February 4, 2020: Mayor's Report
January 22nd
I attended Board of Health Finance Meeting and immediately following the Board of Health Governance Meeting
January 29th
I attended Hastings County Planning and Development Meeting and immediately following the Hastings County Finance Property and Personnel Committee Meeting
January 30th
I attended Hastings County Council Meeting
For information: The Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus continues to advocate for its key priorities including the Provincial Health System overhaul, expansion of broadband services, affordable housing, long term care funding, child care funding and joint and several liability changes to the legislation. Rick Philips, Warden is the Vice Chair.
January 30th
I travelled to Toronto to attend a Committee of the Whole Meeting of the AMO Board. The primary focus of that meeting was to discuss and make recommendations regarding the Modernization of the Provincial Health System. I am a representative on the Rural Caucus. The challenges to provide services to rural Ontario where there is limited technical service and the large areas of northern Ontario where there are huge distances to access medical services are a real challenge. There are language barriers and cultural differences. In general, throughout Ontario there are numerous collective bargaining units representing service providers. Jim Pine and the team have held consultations in the north and continue to hold consultations throughout the province. The consultation scheduled for this area was scheduled for tomorrow and has been postponed due to the demands on Dr. Williams and the Board of Health dealing with the repatriation of people from China affected by the coronavirus.
The recommendations to the AMO Board were:
Funding- provincial commitment
Boundaries of new health units/teams
The need for improved technology
Shared data bases
Some opportunities for shared back office services
Attention to mental health and addictions
Emphasis on reducing hallway medicine
Emergency Response improvements:
Better triage at the site
Off load delays at hospital causes ambulance and paramedics to be unavailable to respond to other emergencies for those periods of time
Improved dispatch practices
Reduce frequent flyers i.e., those who demand transport for health issues that are not necessarily an emergency. Improved efforts toward prevention through other support agencies
Establish new models of patient care
911 - who responds (fire, police, ambulance)
I'm sure you are all concerned about the coronavirus and the repatriation of the people from China.
I have a letter from Jim Pine which I will read to you explaining the plans and execution of the repatriation of those citizens to the Air Base in Trenton:
—————————————-Letter as follows—————————————-
Good Morning Members of County Council:
We wanted to provide this short note to you regarding the repatriation of Canadians from Hubei province in China. You may have heard the Federal announcement yesterday that the flight(s) bringing Canadians back to Canada will be landing at CFB Trenton. We expect those flight(s) to arrive this week.
Over the course of the weekend the County has been working closely with Federal, Provincial and local officials including the Hastings Prince Edward Health Unit and Quinte Health Care.
On Saturday afternoon, the County convened a conference call with local agencies and municipal officials, including Dr. Piotr Oglaza our Medical Officer of Health, Warden Phillips, Councillor Jo-Anne Albert who is also the Chair of the Health Unit Board, Karen Sharpe, Councillor from the City of Quinte West and Chair of the EMS Joint Committee, Mayor Harrison (unable to join) representatives from QHC, Cathy Bradley, Chief Doug Socha, Erin Rivers CHS Director and myself. The purpose was to ensure a full sharing of information available at the time and establish common communication protocols. Subsequently, Warden Phillips spoke with Mayor Panciuk from Belleville.
Given the situation, Warden Phillips has asked Councillor Albert to take the role of Acting Warden while he is away. As Chair of the Health Unit Board and Chair of the Finance, Property and Personnel Committee we will have excellent executive leadership as a result.
Here are key issues and messages for your information:
Repatriation flights will land at 8 Wing CFB Trenton
Passengers will be quarantined for 14 days on the Base
Public Health Canada (PHC) will be the lead agency
Ontario is deploying its Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT) to the Base
The EMAT is essentially a mobile hospital
The Hastings Prince Edward Health Unit will support PHC as required and will have a presence on the Base.
Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Service will support PHC/EMAT and HPEHU as required
Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Service will have staff in both the PHC and EMAT command centers
Chief Socha communicated with all of his paramedic staff last night about the situation and the Service's role
Department heads are meeting this morning to be briefed and messaging to County staff will go out shortly afterwards
Responsibility for County communications will be under the direction of Cathy Bradley who will work closely with Chief Socha and myself
Ontario has provided the following key messages below:
We are working closely with the federal government as they plan for the repatriation of Canadians from Hubei province in China to ensure their safe and seamless return.
Ontario's public health system has already shown remarkable responsiveness to the 2019 novel coronavirus -- with the robust processes we have in place, and the efforts of our dedicated public health professionals and skilled front line health care workers.
Our top concern will continue to be safeguarding the health of Ontarians.
For more information on logistical details such as travel arrangements, testing, etc. please follow up with Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada.
I you find this note helpful and we will keep you informed as we go forward. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Jim Pine
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January 31st
I attended the AMO Board of Directors Meeting. There were many topics covered but these are the ones that most apply to this municipality.
Topics:
There was a confidential item discussed regarding Policing Regulations and legislation changes. There is a consultation invitation for February 20th in Brockville.
A Flood Advisors Report was presented which affects conservation authorities and flood control throughout the Province.
"Analysis"
Ontario's current approach to managing risks associated with flooding is based on the five core components of emergency management: i) prevention; ii) mitigation; iii) preparedness; iv) response and v) recovery.
There is a call to shift from the current risk based approach, where engineering techniques are used to mitigate risk, to a hazard approach where development does not take place in flood prone areas and shorelines.
Further discussion regarding the role of Conservation Authorities and the ongoing challenges related to dams, etc. and future funding scenarios to sustain current infrastructure and where shared services can be implemented to manage costs. Municipalities will be encouraged to address this through their official plans and zoning by-laws.
Human Sex Trafficking has become a very real criminal problem throughout Ontario and for that matter all provinces. The Region of Peel made a delegation and have developed a program for identifying the signs and recognizing the typical routines used by the perpetrators. This is happening in everyone's back yard.
95% of victims of human trafficking are female
72% are under the age of 25. The average age is 12 - 24 years
The Highway 7 corridor is the most used in human trafficking
The pamphlet created by Peel Region is available.
Thank you.