September 2025 Board of Health Meeting - Reorganization and Interdepartmental Work Information Report
PREPARED BY: Administration
DATE: 2025-09-18
SUBJECT: Reorganization and Interdepartmental Work
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
In 2024 the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit conducted a comprehensive review of existing programs and services intending to optimize its resources relative to its work for the community. In addition to this, one of the main drivers was to ensure synergies and efficiencies that best allow the WECHU to incorporate the draft 2025 Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) that were set to be released in early 2025. During the in-camera meeting of the Board of Health (BOH) in September of 2024, the organizations review, and re-organization process results were shared with the BOH. The updated organizational structure was implemented in January of 2025, and the enclosed report provides an update on the status of the changes and interdepartmental work six months into implementation.
DISCUSSION
Following the transition into the new organizational structure in January 2025, an acclamation and training period for all staff was incorporated into the realignment and to ensure that the draft standards were reflected in their workplans. Critical to this transition, scheduled interdepartmental meetings were implemented to ensure that the highest level of impact would be achieved while eliminating the risk of an isolation approach and/or the potential duplication of work. Interdepartmental Working Groups (IDWGs) were created with departmental leads to spearhead key themes of work across the organization. Below a summary of the IDWGs is provided with leads and working group members identified.
| Inter-Departmental Working Group | Comprehensive Health Promotion | Substance Use and Harm Reduction | Healthy Families | Immunization | Infectious Disease Mgmt. | Environmental Health | Oral Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health | X (lead) | X | X | ||||
| Food Environment | X (lead) | X | X | X | X | ||
| Healthy Relationships | X (lead) | X | |||||
| Healthy Growth & Development | X (lead) | X | X | X | X | ||
| Enforcement | X (lead) | X | |||||
| Substance Use & Harm Reduction | X | X (lead) | X | X | X | ||
| Communicable Disease Prevention | X | X (lead) | X | ||||
| Emergency Management** | X | X | X | ||||
| Outbreak/DOPHS (Diseases of Public Health Significance) |
X (lead) | X |
** Led by the Emergency Management Coordinator within the Planning and Strategic Initiatives & Epidemiology and Evaluation Department. Traditionally this department serves as support to all program departments for work plans across the organization.
CONCLUSION
Departments have successfully established a cadence and are meeting regularly to integrate overarching goals and work collaboratively in completing their intervention work plans. In addition, it has promoted a consistent and structured approach that ensures creative ideas can be incorporated across departments with efficiency. As the WECHU enters into the 2026 planning cycle, these IDWGs will promote working together across departments and shape the work of the WECHU to ensure we continuously explore ways that will maximize the impact of funding dollars into our improving the health of all members of this community.