Dr. Etches began her verbal report with updates on mental health, addictions and substance use health. Specifically, she talked about collaborative work with the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective to provide suicide-prevention training to 30 youth mentors, work to promote and raise awareness of the new Farmer Wellness Initiative from the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the launch of the new Mental Health, Addictions and Substance Use Health dashboard, which is the result of a multi-year collaboration among a broad coalition of health-system partners, including people with lived and living experience of substance use, community providers of mental health and substance use health services, hospitals, police, paramedics and OPH. The dashboard is the first of its kind in the Province and it provides information to better plan, develop and coordinate services by using a common dataset to track and measure the status and outcomes of Ottawa’s population on mental health, addictions, and substance-use health.
Dr. Etches then talked about the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health’s 2022 Annual Report, released in March, titled “Being Ready: Ensuring Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Outbreaks and Pandemics”. She highlighted some of the report’s recommendations and noted how these resonate with OPH and how the organization is adapting its programs, policies and services to meet the community’s evolving needs.
In closing, Dr. Etches provided an update on Ontario’s latest recommendations for the COVID-19 booster vaccine.
Dr. Etches responded to questions arising from her verbal report. The Board then voted to receive the Medical Officer of Health's Verbal Report. Discussions on this item lasted approximately 18 minutes.