Minutes - June 17, 2021 - Board of Health Meeting

Members Present: 

Ms. Maureen Cassidy (Chair)
Ms. Aina DeViet (Vice-Chair)
Mr. Matt Reid
Mr. John Brennan
Mr. Bob Parker
Ms. Kelly Elliott
Mr. Mike Steele
Mr. Aaron O’Donnell

Regrets:

Ms. Arielle Kayabaga
Ms. Tino Kasi

Others Present:

Dr. Christopher Mackie, Medical Officer of Health (Secretary-Treasurer)
Ms. Stephanie Egelton, Senior Executive Assistant to the Medical Officer of Health/Associate Medical Officer of Health (Recorder)
Dr. Alexander Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health
Ms. Emily Williams, Director, Healthy Organization/Interim CEO
Mr. Dan Flaherty, Manager, Communications
Ms. Carolynne Gabriel, Communications Coordinator/Executive Assistant to the Board of Health
Ms. Heather Lokko, Director, Healthy Start/Chief Nursing Officer
Mr. Stephen Turner, Director, Environmental Health and Infectious Disease
Ms. Maureen MacCormick, Director, Healthy Living
Mr. Mirek Pawelec, Manager, Finance
Ms. Cynthia Bos, Manager, Human Resources
Ms. Kendra Ramer, Manager, Strategic Projects

Chair Maureen Cassidy called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.

Chair Cassidy asked for a moment of silence, to acknowledge the tragedy on Hyde Park Road on June 6, and the discovery of 315 graves of Indigenous children in Kamloops, BC and Brandon, MB.

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

Chair Cassidy inquired if there were any disclosures of conflicts of interest. None were declared.

Approval of Agenda

It was moved by Ms. Kelly Elliott, seconded by Mr. Matt Reid, that the AGENDA for the June 17, 2021 Board of Health meeting be approved.
Carried

Minutes

It was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. Aina DeViet, that the MINUTES of the May 20, 2021 Board of Health meeting be approved.
Carried

It was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the MINUTES of the June 3, 2021 Finance and Facilities Committee meeting be received.
Carried

Reports and Agenda Items

Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting Summary from June 3, 2021 (Report No. 28-21)

Mr. Matt Reid, Chair of the Finance and Facilities Committee presented the Finance and Facilities Committee Summary from June 3, 2021.

It was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Mr. Aaron O’Donnell, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 14-21FFC re: “Vaccination Site Emergency Purchase Award” for information.
Carried

It was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Mr. Aaron O’Donnell, that the Board of Health review and approve the audited Financial Statements of the Middlesex-London Health Unit, Year Ended December 31, 2020, as appended to Report No. 15-21FFC re: “2020 Draft Financial Statements.”
Carried

Verbal Governance Committee Meeting Summary from June 17, 2021

Mr. Bob Parker, Chair of the Governance Committee presented the Governance Committee Summary from June 17, 2021.

It was moved by Mr. Bob Parker, seconded by Mr. Mike Steele, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 11-21GC re: “2021-22 Provisional Plan Status Update” for information.
Carried

It was moved by Mr. Parker, seconded by Mr. Steele, that the Board of Health amend the 2021-22 Provisional Strategic Plan to include language stating that the Board of Health recognizes the need to amend the Plan to recognize the shift of the Middlesex-London Health Unit’s focus to the vaccination efforts against COVID-19.
Carried
It was moved by Mr. Parker, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Board of Health:
1) Approve policy G-000 Bylaws, Policy and Procedures;
2) Approve policy G-010 Strategic Planning;
3) Approve policy G-160 Jordan’s Principle;
4) Refer policy G-360 back to staff of the Middlesex-London Health Unit and;
5) Approve policy G-400 Political Activities with amendments.
Carried

It was moved by Mr. Parker, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 13-21GC re: “2021 Board of Health Self-Assessment Results” for information.
Carried

It was moved by Mr. Parker, seconded by Mr. Steele, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 14-2GC re: “2020 Occupational Health and Safety Report” for information.

Carried

Program Update: Human Resources

Ms. Cynthia Bos, Manager, Human Resources provided an update on the Human Resources program. Highlights of the program included:
• Massive recruitment initiative, hiring 350 temporary casual immunizers, administrative staff and leadership to run 3 mass vaccination clinics in addition to ongoing recruitment to staff the COVID-19 program.
• Continuous learning and development of Dayforce modules in Scheduling, Recruitment, Onboarding, and Reporting.
• Support of the Diversity and Inclusion Employment Systems Review and implementation of recommendations.
• Be Well continuation of virtual wellness programing and resources.
• Support of Operations during COVID-19 and Immunization including 7-day/week HR support for staffing needs and scheduling.
• Key roles in IMS structure as Safety Lead and Logistics Support for staffing and HR needs.
• Continued HR policy development to align with changing practices (eg. remote work).
• Leading the ONA negotiations process and ongoing focus on labour relations.

Program Update: Strategic Projects

Ms. Kendra Ramer, Manager, Strategic Projects provided an update on the Strategic Projects program. Highlights of the program included:
• Preparing and supporting the execution of the 2021-22 Provisional Plan.
• Development of the long term MLHU Strategic Plan.
• Project Management Office (PMO) oversight to enhance efficiency, quality and delivery of projects at MLHU.
• Accountability for monitoring and reporting of strategic projects and initiatives.
• Oversight for the strategic projects identified on the Provisional Plan.

