KFL&A Public Health News Wire

KFL&A Public Health celebrates Nutrition Month

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:20:00 GMT

KFL&A Public Health is proud to celebrate national nutrition month. Dietitians play an important role in delivering KFL&A Public Health programs and services.

“There are many reasons to connect with a dietitian,” said Allison Little, public health dietitian. “Public Health Dietitians are in the community facilitating the Eat Smart! Program to ensure schools and workplaces are serving healthier food choices, working with educators and employers to create supportive nutrition environments, providing menu planning classes for childcare providers, offering nutrition classes for parents, and training volunteers to present healthy ea...

Exclusion process underway to students for missing immunization information

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:27:00 GMT

The process that sees hundreds of letters issued to parents requiring updated immunization records of their children to avoid being excluded from school began earlier this week. The Limestone District and Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District school boards were sent individual students questionnaires for parents and a list of students identified with lacking immunization records. Parents of these students have until Friday, March 12, 2010 to return information to KLF&A Public Health to avoid having their children excluded from school. On April 20, 2010 students whose immunization records are still not updated will be excluded from school ...

Notice of Board of Health meeting

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:26:00 GMT

Media are invited to attend the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Board of Health’s January 2010 meeting.

Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Boardroom (please enter through the Main Entrance of the building)

KFL&A Public Health (Main Office)
221 Portsmouth Avenue,
Kingston, Ontario

A copy of the Board Agenda is attached. Copies of the complete Board Agenda, including all Information Items, will be distributed to all media present.

Routine immunizations offered in Napanee, Cloyne, and Sharbot Lake

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:27:00 GMT

Napanee area residents will have the chance to make sure their routine immunizations are up-to-date at immunization clinics at the Napanee Office of KFL&A Public Health, one next week and again in June. The clinics, scheduled on Wednesday, February 24 and Wednesday, June 2, 2010 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. at 41 Dundas Street West in Napanee, will give residents access to all routine childhood immunizations as well as adult tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps, and rubella. The clinics are by appointment, arranged by calling the Napanee Office at 613-354-3357. In March, clinics are scheduled in Cloyne and Sharbot Lake.

“Keeping immunizat...

Coffee and cookie breaks see $3,400 donation to Haiti relief by KFL&A Public Health staff

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:20:00 GMT

For an agency whose mandate is to promote and protect public health, staff at KFL&A Public Health have extended the borders of their help by thousands of kilometers. For the past few weeks staff have held coffee and bake sales and gift basket raffles during breaks at the Main Office in Kingston, finally raising $1,700 for the Haiti relief effort. The donation will be forwarded through the Canadian Red Cross and will be matched by the federal government dollar-for-dollar, for a total donation of $3,400. The $1,700 directly raised by KFL&A Public Health staff includes a $100 donation from CUPE Local 3175 and gift basket items donated by a numb...

Local campaign promotes smoke-free rental properties

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:12:00 GMT

A new campaign by KFL&A Public Health looks to help clear the air for people who live in rental properties. BreathFresh, a campaign by KFL&A Public health, promotes the development and maintenance of smoke-free rental properties through education to property managers, landlords, and social housing providers. The campaign comes at a time when many smokers are thinking about quitting and a majority of apartment residents would like the choice to live in smoke-free buildings.

“We are encouraging property owners to convert some or all of their rental properties to smoke-free environments,” said Dave McWilliam, Manager, Tobacco Control ...

Cold Weather Health Warning issued for part of northern KFL&A area

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:35:00 GMT

With Environment Canada’s forecast calling for temperatures in northern parts of the KFL&A area to drop to -25°C by Saturday, KFL&A Public Health is issuing a Cold Weather Health Warning for the areas surrounding Sharbot Lake and Sydenham for Saturday, January 30, 2010. Cold Weather Health Warnings are issued through the media by KFL&A Public Health when the temperature is forecast to be -25°C or colder, a wind chill of -28 or colder is forecast, or extreme weather conditions—blizzard or severe snow storm—are forecast for the KFL&A area by Environment Canada. When daily temperatures are predicted to be -15°C or colder (without wind chill), KF...

