Directors, held on March 27 and 28 at the North York Civic Centre included highly informative presentations by Ms. Mauricette Howlett, Director General, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ontario Nunuvuk Region and Mr. Anthony Sangster, Director General for Health Canada, Ontario Region.
Ms. Howlett presented the PHAC Strategic Plan and highlighted the changes being made within the Ontario/Nunuvuk Regional office. Priorities of the Regional Office include, emergency preparedness, determinants of health and disparities, and building public health capacity.
General areas of mutual interest between OPHA and PHAC include:
- Post SARS progress and Pandemic Planning
- Sustainable Development Strategy
- Public Health Practice
- Surveillance
- Disease Strategies and the Ontario and Bunavut Regional Office Mandate
Potential areas for Collaboration include:
- Building Public Health Capacity
- Core Competencies
- Emergency Preparedness Response
- Knowledge Translation and Management
- Determinants of Health
Mr. Sangster focused his presentation on some of the developments within the Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety, Health Products and Food, and First Nations and Inuit Health program responsibilities. Potential areas of mutual interest and collaboration include:
Health Canada's Public Health Programs
— tailored to priority health issues for First Nations such as chronic disease, maternal and child health, youth suicide prevention, and sexual health
Great Lakes Public Health Network
— a source of information and a networking opportunity Public Health Information on Product safety, Injury Prevention and Food and Nutrition
OPHA Board Business
The Board continued the discussion of the 2008-09 Strategic Action Plan which began at its January meeting and approved the budget. Plans are underway for the inaugural meetings of the newly formed Membership and Advocacy committees on April 11. The OPHA Constituent Society Presidents and OPHA Representatives are scheduled to meet on that day to share strategic directions and jointly plan for the 2009 OPHA Annual Conference.
Staff Development Update
The staff of OPHA has formed a Workplace Enhancement Committee, building on previous appreciative inquiry work. This Committee envisions an OPHA where all staff work in an environment of respect, cooperation and collaboration. Individuals are empowered and supported by management and recognized for the valuable contributions they make to the organization.
The organizational culture fosters inclusion, values innovation and enables ever employee to achieve their best work. A consultant has been hired to work with the group and will begin by developing and implementing a survey to aid in the development of an action plan.
NRC Staff Member Receives Award
Mary Ellen Prange, Program Coordinator for NRC-HEAL Program, will be honoured at the Dietitians of Canada Conference in Winnipeg in June. Mary Ellen will be given the "Speaking of Food and Healthy Living" Award for the BusyBodies/Hop la vie! Resources.
BusyBodies/Hop la vie! has been selected as the Central-Southern Ontario winner, and will now move on to be considered for the national award.
NRC Staff Member Gets Published
Congratulations to NRC's Lee Rysdale for her most recent article published in the peer-reviewed journal for members of Dietitians of Canada. The article is: Rysdale, L. (2008) Evaluation of a Nutrition Education Component Nested in the NutriSTEP™ Project. Can J Diet Prac Res 69(1):38-42. Note: the document can be downloaded from the Members Only section of the website.
Lee's program, NutriSTEP™ is a scientifically valid and reliable nutrition risk screening questionnaire. Currently being pilot tested in a variety of sites, Lee is hoping to launch NutriSTEP™ provincially early this summer.
Students' Contribution to OPHA
OPHA bid fond farewell to two placement students, Honey Bloomberg and Ellen Maclean, from the University of Toronto who spent 13 weeks working on a variety of projects (executed with stellar professionalism) designed to enhance their academic expertise and pave their way into rewarding careers as public health practitioners.
|
