After 25 years of dedicated public service, Dr. Heimann retired as Medical Officer of Health in December 2014. This made 2015 my first year as the Health Unit’s Medical Officer of Health. I’m pleased to share some of the positive developments we’ve achieved.
During the year, many changes were made within our organization in order to enhance our services. The Vaccine Preventable Disease and Comprehensive School Health departments merged together to form the Healthy Schools department. This change allowed us to better serve our school population and deliver more cohesive programming from both the Health Protection and Promotion Divisions. The Healthy Families and the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children departments also merged in order to improve the services we provide to our community partners and clients.
In 2015, we welcomed many new faces to our management team and the Board of Health, including Dr. Wajid Ahmed, who succeeded me as the Associate Medical Officer of Health. Paul Borrelli, Dr. Carlin Miller, Joe Bachetti, Gord Queen and John Scott joined the Board of Health. Additionally, Mark Carrick and Bill Marra re-joined the Board of Health.
Finally, the Board of Health received greater-than-expected funding for many of its programs in 2015. These funds allowed the Health Unit to hire some of the much-needed employees to improve the health and wellbeing of residents in Windsor and Essex County.
Throughout this annual report you’ll read about how different programs are making an impact in our communities. I hope you find it informative.