Program Update: Program Planning and Evaluation

Ms. Kendra Ramer, Acting Manager, Program Planning and Evaluation provided an update on the Program Planning and Evaluation program. Highlights of the program included:
• Preparing and supporting the execution of the 2021-22 Provisional Plan.
• Development of the long term MLHU Strategic Plan.
• Project Management Office (PMO) oversight to enhance efficiency, quality and delivery of projects at MLHU.
• Accountability for monitoring and reporting of strategic projects and initiatives.
• Oversight for the strategic projects identified on the Provisional Plan.

Program Update: Privacy, Risk and Governance

Ms. Kendra Ramer, Acting Manager, Privacy, Risk and Governance provided an update on the Privacy, Risk and Governance program. Highlights of the program included:
• Further development of organizational privacy program, including employee training/education.
• Privacy and risk consultation for strategic projects and new organizational initiatives.
• Oversight for organizational risk management strategy and reporting.
• Management of Governance and Administrative Policy Manuals
• Review and updating of records management practices including transition to electronic documentation.

MLHU Technology Grant Project (Report No. 29-21)

Ms. Heather Lokko, Director, Healthy Start/Chief Nursing Officer presented this report. The Nurse-Family Partnership, Healthy Babies Healthy Children, Outreach and COVID Teams were approved for a joint grant ($50,000) through the United Way Emergency Community Support Fund to support clients experiencing digital inequities (access to technology).

It was moved by Mr. Parker, seconded by Mr. John Brennan, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 29-21 re: “MLHU Technology Grant Project” for information.
Carried

Verbal COVID-19 Disease Spread and Vaccine Update

Dr. Alexander Summers and Dr. Chris Mackie presented the verbal COVID-19 update.

Discussion about this verbal report included:
• Incident rate/7-day rate continues to fall: currently below 20 cases per 100 people in the region.
• With slowing down cases, some staff have been redeployed to the vaccine efforts.
• Watching Delta (previously Indian) variant closely and is more transmissible and responds well to those who have had 2 doses of vaccine.
• Currently in Step 1 of the provincial reopening plan, with Step 2 being near the end of June.
• The introduction of the “Vaccine Olympics” between June 17 – July 7, which was the result of a large (17,000 doses) shipment of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
• A timeline of how MLHU reached the preparation of the Vaccine Olympics.
• Transition of staff redeployment (78 staff) during the Vaccine Olympic, to support mass vaccination clinics/efforts.
• Increase of vaccine capacity at clinics: Earl Nichols (1160), North London (1200), Agriplex (2403), Mount Brydges (650).
• The acceleration of second doses: those who had AstraZeneca could receive their dose after 8 weeks, and those who received an mRNA vaccine before May 9 could receive their second dose.
• 20,000 appointments were booked on launch day.

Further, it was noted that the following programming/services would be affected during this time period:

Healthy Living:
• Reducing oral health services by 50%.
• Reducing tobacco enforcement activities.
• Reducing COVID-19 Compliance Checks.
• All Southwest Tobacco Control Area Network work on hold.
• All School Health work on hold.

Healthy Start:
• Postpartum screening at the hospital will be put on hold (public health nurses will continue to meet with clients to inform them of health unit services).
• All phone/virtual/in-person visits will paused, with the exception of highest priority clients.

Environmental Health and Infectious Disease:
• Planning for 2021/22 School Year vaccination programs suspended.
• Cold Chain inspections suspended.
• CitiPlaza vaccination clinic (non COVID-19 vaccine) suspended.
• Reduce to one Sexually Transmitted Infections clinic per week.
• Family Planning clinic suspended for in person appointments, with virtual appointments and dispensing of birth control/IUDs.
• Reduced availability of public health inspectors.
• Suspend program evaluation, file reviews, etc.

Office of the Medical Officer of Health
• PHAS (Population Health Assessment and Surveillance) will have limited ability to support strategic initiatives and non-COVID-19 work.
• Case and contact management to be limited, with contact tracers being redeployed to support vaccine work.

Healthy Organization:
• Strategic planning meetings, processes, project work etc. will be suspended until after July 7.

It was moved by Mr. Steele, seconded by Mr. Parker, that the Board of Health receive the verbal report on COVID-19 Disease Spread and Vaccine Update for information.
Carried

Medical Officer of Health Activity Report for June 2021 (Report No. 30-21)

Dr. Mackie presented Medical Officer of Health Activity Report for June 2021.

It was moved by Mr. Brennan, seconded by Ms. Elliott, that the Board of Health receive Report No. 30-21 re: “Medical Officer of Health Activity Report for June 2021” for information.
Carried

Correspondence

It was noted that no correspondence items were received for the June 17, 2021 meeting.

Other Business

• Next Board Meeting is Thursday, July 15th, at 7 p.m.

Confidential

At 8:25 p.m., it was moved by Mr. Reid, seconded by Ms. DeViet, that the Board of Health will move in-camera to consider labour relations or employee negotiations, litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board, personal matters about identifiable individuals, including municipal or local board employees and to approve confidential minutes from the May 20, 2021 Board of Health and June 3, 2021 Finance and Facilities Committee meetings.
Carried

At 9:26 p.m., it was moved by Mr. O’Donnell, seconded by Mr. Brennan, that the Board of Health rise and return to public session.
Carried

Adjournment

At 9:27 p.m., it was moved by Mr. O’Donnell, seconded by Ms. Elliott, that the meeting of Board of Health be adjourned.
Carried

Maureen Cassidy
Chair

Christopher Mackie
Secretary-Treasurer