Health unit budget up 0.5%; dental bus out 3 months

BARRIE — The Simcoe Muskoka District Board of Health was able to keep at risk jobs, while approving a $28.9 million budget.

In minutes from their Feb. 21 meeting, they say the 2018 budget represents a half percentage point increase over 2017.

Using some surplus funds from last year, they “retained more than three full time positions that would have been lost through the ongoing freeze in provincial shared funding.”

Most of the health unit’s budget is covered by a cost-sharing arrangement between the province and municipalities.

Municipalities in Simcoe Muskoka will cover 27.6 per cent of the 2018 health unit budget, or about $8 million.

The health unit has also applied for 100 per cent funding totaling $5.14 million to cover program areas such as tobacco, the Healthy Smiles Ontario dental service, and opioid-related response.

 

Mobile dental clinic out 3 months for repairs

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s popular mobile dental clinic is in need of some major overhauls. They’ve learned the repairs, including replacement of corroded material in the bus undercarriage, could take up to three months to complete.

The vehicle has been making stops at nine communities four days a week, and has been an effective way of reaching low income families with dental services.

It’s also a “flagship for the health unit and a source of pride for all” said Colleen Nisbet, the director of clinical service.

But weather cancellations and repairs have made the vehicle less reliable than hoped.

The health unit is currently weighing options to fill in for dental services provided through the vehicle, and for long-range solutions should upkeep of the mobile clinic become too costly.

 

Election an opportunity to raise public health issues

Low income, food insecurity, housing, the opioids crisis, legalization of cannabis, climate change: they’ve all been in the headlines and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit wants to make sure the issues are heard by political candidates during the provincial and municipal elections this year.

Health unit staff will be preparing a primer and website information on 10 key public health concerns to inform discussion during the campaigns.

 

Thanks issued for 10 years’ service on Board of Health

Gail Mullen received a warm sendoff from her colleagues on the Simcoe Muskoka District Board of Health this month as she concluded her tenure as a provincial appointee.

Board chair Scott Warnock outlined the contributions Mullen had made, starting in her first year with decisions related to the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 2009, followed by the G8/G20 Summit. She also contributed to decisions on advocating for a Guaranteed Annual Income, responding to the opioid crisis and helping the agency deal with a provincial funding freeze.