April 2009 - Constituent Society Corner

HPO Report: Diversity and Health Promotion

by Inge Roosendaal, Health Promotion Ontario (HPO)

An exciting annual conference, themed Diversity and Health Promotion, is planned for May 27, 2009 in Brampton. It speaks to the Ontario Public Health Standard’s emphasis on meeting the needs of diverse and priority populations. This conference will explore ways and means to operationalize this focus from the perspective of the health promoter. Featured attractions, keynote topics and speakers include:

  • “Challenges and Opportunities of Health Promotion – A South Asian Perspective” — Baldev Mutta, Executive Director, Punjabi Community Health Services
  • “Working with Priority Populations” — Nancy Dubois, Health Communication Unit
  • Presentation of the annual Lori Chow Memorial Award for Excellence in Health Promotion.

 

Activities

Health Promotion Competencies — HPO continues to work with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to develop discipline-specific competencies for Health Promoters. The association is hoping to secure long-term funding to engage in a Pan-Canadian consultation regarding our discussion draft set of competencies.

HPO was pleased to support the health promoters of Manitoba as they hosted a full-day provincial consultation on the “discussion draft” Health Promotion (HP) competencies in December 2008. HPO member Gayle Bursey (Peel) attended as a representative from HPO and was able to share her perspective as one of the Ontario leaders of the developmental HP competency work. It is anticipated that a report from this consultation session will be used to help guide further work in other provinces.

HPO member Marco Ghassemi has been seconded to lead the competency work currently underway. He has developed a contact database of 305 health promoters across the country. All provinces and territories are represented. This network of health promoters will help provide feedback for the competencies development work currently underway. Additionally, he developed a summary of the range of core competencies reports has been developed, consisting of quantitative and qualitative data. This will assist in informing the refinement of the current draft set of HP competencies.

Strategic Plan Working Group — A strategic plan working group was formed following a motion at our May 2008 Annual General Meeting. The Executive Committee approved the motion for this group to engage the services of a writer to continue to develop a brief “position” or discussion paper that complements our “Fulfilling the Promise” paper of 2005. Potential audiences for this submission include the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, The Ministry of Health Promotion, the Ontario Agency for Health Promotion and Protection, and other provincial organizations.