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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 30 ,2 02 0 | 10 oakville.ca Join us Friday, January 31 • Trafalgar Park Community Centre, 133 Rebecca Street from 9 to 11 a.m. • Sixteen Mile Sports Complex, 3070 Neyagawa Boulevard from 2 to 4 p.m. Skate and helmet rentals are available during FirstOntario skates. $6.22 skates l $3.11 helmet l $7.35 combo rental Capacity restrictions apply. Visit oakville.ca for details. Sponsored by FREE P.A. Day Skate As the Province gears up to re- vamp Ontario's public-health sys- tem, the Region is urging the Ford government to leave Halton's health department alone. Halton staff and council mem- bers recently delivered this mes- sage to provincial officials who are conducting consultations on the topic, with a discussion paper on public-health modernization serving as the basis for the ses- sions. Since the proposal to replace Ontario's 35 health units with 10 regional public-health entities first came up last year, Halton hadfirst came up last year, Halton hadf advocated that it should continue to provide local health services, and that council should remain as the board of health to maintain ac- countability and streamline ad- ministration. "Changes to the existing orga- nizational structure and gover- nance model in Halton would cause disruptions to service deliv- ery, and could be complicated and costly," said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani as she reiterated Halton's submissi- ons to the Province during coun- cil's Jan. 15 meeting. The discussion paper seeks in- put on four key challenges when it comes to public health: insuffi- cient capacity, duplication of ef- fort, inconsistent priority setting,fort, inconsistent priority setting,f and misalignment of health, social and other services. On the priority setting front, Halton Hills Councillor Jane Fo- gal contended there should be in- consistencies across the province. "If we don't have a cookie-cutter approach, it does seem that priori- ties would be different in different jurisdictions, like in northern On- tario," she said. "We should be tail- oring our priorities to our locale, not trying to be homogenous." Fogal, who was among the localFogal, who was among the localF politicians taking part in the con- sultation with the Province, said she hopes the Ontario govern- ment is listening to the feedback it's receiving. "If they want to improve the system, they were given hints about how to do that, and med- dling with us was not one of them," she said. "They say they have these goals, and as if changing ev- erything will make it true, but I don't think it will." When it comes to the alignment of health, social and other servic- es, Meghani pointed to the part- nerships the health unit has al- ready established with local hos- pitals, school boards and more. "Given the strong relationships in the community, along with the size of the population, Halton feels it's important to maintain the boundaries of the public health unit so as not to disrupt these key relationships," she explained. To reduce duplication of ef-To reduce duplication of ef-T forts, Meghani suggested theforts, Meghani suggested thef Province could create things like Ontario-wide electronic medical records and an immunization reg- istry. Halton officials used the con- sultation opportunity to remind the Province that its public health funding has not kept pace with thefunding has not kept pace with thef rate of growth, with the Region routinely contributing funds from its coffers to maintain local servic- es. The Province has also released a discussion paper on the modern- ization of emergency health ser- vices. Halton director of paramed- ic services Greg Sage attended the consultations to push for the mod- ernization of the local EMS dis- patch system, among other things. Regional Chair Gary Carr willRegional Chair Gary Carr willR now write to Premier Doug Ford, health minister Christine Elliott and her advisor, Jim Pine, reiter- ating Halton's position. The Province will continue gathering feedback on the topic until Feb. 10. COUNCIL HALTON WEIGHS IN ON PUBLIC HEALTH OVERHAUL MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@metroland.com Halton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani addresses regional council about the Province's public health modernization process. Halton Region screenshot "Changes to the existing organizational structure and governance model in Halton would cause disruptions to service delivery, and could be complicated and costly." - Halton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani