Ottawa Board of Health
MINUTES 7
Monday, November 4, 2019, 5:00 PM
Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue W.
Contact for the Ottawa Board of Health:
Diane Blais, Board of Health Secretary
613-580-2424, ext. 21544
Diane.Blais@Ottawa.ca

Board Members:
Chair: K. Egli
Vice-Chair: T. DeGiovanni
Members: E. Banham, J. Cloutier, E. El-Chantiry, G. Gower, T. Kavanagh, L. Leikin, S. Menard, S. Pinel, P. Tilley

The Ottawa Board of Health met in the Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, on Monday, November 4, 2019 beginning at 5:00 PM.

The Chair, Keith Egli, presided over the meeting.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

Confirmation of minutes of the meeting of September 16, 2019.

CONFIRMED

COMMUNICATIONS

Seventeen communication items have been received (held on file with the Board of Health Secretary).

Following a ‘Consent Agenda’ process, the Board considered the held Items in the following order: Items 3, 2, 1 and 4.

3.		NEXT STEPS IN HARM REDUCTION AND OVERDOSE PREVENTION
		ACS2019-OPH-HPS-0003
	That the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit: 1.         Receive this report for information 2.         Approve the next steps for OPH’s harm reduction program, as outlined in this report.
	CARRIED
	Andrew Hendriks, Director of Health Protection, spoke to a PowerPoint presentation, which served to provide the Board with an overview of the report. The Board then heard from four (4) public delegations who expressed support for the next steps outlined in the report and talked about the importance of partnerships in dealing with the opioid crisis: ·         Deputy Chief Steve Bell, Ottawa Police Service ·         Mark Barnes, Respect Rx Pharmacy ·         Dawn Lyons and Jeff Mason, Somerset West Community Health Centre ·         Rob Boyd, Sandy Hill Community Health Centre Following the presentation and public delegation, staff responded to questions from Board members. This discussion lasted approximately 60 minutes. The Board then voted on the report recommendations.

4.		2020 DRAFT OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE OTTAWA BOARD OF HEALTH
		ACS2019-OPH-PCS-0007
	That, at its meeting of November 4, 2019, the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit: 1.         Receive and table the 2020 Draft Operating Budget for the Ottawa Board of Health; and
	RECEIVED and TABLED
	2.         Direct staff to forward the 2020 Draft Operating Budget for the Ottawa Board of Health to Ottawa City Council on November 6, 2019, as part of the City Council’s tabling of the City of Ottawa 202019 Draft Operating and Capital budget.
	CARRIED
	Mr. Lou Flaborea, Manager of Performance & Corporate Services, spoke to a PowerPoint presentation, which served to provide the Board with some context on this report and the 2020 Draft Operating Budget for Ottawa Public Health. Mr. Flaborea was accompanied by Ms. Brenda Gorton, Account Manager, Finances Department. Following the presentation, Mr. Flaborea and Dr. Vera Etches responded to questions from Board members. This discussion lasted approximately 20 minutes. The report recommendations 1 and 2 were then put to the Board and voted on separately.

5.		CHILD VISUAL HEALTH AND VISION SCREENING SERVICES
		ACS2019-OPH-HPP-0011
	That the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit: 1.         Receive, for information, a report on the new public health mandate Child Visual Health and Vision Screening; and 2.         Approve staff to provide vision health services for the 2019-2020 school year, as outlined in this report.
	CARRIED

6.		BOARD OF HEALTH TRAVEL POLICY AND ENHANCED CODE OF CONDUCT
		ACS2019-OPH-BOH-0013
	That the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit: 1.         Approve an enhanced Board of Health Code of Conduct and Complaint Protocol, as described in this report and detailed in Document 1; and 2.         Approve the Board of Health Travel Policy, as described in this report and detailed in Document 2.
	CARRIED

7.		ATTENDANCE AT THE ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES’ (alPHa) 2019 FALL SYMPOSIUM AND BOH SECTION MEETING
		ACS2019-OPH-BOH-0014
	That the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit approve the attendance of Members Banham and Tilley at the Association of Local Public Health Agencies’ (alPHa) 2019 Fall Symposium and BOH Section Meeting, to be held from November 6 to7, 2019 in Toronto.
	CARRIED

8.		2020 OTTAWA BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING SCHEDULE
		ACS2019-OPH-BOH-0015
	That the Board of Health for the City of Ottawa Health Unit approve the 2020 meeting schedule, as outlined in this report.
	CARRIED

NEXT MEETING

Special Meeting

Monday, December 9, 2019 - 5:00 PM, Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue W.

_____________________________                    _____________________________

BOARD SECRETARY                                           BOARD CHAIR

Board of Health Meeting
Chair Keith Egli – Verbal report
November 4, 2019

Good evening everyone, Bonsoir,

Thank you for being here tonight. I would like to begin by honouring the Algonquin Anishnaabeg people, on whose traditional unceded territory the City of Ottawa is located. I would like to extend this respect to all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, their ancestors, their Elders and their valuable past and present contributions to this land.

In tonight’s verbal report, I will be providing updates on actions stemming from a Board motion, new provincial vaping regulations and local flu clinics.

Motion

At our September meeting, the Board approved a motion recommending that City Council request that the Mayor ask the Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, to maintain the relationship between the City of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Health (OPH).

At its meeting of September 25^th Council unanimously supported the Board of Health recommendation, which talked about the importance of maintaining OPH’s relationship with the City in order to maximize the coordination between public health programs and municipal services, and the benefits derived from the integration of administration and other efficiencies. As requested, Mayor Watson has written to the Minister of Health to convey the request.

My hope is that the motion and subsequent actions will garner support for maintaining the current relationship and encourage the Province to recognize the City’s ongoing in-kind contributions in calculating future budget allocations.

