Health department completes majority of priorities in 2017

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

It was an efficient year for Durham Public Health according to the department’s annual performance report.

According to the report, Durham Public Health completed 91 of 102 (89 per cent) priorities identified for 2017, including the development of a teen suicide prevention plan and responding to all health hazard complaints within 24 hours.

Collaborations were made with Carea Community Health Centre and Firehouse Youth Centre in Bowmanville to promote sexual health services in the region.

The 11 remaining priorities are considered “in progress” or incomplete.

Those still in progress include the review and revision of the department’s continuity of operations plan, delivery of home visits by public health nurses, implementation of a plan to address local family violence, and the creation of an asset management inventory plan.

The four incomplete priorities include developing a cold warning and information system with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The performance report is a key component of the health department’s accountability requirements, along with the region’s health plan, business plans and budgets, provincial indicators and targets, and recognition by Accreditation Canada.

A number of noteworthy accomplishments by the department were outlined as well.

Across the province and Canada, the healthcare sector is face to face with the opioid drug crisis.

Earlier this year, the province revealed that opioid-related deaths and emergency department visits spiked in 2017. More than 1,050 people suffered opioid-related deaths between January to October 2017, compared to 694 during the same time in 2016.

Also, there were 7,658 emergency department visits related to overdoses during that timeframe, a 42 per cent increase over the previous year.

With Ontario developing a strategy to address opioid addiction and overdoses, the local health department followed suit, creating a task force with representatives from 15 community agencies and residents with opioid use experience.

A Durham-wide community forum on the effects of opioids was held last October, an event that saw firefighters, police officers, paramedics, addiction advocates and medical professionals coming together.

Durham Paramedic Services saw an upswing in activity last year, responding to 80,047 calls, an 8.3 per cent increase.

The region hired 27 part-time primary care paramedics (PCP), two full-time advanced care paramedics (ACP), and 11 paramedics received certifications as ACPs.

Public health staff was also busy on the vaccination front as well.

In 2017, Durham Public Health distributed 104,760 doses of influenza vaccines to health-care practitioners.

Staff also administered 11,823 doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, 21,625 doses of HPV vaccine, and 7,483 doses of meningococcal vaccine to students across Durham.

Food safety inspectors identified 12,679 violations of the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and Food Premises Regulation in 2017.

In turn, One-hundred-twenty-nine charges were laid against 84 food premises, resulting in 100 a per cent conviction rate, excluding 20 charges that had been held over to 2018.