2022 Annual report

2022 Board of Health members

• Denis Doyle (Chair) – County of Frontenac

• Wess Garrod (Vice-Chair) – Community Appointee

• Christopher Seeley – Province Appointee 

• Councillor Mary Rita Holland – City of Kingston

• Councillor Jim Neill – City of Kingston

• Councillor John Wise – County of Lennox & Addington

• Councillor Jeff McLaren – City of Kingston

• David Pattenden – Community Appointee

Message from KFL&A Public Health Board of Health Chair (2016 to 2022), Denis Doyle

After eight consecutive years as KFL&A Board of Health Chair, I have made the difficult decision to step down concurrent with my retirement from public service and office. It has been an incredible experience to be the Board Chair and to see how public health impacts virtually every aspect of our lives.

As I reflect on my time, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have had the privilege to serve the residents of KFL&A and to be associated with an agency that provides such a diverse and wonderful range of programs and services that promote and protect our community’s health. 

I want to thank my fellow Board of Health members for their advocacy for the health of our community and commitment to public service. A very special thank you to out-going members of the Board, Councillors Jim Neill, Mary Rita Holland, and John Wise. I want to congratulate Wess Garrod, community representative and vice chair of the board since 2017 who will now serve as the board chair, and congratulations to Jeff McLaren who will assume vice chair position. Both of these positions will be voted in at the first meeting of the incoming board of health members in 2023.

When I reflect on the past year, I want to express my appreciation and recognize the tremendous effort of our community—residents, municipalities, workplaces, businesses, stakeholders, and community partners—in working together to support the largest vaccination campaign in our history. I understand the sacrifices that have been made and I want to thank you for getting vaccinated and for assisting others to get vaccinated to ensure your families, friends, colleagues, and the broader community all stay healthy and safe.

Along with supporting immunization efforts, The KFL&A Board of Health was extremely active this year advocating to the federal, provincial, and municipal governments in several areas to support public health guidance and to protect the health of our residents, including requests to:

• Support for long-term, stable provincial health funding to ensure evidence-based solutions to the drug poisoning crisis continue.

• Support the advancement of the federal Healthy Eating Strategy with a focus on finalizing front-of-package labelling regulations and developing regulations to restrict food and beverage marketing to children.

• Support e-petition for the decriminalization of drugs for personal use and methods to access uncontaminated supplies to reduce the harmful consequences that people with substance use disorder face as a result of criminalization.

• Support climate advocacy through the endorsement and signing of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment’s open letter on fossil fuel advertising.

• Support the federal mandatory labelling of all alcoholic beverages including the number of standard drinks in a container, the guidance on alcohol and health, health warnings, and nutrition information.

• Support the development of a federal Alcohol Act that will include alcohol labelling regulations.

• Advocate to KFL&A members of parliament to support the private members motion M-61 Warning Label Strategy for Alcoholic Products.

• Support municipalities to continue to prohibit alcohol consumption in public spaces and to strengthen or develop municipal alcohol policies that balance the responsible provision and use of alcohol against the need to reduce alcohol related risk and harm.

• Support municipalities who are considering by-laws to permit the consumption of alcohol in public spaces to conduct an initial health impact assessment and health equity analysis, apply evidence-informed strategies to mitigate the associated increase in alcohol-related harms, and to seek early and on-going public engagement and feedback across diverse groups.

I am extremely honoured to have been a part of such an exceptional board of health and very thankful for their support and guidance. I firmly believe that with the continued commitment of staff and management, oversight of our Board, and the continued support of our community members and partners, that KFL&A Public Health will continue to play an integral role in our community’s well-being. 

Message from KFL&A Public Health Board Chair, Wess Garrod

I am honoured to have been elected as the new chair of the Board of Health for KFL&A Public Health. I joined the Board of Health in 2014 as a provincial appointee and have served as the Vice Chair since 2019. I believe in the value and importance of Public Health to keep our community healthy.

Provincially, I represent KFL&A Public Health and Eastern Ontario on the Association of Local Public Health Agencies (alPHa) and I am member of the alPHa executive. In the KFL&A region, I am president of the Kingston Track and Field Club, member of the Limestone Learning Foundation board of directors, and a former trustee with the Limestone District School Board.

KFL&A Public Health has a dedicated staff and a strong leadership team that focuses on protecting the health of our community. They work collaboratively with our community partners making our public health agency a leader in the province. I look forward to working with fellow board members to provide the necessary governance for the agency.

Message from KFL&A Public Health Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Piotr Oglaza

• Support for programs and services that influence a child’s most formative and critical years of life to prevent disease and promote health.

• Address the ongoing opioid crisis that has been driven by a combination of factors, including an increasingly toxic drug supply, barriers to access to harm reduction services and treatment, and public health restrictions that led to more people using drugs alone.

• Focus on programs and services that address the modifiable risk factors associated with chronic disease, including tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating.

• Address inadequate and insecure access to food due to financial constraints to improve individual’s physical and mental health.

• Support strategic initiatives that focus on the negative consequences of climate change which disproportionately affect the elderly, infants and young children, rural communities, members of racialized communities, people living with chronic illnesses, and those experiencing low income or homelessness.

• Protect the public from exposure to health hazards and reduce the burden of communicable diseases and other infectious diseases of public health significance through the implementation of health protection services.