Calling to report impaired drivers exempt from hand-held driving ban

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:03:00 GMT

With the end of the education period for the ban on hand-held devices while driving coming to an end in Ontario on February 1, 2010, KFL&A area residents are being reminded that calling to report a suspected impaired driver won’t result in a fine. Under the legislation, police can issue fines of up to $500 for drivers caught texting, typing, dialing, or chatting on hand-held devices—including cell phones and personal digital assistants. The law specifically exempts calls to 9-1-1 and Operation Lookout®—a local initiative of the Greater Kingston Area Safe & Community Alliance—is urging residents to call 9-1-1 if they suspect an impaired driver...

Notice of Board of Health meeting

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:33:00 GMT

Media are invited to attend the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Board of Health’s January 2010 meeting.

Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Time: 1:00 p.m.

Location: Boardroom (please enter through the Main Entrance of the building)

KFL&A Public Health (Main Office)
221 Portsmouth Avenue,
Kingston, Ontario

A copy of the Board Agenda is attached. Copies of the complete Board Agenda, including all Information Items, will be distributed to all media present.

KFL&A Public Health celebrates Environmental Public Health Week

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:28:00 GMT

KFL&A Public Health is proud to support the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors’ (CIPHI) celebration of Environmental Public Health Week 2010, from January 18 to 24, 2009. This year’s theme—Hygiene, An Approach to Life—focuses on the importance of hand hygiene as a crucial method to reduce the spread of illness and recognizes the key role of public health inspectors in our public health system and in the wider field of environmental health.

“Public health inspectors work to reduce the burden of disease and illness on our health care system as a whole” said Justin Chenier, communications officer with KFL&A Public Health. ...

KFL&A Public Health celebrates National Non-Smoking Week

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:26:00 GMT

For an agency whose mandate is to help put a stop to contagious diseases, KFL&A Public Health is pushing the contagious message of quitting smoking for National Non-Smoking Week. The theme for the annual event, coordinated by the Canadian Council for Tobacco Control, is “quitting, it’s contagious” and is based on research published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found it was easier people to quit smoking when other people in their social circle also quit. With cigarette smoking still the leading cause of preventable deaths in Canada—an estimated 37,000 Canadians will die this year from smoking—KFL&A Public Health is hoping that t...

Seasonal influenza vaccine campaign continues for KFL&A area residents

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:04:00 GMT

After shifting gears from providing the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine in December to the seasonal influenza vaccine at community clinics for KFL&A area residents, KFL&A Public Health is scheduling a final round of clinics to provide local residents with the seasonal influenza vaccine and the pandemic H1N1 vaccine. KFL&A Public Health is also resuming its regular Immunization Drop-in Clinic where residents can access immunizations—including tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal, hepatitis B, and human papillomavirus—at KFL&A Public Health’s main office in Kingston Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:45 to 11:45 a.m. beginning...

Community pandemic H1N1 influenza campaign moves into final week as seasonal influenza vaccine campaign set to start

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:25:00 GMT

After providing the pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to more than 40,000 residents at community immunization clinics in Kingston, Napanee, Sharbot Lake, and Cloyne—and to over 40,000 more through family physicians and family health teams across the KFL&A area—KFL&A Public Health is holding two final Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Community Immunization Clinics this week at the Frontenac Mall, before switching gears and rolling out its community clinic program for seasonal influenza vaccine. The final two community clinics will take place on Wednesday, December 9 and Thursday, December 10 at the Frontenac Mall from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. KFL&A Public Health...

Campaign has put more than 77,000 doses of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine in the arms of area residents

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:29:00 GMT

While the line-up of residents waiting for their pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine has leveled off at local community immunization clinics, more than 1,000 people are continuing to get the vaccine in their arms at every public clinic. After five weeks of community clinics since the vaccine first arrived in late October, more than 77,000 of the KFL&A area’s 180,000 residents—42 percent—had received the vaccine. More than 36,000 of those were immunized at KFL&A Public Health’s Community Immunization Clinics in the Frontenac Mall, K-Rock Centre, Strathcona Paper Centre, North Addington Education Centre, Queen’s University, and Sharbot Lake High Sc...

Notice of Board of Health meeting

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:01:00 GMT

Media are invited to attend the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Board of Health’s November 2009 meeting.

Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Boardroom (please enter through the Main Entrance of the building)
KFL&A Public Health (Main Office)
221 Portsmouth Avenue,
Kingston, Ontario

A copy of the Board Agenda is attached. Copies of the complete Board Agenda, including all Information Items, will be distributed to all media present.