Edmonton Roundtable Report
In Edmonton, the Minister of State met approximately 32 Alberta public
health stakeholders.
They advised the Minister to consider the following factors in building
a Public Health Agency of Canada.
1. Regarding a Mandate for a Public Health Agency
- The Agency mandate needs to be broader than health care, should
include:
- Environmental health;
- The social determinants of health, especially in deciding
how to influence human behaviour; and,
- Translating national best practices into practice standards.
- The Agency should be responsible for addressing huge gaps in how
public health is administered across the country:
- Gaps are especially noticeable in places like the Northwest
Territories versus the Canadian average across other regions
of the country.
- The Agency needs to take a special focus on health status of children
and families;
- The Agency mandate with regard to First Nations and Inuit needs
to be the subject discussions between Minister, Chiefs and Band Medical
Directors; and,
- The Agency must report to Canadians on an annual basis.
2. Regarding Operational Strategies for a Public Health Agency
An Agency should consider:
- The Agency needs to build on existing public health infrastructure
in the regions and municipalities. One example of partnership with
local communities includes:
- The Edmonton Public School Board partnership with Health Canada
and the (Edmonton) Capital Health Authority to make having nurses
available to inner city schools two days a week.
- The Agency needs to create a mechanism that will prevent the erosion
of the local elements of the public health system, as Alberta municipalities
experienced during health regionalization;
- But appropriate response to a crisis such as SARS needs adequate
capacity at the local level;
- Early intervention for children at risk is good sound public health
policy; and,
- Aboriginal Canadians need to be consulted on strategies regarding
their public health issues.
3. Investments
Participants urged an Agency to focus on the following priority
investments:
Human Resource Capacity:
- The Federal government needs to focus on training to all health
professionals in public health measures; and,
- "Surge capacity" for health emergencies is essentially non-existent:
- Need to ensure that resources at the local level are adequately
trained to respond to crisis situations like SARS. SWAT teams
sent out from a national location will not work.
Information Systems:
- The Agency needs to develop a national surveillance system for tracking
chronic diseases;
- Collection of information and data must be standardized nationally
and systems must be compatible, nationally; and,
- The Agency needs to ensure the maintenance of the infrastructure
to monitor and respond to emerging infectious diseases.
Other:
- The Federal government needs to ensure equal access to immunization
across Canada;
- Language barriers are costly and funding for minority language training
for health professionals is essential; and,
- The Federal government is encouraged to transfer enveloped funding
for public health directly to the grassroots level.
4. Public Health Issues
Participants also raised concerns about specific public health
issues:
- Mental health - especially children's mental health - cannot be
left out of the Agency's mandate;
- Current laboratory surveillance information systems are not being
used well, possibly because they are not user friendly;
- Federal funding greatly enhanced the ability of the province to
conduct surveillance of HIV and STDs; and,
- For aboriginal Canadians, the distinction between on- or off-reserve
status creates inappropriate disparities in health and health care.
This needs to be addressed.
5. Chief Public Health Officer
- Chief Public Health Officer needs to be the conduit and champion
for Canadians and between all levels of government on public health.