INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONTROL

Tuberculosis – The team is continuing to monitor seven active cases; two of these clients receive their medication daily from the public health nurse.  The school screening program is extremely busy.  We continue to see 50 clients per week. The week of January 15, 2007, the team will be at the University of Windsor screening the international students.  One hundred and fifty students are expected to attend.

Vaccine Preventable – The team has been reviewing the immunization status of students from both the Separate school board and the French school board.   Of the approximately 21,000 students in the Separate school board, 2,220 students were provided with Immunization Questionnaires to indicate the type of vaccine they required.   Immunization Questionnaires were distributed early in the fall to the French school board. Of the approximately 4,000 student population, 622 questionnaires were provided.  In January, the team will be completing the Grade 7 Meningitis C and Hepatitis B vaccination at school clinics.

Infectious Disease – A four-year old child from Barrie was diagnosed with Meningitis C while visiting Windsor during the holidays.   The team contacted everyone who had been in contact with the child.  The team worked closely with the Barrie health unit to ensure that all persons received proper preventative medication.  Some individuals live as far as British Columbia and Montreal.  The child is presently recovering in a local hospital with discharge expected by the end of the week.  This child was not eligible for the provincially funded vaccine. 

 We have three long-term care facilities in outbreak status; one respiratory, one enteric, and one with both enteric and respiratory.  To date there has been no confirmed cases of influenza A or B in our community.

HEALTH INSPECTION

The Health Inspection department has been very busy at the onset of the new year.  While we continue to refine our new Hedgehog program some improvements in efficiency have been realized.  We hope to roll out additional programs throughout the year.

Environmental public health week is celebrated January 15-21, 2007. During this week we recognize the essential services provide by our inspectors.

There have been no large Boil Water Advisories to date this year.

The private sewage system inspection service is currently very slow as we typically only approve the installation of systems on an emergency basis.  With the addition of an Inspection Assistant last year, a very important backup for Part 8 was filled, while also freeing up a significant amount of public health inspector time for other important duties.

CLINICAL SERVICES

Sexual Health Clinic – The following chart gives a comparative summary of clinic activities over the past three years.

Dental Program –  Dental screening has resumed in the schools.  Forty-schools have been provided the service so far this school year.  Over 23,000 elementary school children participated in the dental school screening program in 2006.

Year-end stats for children screened at the dental clinic in Windsor show that 2,409 children were screened in 2006 with 661 children being eligible for the CINOT program.  The county clinics screened an additional 1,335 children with 298 children eligible for the CINOT program.

TOBACCO

National Non-Smoking Week - National Non-Smoking Week has been observed during the third week in January for more than twenty years.  The Canadian Council for Tobacco Control coordinates activities, which represent one of the most important annual events in Canada’s ongoing public education efforts on controlling tobacco use.  As in the past, WECHU will participate in these celebrations by promoting our tobacco program offerings in Windsor-Essex and highlighting our achievements, outlining the importance of cessation efforts for 2007, and promoting tobacco related initiatives here including the Youth Action Alliance Program.  Not only is celebrating this week a chance for residents to celebrate the great strides taken towards the reduction of tobacco consumption but also to remind the community how important these tobacco-related initiatives are to our health and well being. 

Driven to Quit 2007 - The Canadian Cancer Society’s Driven to Quit Challenge is a health promotion campaign to encourage Ontario adults who are daily smokers to quit smoking for the month of April with the support of a buddy and Smokers’ Helpline. The promotional period for the contest begins Monday, January 22, 2007.  The Registration/Promotion period falls between January 22-February 28, 2007, and the Quit Period will run from March 1-April 1, 2007.  As in previous years, WECHU has submitted a request for proposal to CCS to receive additional promotional grant money to promote the contest locally.  If accepted, this will take place simultaneously with the provincial promotional plan which will include ads in the Windsor Star, on Transit Windsor Buses, and radio messaging on a variety of local stations.  Prizes for the contest winners will be presented on Monday, April 30, 2007. During the 2006 contest, there were approximately 500 registrants from the Windsor-Essex County Area.

Enforcement - As we start a new year the enforcement staff of the tobacco unit are already focused on another year full of compliance and education.  Overall, Health Unit enforcement staff are continuing efforts to ensure compliance with all aspects of the legislation with a new year focus on smoke-free workplace vehicles and tobacco vendor compliance (display, promotion and sales to minors).  Enforcement staff will continue to work towards ensuring that all employers and proprietors are clear on what the requirements are under the legislation and to ensure that they understand that they will be held accountable if these requirements are not met.  With January being National Non-Smoking month, the importance of compliance and enforcement of the SFOA will continue to be communicated to the residents and businesses of Windsor-Essex.  As of

December 31, 2006 a total of 103 Part I charges and 4 Part III charges have been laid since the implementation of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act in May.  Additionally, since the legislation went into effect, the Tobacco Hotline at the Health Unit has received over 791 calls to date which include roughly 300 tobacco-related complaints.  All complaints received on the hotline are documented and investigated by enforcement staff. 

Respectfully submitted,

Deb Bennett, Director