Vaping

On the topic of vaping, earlier this month, Mayor Watson sent a letter to Minister Elliott, on the need for provincial regulation to decrease the harms of vaping. The letter highlighted the increasing prevalence of vaping among youth and pointed to the work OPH is doing with Ottawa school boards on this subject. On October 25, the Minister announced that Ontario is taking urgent action to address the issue of youth vaping by banning the promotion of vapour products in convenience stores and gas stations. Starting January 1, 2020, the promotion of vapour products in retail stores will only be permitted in specialty vape stores and cannabis retail stores, which are only open to people aged 19 and over. I am very grateful for these first steps the Ontario government is taking to address the issue of vaping. This is an important measure to reduce the impact of vaping product marketing and advertising to youth and non-users of tobacco products. 

Flu

Flu season is now upon us. This past weekend OPH held its first community influenza immunization clinic and it was well attended. Over 1,300 vaccines were given, which is up 37% from last year. OPH will be offering nine (9) more community clinics in different areas across the city until November 20, 2019. Clinics are scheduled in areas where there are many young families, older adults and where there are fewer pharmacies offering the vaccine. I encourage everyone to get the flu vaccine and I know we have a television segment planned for later this week, where some of us will be getting our flu shot and Dr. Etches will be talking about the importance of doing so.

That concludes my verbal report. I welcome any questions.

Board of Health Meeting
Dr. Vera Etches – Verbal report
November 4, 2019

Good evening, Bonsoir, Kwe,

Ce soir, je tiens à vous offrir un compte rendu des travaux de modernisation de la santé publique, des efforts de transformation du système provincial de soins de santé et vous faire part de travaux qui se font à l’échelle locale par Santé publique Ottawa.

This evening, I would like to provide you with updates on public health modernization work, provincial health systems transformation efforts, and highlight work happening at the local level at Ottawa Public Health.

With respect to public health modernization, OPH continues to follow provincial developments and announcements and to seek opportunities to strengthen the public health system. At our last meeting, I shared that the province was looking at a renewed consultation process, led by an Expert Advisor who had yet to be named. Since then, the Province has announced the appointment of Mr. Jim Pine, Chief Administrative Officer for the County of Hastings and former member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), to serve as advisor for the upcoming consultations on modernizing Ontario’s public health sector and emergency health services. It is expected that consultations will begin this fall, culminating in a report to be delivered to the Minister of Health, Christine Elliott. The province explained that Mr. Pine will travel across Ontario consulting with numerous organizations and partners including: boards of health, public health experts, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario as well as unions. We await the release of a discussion paper and consultation schedule and I look forward to the opportunity to meet with Mr. Pine about ideas for strengthening our health care system and the public health sector in particular.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend meetings in Toronto to discuss modernization with various provincial representatives. I look forward to continuing conversations with provincial contacts tomorrow when I return to Toronto in advance of the alPHa fall symposium. Je quitte pour Toronto demain pour continuer mes conversations avec divers représentants de la province.

Moving to the topic of health system transformation, I am also keen to update you on the Ontario Health Team applications. You will recall that, in September, the Board of Health carried a motion supporting Ottawa Public Health’s continued involvement in Ontario Health Teams.  Nous avons eu chance de supporter et participer aux soumissions finales de trois équipes de la région d’Ottawa, soit:

1.    Ottawa Health Team (led by 6 Ottawa-area Community Health Centres)

2.    Ottawa East OHT (led by Hôpital Montfort) and

3.    Kids Come First OHT (led by CHEO)

Following the September Board of Health meeting, these applications were submitted to the Ministry of Health. Since then, the Ministry has advised that it will be conducting onsite visits with all three of these teams next week. These visits are intended to provide the teams with an opportunity to discuss the content of their full applications in more detail. During these visits, we look forward to highlighting the value of public health’s work to drive prevention across the health care system and we will continue to keep the Board informed of progress.

Pour conclure sur la modernisation de la santé publique et la transformation du système de soins de santé, j’aimerais faire une petite annonce de dotation. Blair Patacairk has joined our team on a part-time basis to provide senior-level support with stakeholder and government relations. I welcome Blair and I look forward to drawing on his expertise in this area.

I would now like to highlight some developments within Ottawa Public Health.

OPH is continuing work on the development of our electronic public health records system that will be used across the health unit for years to come. At the moment we are focused on improving and replacing existing paper processes. Later, development will focus on building new functionality for other areas of work within OPH as well as integration with other electronic databases and client access to information. While this initiative is labour-intensive requiring significant effort and time, it will transform the work we do and better serve residents of Ottawa.

Enfin, nous lancerons cet automne la deuxième étape de notre campagne sur le cannabis « Mais sérieusement » qui encourage les résidents à prendre des décisions éclairées au sujet de leur consommation de cannabis en leur transmettant des messages fondés sur des données probantes et dans le but de réduire les risques pour la santé.

Finally, this fall we are implementing the second phase of our Blunt Fact cannabis campaign. This will roll-out before new cannabis products become available in December, including edible foods and beverages, cannabis extracts and oils that can be vaped, and cannabis “topicals” such as ointments and creams.  The campaign, which builds on messaging from partners such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, Canadian Medical and Nurses Associations, Canadian Public Health Association, and the Centre for Substance Use and Addictions, encourages residents to make informed decisions about cannabis by providing evidence-based messages and a harm reduction approach.

Although it is not possible to highlight all the great work being done by OPH teams, the various topics discussed tonight illustrate the commitment OPH employees have to protecting and promoting the health of Ottawa residents and visitors. I am always grateful and humbled by the work we do.

Meegwetch, Merci. Ceci conclut ma mise à jour verbal. Ça me ferait plaisir de répondre à vos questions.