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Constituent Society Corner |
Health Promotion Ontario Celebrates 21 years
Kevin Churchill, HPO Chair, reports on Poverty, Politics and Public Health Conference
On May 13 and 14, about 50 Health Promotion Ontario (HPO) members and other guests including representatives from public health departments from Nova Scotia and Manitoba (sponsored by the Public Health Agency of Canada) gathered for our 21st annual conference, which was titled Poverty, Politics and Public Health.
The agenda was packed with sessions and speakers focusing on health promotion and the role of health promoters in developing health public policy.
The conference opened with greetings from myself as chair, as well as remarks from Gayle Bursey on behalf of Peel Health as our host health department. A letter of greeting from Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best was read.
Pegeen Walsh of the Ministry of Health Promotion provided an informative update on MHP activities, and a summary of progress as well as key goals and future opportunities for HPO to work together with the Ministry.
Anti-Poverty advocate and keynote speaker professor Grace-Edward Galabuzi of Ryerson University gave the first presentation with a provocative overview of poverty and the racialization of poverty, providing important insight into the specific issues affecting diverse populations, and policy levers.
Bob Gardner of the Wellesley Centre followed with an informative and insightful presentation on framing policy, gave pointers for writing a policy brief, and navigating policy through political channels. Participants worked through lunch and honed their skills by crafting "elevator speeches" designed to pitch a policy idea to a policy maker (in 30 seconds or less!).
The afternoon program included resource sharing, and the Annual General Meeting. Reports from the constituent society representatives were presented, and the elections and nominations process unfolded. The membership committee reported that our members registration has increased to over 160 members, which means that membership has tripled in less than three years!
On Wednesday May 14, Paulina Salamo of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care provided an update on the new Public Health Program Standards.
Alycia Fridkin, of the Public Health Agency of Canada updated the group on the Core Competencies and discipline-specific competencies. A summary of the work that has been completed to date will be posted on the HPO web site.
To wrap up the conference, the inaugural Lori Chow Award for Excellence in Health Promotion was presented to Gayle Bursey. Lori Chow, a long-time member of Health Promotion Ontario, passed away on May 19, 2007. The award was created in recognition of Lori's contribution to health promotion in the Province of Ontario. Recipients are acknowledged for their significant contribution and dedication to Health Promotion excellence.
The following is an excerpt from Gayle’s nomination:
As a registered dietitian, Gayle Bursey’s (Mackenzie) early health promotion work took her into remote northern first nations communities. From there she took a position as nutritionist with the Lambton Health Unit in 1990. In 1993, she was promoted to Manager of Family Health.
Gayle has been active in many provincial initiatives, including technical reviews of the Mandatory Programs and Services Guidelines and more recently the proposed Ontario Public Health Standards.
Gayle has demonstrated leadership in many areas at the local level, including tobacco control with local bylaws, trail development. In 2002, Gayle became the Director of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention for Peel Health. In that role, she has been instrumental in leading health promotion work in the areas of social marketing, land use planning, and the built environment.
Gayle is well known for her mentorship of others, and at has consistently worked to advance the practice of health promotion and increase the profile of health promoters as a discipline. Gayle has played a key role in the development of discipline-specific competencies for health promoters, working with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
A strong member and supporter of Health Promotion Ontario since 1992, Gayle has served as alPHa reprepresentative, Vice-Chair, and Chair among other functions over the years, and has represented HPO at many levels and many consultations throughout her tenure.
As a Director at Peel Health, she continues to support HPO by encouraging her staff to participate and supporting their active participation in HPO activities as members and executive positions.
Lori's husband David and daughters Sarah and Stephanie were in attendance and participated in the award presentation.
With continuing involvement in the implementation of the new standards, as well as continuing development of discipline-specific competencies for health promoters, HPO looks forward to our 22nd year as an organization and encourages members to get involved as we expect to have many opportunities to shape the practice and implementation of health promotion in Ontario and beyond!
There are currently 11 Constituent Societies of OPHA. Their representatives sit on the OPHA Board of Directors, and are elected by their respective societies.
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