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About Us
Vision Statement Board of Health – 2010
Medical Officer of Health Directors
History of the Grey Bruce Health Unit The Public Health Act of 1884 established the first boards of health. By 1900 there were over 800 small public health units in Ontario including several locally autonomous boards across Grey and Bruce Counties. The Owen Sound Public Health Department originally formed in 1911. In 1912, an amendment to the Public Health Act established the first county boards of health. A further amendment in 1945 provided the first provincial grants to municipalities for health units, prompting Bruce County to establish a health unit the next year. Grey County amalgamated several local boards to a single county health unit in 1963. The Public Health Act was amended again in 1967 requiring municipalities to provide full-time public health services. In that year Owen Sound and Grey County units amalgamated. In 1983, the Health Protection and Promotion Act was proclaimed (revised in 1997). Grey-Owen Sound joined with Bruce in 1989 and following municipal restructuring in 2001 was re-named the Grey Bruce Health Unit.
Legislative Mandate for Ontario’s Boards of Health Ontario’s Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) provides the legislative mandate for boards of health and the statutory basis for the Ontario Public Health Standards. The guiding purpose of the HPPA is to: ...provide for the organization and delivery of public health programs and services, the prevention of the spread of disease and the promotion and protection of the health of the people of Ontario. (R.S.O. 1990, c. H.7, s.2)
Section 5 of the HPPA specifies that boards of health must provide or ensure the provision of a minimum level of public health programs and services in specified areas as follows: • Community sanitation and the prevention or elimination of health hazards; • Provision of safe drinking water by small drinking water systems; • Control of infectious and reportable disease, including providing immunization services to children and adults; • Health promotion, health protection, and disease and injury prevention; • Family health; • Collection and analysis of epidemiologic data; • Such additional health programs and services as prescribed by regulations; and • Home care services that are insured services under the Health Insurance Act including services to the acutely ill and the chronically ill.
Section 7 of the HPPA grants authority to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care to “publish guidelines for the provision of mandatory health programs and services, and every board of health shall comply with the published guidelines” (R.S.O. 1990, c. H.7, s.7(1)), thereby establishing the legal authority for the Ontario Public Health Standards. Boards of health may deliver additional programs and services in response to local needs identified within their communities, as acknowledged in Section 9 of the HPPA. Organizational Structure The Health Unit comprises approximately 180 administrative and professional staff including permanent part-time and permanent full-time staff, excluding temporary employees. The Health Unit is organized into three departments:
1) Health Promotion:
2) Health Protection:
3) Administration & Finance:
Area: 3344 square miles or 8587 square km
Population served: 157,760 (2006 census)
First Nation: 2007 Budget
2007 Funding Sources:
Municipalities 20% Provincial-General Program 58% Provincial-100% Programs 3% HBHC 9% Tobacco 4% Environment 4% Other 2% Office Locations
Owen Sound
The Grey Bruce Health Unit maintains a 24-hour, seven days-a-week, on-call emergency response capable of dealing with emergencies whenever public health is threatened or at risk.
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Preventing Disease, Promoting Health, Protecting You
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