Health unit maintains course in 2013

The Sudbury and District Health Unit issued almost double the number or blue-green algae drinking water advisories in 2013, compared to the previous year.

In 2013 the health unit issued 11 such advisories, while there were seven in 2012.

The number was one of many figures revealed at a year-in-review presentation to the health unit's board of directors Feb. 20.

Most of the 2013 numbers were comparable to their 2012 equivalents.

Last year, for example, the health unit distributed 60,212 doses of the seasonal influenza vaccine to health care providers. In 2012, it distributed 56,501 vaccine doses.

Last year, the health unit responded to 18 infectious disease outbreaks in long-term care homes, while it responded to 16 outbreaks in 2012.

The environmental health division was busy both years, with 3,315 inspections of food premises – including restaurants, grocery stores and smaller shops – and conducted 3,412 such inspections in 2012.

In 2012, the health unit identified 113 mosquitoes with West Nile virus in its catchment area, and discovered 124 mosquitoes with the virus in 2013.

Sandra Laclé, the Sudbury and Distirct Health Unit's acting CEO, said the health unit has managed to meet all of Ontario's public health standards.

“We do an exceptional job in terms of the delivery of all of those standards,” Laclé said. “We work really hard in terms of identifying, with our community, the areas that may need more or less emphasis. In the course of last year we were able to put emphasis on a large number of programs and services.”

Laclé said she could not identify any health unit programs or services that did not meet provincial standards or were lacking in other ways.

@jmigneault