September 2011 - Message from OPHA’s President and Executive Director

Where did the summer go? Although it was a busy summer, we are looking forward to an action-packed fall with lots of exciting initiatives underway at the Association.

Gearing up for the Upcoming Provincial Election

With the provincial election around the corner, we have been engaging our partners and members to better understand the current concerns and emerging issues on the public health and health system horizon. 

Given the concerns that all political parties have around reigning in the growth of health spending, the time for the health system to increase its focus in public health has never been greater.  Ensuring healthier Ontarians through optimal health promotion, prevention, protection and maintenance will impact the need for investments downstream in the health system.  In D. Manuel et al’s 2009 report, it was estimated that only 11% of the health budget in Ontario is spent in the area of public health to address the health promotion, prevention, maintenance and protection of all Ontarians!  This represents less than $8 per person in Ontario.  One can only speculate how much more the Ontario population would benefit if greater investments were directed towards public health system. 

The Association is working to influence the political parties including initiating a number of advocacy letters and meetings with political representatives. We are creating an advocacy strategy to carry us through the election and beyond and will be ramping up our media presence in the coming months. Our greatest strength lies in our numbers – with hundreds of members and even more through our partnership with our Constituent Societies, we can make a difference.  We ask our members to undertake similar activities – contact your local political representatives and ask them about their commitment to public health and how they imagine public health can play a greater role in their party’s health platform.  To support your advocacy efforts at the local level, we are creating an Advocacy Toolkit which we will be sharing with you in the very near future. In the meantime, email, tweet us or facebook us with your thoughts and suggestions. Lastly, irrespective of your political interests, we urge you to go out and vote!

2011 Membership Campaign

We kicked off our 2011 membership campaign in late August 2011, which will continue throughout the fall and corresponds with the OPHA Annual Meeting that will be held on October 5, 2011 in Toronto.

OPHA that has been in existence for 62 years.  We have had a rich history and have played at key role in all the major point in Ontario’s public health system history representing the collective voice of all public health and community health professionals from across all disciplines. 

The importance of becoming a new member or renewing membership has never been greater.  Membership matters to OPHA – without our members, OPHA would not exist.  We have taken the time to listen to you and to your concerns (members who wish to review the recent membership survey undertaken in late 2010 may contact admin@opha.on.ca for more information).  We have taken significant steps to expand benefits for our members and we continue to increase the OPHA membership value.  To sign up or to renew your membership for 2011, please go to the following site:  http://www.cvent.com/events/opha-membership-2011/event-summary-2e46e906cda8453795c7bac8e782567e.aspx

Coming Soon! OPHA/HPO Fall Forum October 5 and 6

Under the leadership of Mary Anne McBean and Kevin Churchill we have been hard at work planning the 2011 OPHA/HPO Fall Forum focused on the theme of “Engaging Priority Populations”.

Check out our amazing line up of speakers! http://www.cvent.com/events/2011-opha-hpo-fall-forum/agenda-02c13b0003c84ba58e8133aa825ffe6a.aspx

It is still not too late to take advantage of the Early Bird special.  Come out and learn from the leaders in the field and build your knowledge, skills and understanding of this very relevant and emerging issue.

Increasing Support for our Working Groups

We have initiated a number of changes to enhance the support we provide to our ten work groups. Pulling together front-line public health experts from around the province, the groups are working on a number of issues that are important and wide-ranging - food security, alcohol policy, injury prevention, reproductive, breastfeeding and child and youth health, social determinants of health and equitable access, environmental health and built environment. These work groups have enabled us to speak out on key high profile initiatives such as the Provincial Policy Statement Review, Provincial Food and Nutrition Strategy and Social Assistance Review. 
As well, we are creating new platforms to allow OPHA members to network and engage in knowledge exchange and transfer (networks and Communities of Practice). 

Collaborating to Further Public Health in Ontario

We have been actively engaging with key health system partners to identify opportunities for shared priorities as well as participate in a number of collaboratives:  Locally Driven Collaborative Projects (Public Health Ontario), After School Initiatives (PRO, PHAC and MHPS), Ophea, CMHA, the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, RNAO and the University of Toronto.