2026 Health Plan

Administrative Support Services

Goal: To provide effective and efficient support to all Durham Region Health Department (DRHD) divisions, programs and services that helps to enhance the delivery of the Ontario Public Health Standards and to meet all requirements of internal and external customers.

• Update the DRHD Orientation presentation and deliver it to new staff.
• Ensure that DRHD meets all accreditation standards to support a successful 2026 accreditation cycle. 
• Evolve financial management practices to support DRHD’s programs with budgeting in response to budgetary constraints.

Community & Resource Development (CARD)

Goal: To provide support to all DRHD divisions, programs, and services, helping to enhance compliance with the Ontario Public Health Standards.

• Produce a promotional video that educates newly elected Regional Councillors and the public about DRHD’s programs and services. 
• Participate in the corporate website migration project, which aims to move existing DRHD and Regional webpages from the current content management system to a new application. 
• Produce quarterly social media metrics reports for DRHD platforms, to be included in the social media analytics for the corporate internal operational dashboard.

Health Analytics & Research Team

Goal: To provide current and evolving health data and evidence to inform planning, delivery, management and evaluation of public health programs and services.

• Implement a new team operational model of collective execution to maintain alignment with the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Update Health Neighbourhoods data and develop standard data processing for sustainable indicator updates.
• Publish at least eight data summaries to DRHD’s HealthStats webpage, to update pre-COVID-19 pandemic population health assessment data.

Health Policy & Equity Team

Goal: To ensure that public health practice results in decreased health inequities so that everyone has equal opportunities for optimal health and can attain their full health potential without disadvantage due to social position or other socially determined circumstances.

• Develop a tool to support DRHD staff in applying a health equity approach to program planning.
• Support the recruitment of the new Manager, Indigenous Public Health and establishment of an Indigenous Public Health program.
• Pilot collection of sociodemographic data in three DRHD programs for the Data for Equity Strategy.

Privacy & Information Security

Goal: To provide effective and efficient privacy and information security support to all DRHD divisions, programs and services that helps to enhance compliance with applicable privacy and public health related legislation, information security standards and information management best practices.

• Assess the feasibility of artificial intelligence (AI) implementation at DRHD by examining the organization’s AI readiness and ability to execute AI use cases. 
• Implement Ocean eReferral for inbound referrals to replace paper- and faxed-based referrals with a secure, electronic system.
• Review and update software and information asset inventory across all divisions.

Health Information Systems - Health Protection

Goal: To maintain and develop the Hedgehog application including the Check&GO! disclosure portal and to support staff working toward achieving compliance with the current Ontario Public Health Standards.

• Complete a Threat Risk Assessment of Hedgehog 5 (HH5) to identify any security risks and mitigate security vulnerabilities with the health information systems. 
• Support the Health Protection Division by recommending and implementing HH5 enhancements and reconfigurations to ensure compliance with data collection and reporting requirements in the Ontario Public Health Standards. 
• Review Health Department Systems Application Checklist and ensure all items are identified and reflected in divisional policies and procedures.

Health Information Systems - Population Health

Goal: To maintain and support the PROFILE application to meet requirements of documentation as per the applicable professional colleges, organizational policies and to meet reporting requirements for programs and services outlined in the Ontario Public Health Standards.

• Implement the data destruction cycle for records that have met the criteria for destruction in PROFILE.
• Complete the migration process for the Provincial Immunization Repository Consolidation Project, ensuring Durham-specific COVaxON data are accurately and smoothly transferred to Panorama.
• Implement a plan for Health Card number collection in the PROFILE client file.

Quality Assurance & Improvement

Goal: To ensure that programs and services meet requirements as articulated in policies, standards and legislation and to continuously improve the efficiency and effectiveness of services provided to Durham Region clients.

• Continue to review and evaluate records in the HH5 database to ensure accuracy for operational and reporting needs including proper disclosure and transparency to the public.
• Support Health Protection Division programs by providing evidence, continuous quality improvement expertise, and digital system support to inform the design, implementation and sustainment of quality assurance initiatives that promote high-quality program delivery.

Durham Health Connection Line

Goal: To respond to inquiries and requests for service, including applications for new businesses and special event vendors from the community.

• Receive and respond to public health inquiries from the public within prescribed reporting and response timelines.
• Collaborate across the Health Protection Division to guide the development and updates of knowledge articles for the MyDurham311 call centre.
• Update the online Animal Bite Reporting Form for the public to use when reporting an animal bite to DHCL.

Emergency Management

Goal: To enable consistent and effective management of emergency situations.

• Participate in the planning, coordination, and execution of a regional exercise in collaboration with Durham Emergency Management, Regional departments, and community partners.
• Plan and launch three potassium iodide (KI) communications campaigns to raise awareness regarding the availability and ordering process for KI tablets.
• Support Ontario Power Generation in the coordination and execution of KI redistribution in the 10-kilometre zone around Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations.

Food Safety

Goal: To prevent or reduce the burden of food-borne illness

• Complete all required compliance and complaint-based inspections, and re-inspections across all risk categories, as mandated by the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Conduct a review of ghost kitchens (i.e., a food premises that regularly operates out of a fixed facility and prepares food for delivery/pick-up with no storefront or signage) in Durham Region and develop a process to catalog and inspect such premises based on the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Update the Pack A Safe Lunch pamphlet to meet the current needs of the community.

Healthy Environments

Goal: To prevent or reduce the burden of illness from health hazards in the physical environment.

• Complete the remaining reports in the Climate Change and Health Vulnerability Assessments report series focused on food and water impacts and extreme weather, and develop and implement a related communications and knowledge exchange strategy.
• Modernize the communication of environmental alerts to strengthen operational efficiency, improve user experience, support advanced alerting capabilities, and deliver measurable client engagement insights for ongoing program optimization.
• Engage with municipal by-law enforcement partners to standardize and enhance communication and enforcement consistency for various issues across Durham Region.

Ontario Building Code - Part 8 (Sewage Systems)

Goal: To prevent diseases in humans and contamination of the physical environment due to on-site private sewage systems.

• Create a paper-based process for business continuity due to loss of technology in the event of electronic database system failures for Ontario Building Code permits, building additions, inspections processes and legal actions. 
• Explore options to retain external qualified firms and/or agencies to continue specialized Ontario Building Code (Part 8) work, to ensure contractual obligations are met in the event of future disruptions or capacity issues.
• Complete required inspections for on-site residential sewage systems identified by Durham Region Works Department Source Water Wellhead Protection Program. 

Safe Water

Goal: To prevent or reduce the burden of water-borne illness related to drinking water and to prevent or reduce the burden of water-borne illness and injury related to recreational water use.

• Inspect all recreational water facilities in accordance with the Operational Approaches for Recreational Water Guideline, 2018 and the Recreational Water Protocol, 2019.
• Develop a field audit tool for quality assurance focusing on recreational water facilities.
• Develop and implement updated policies and procedures for the new and emerging pool types identified in the revised R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 565: Public Pools, and ensure staff receive appropriate training to support consistent application.
• Make ongoing improvements to the electronic file system within Hedgehog 5 (HH5) to support the management of lead-related adverse water quality reports and explore development of a standardized Small Drinking Water System (SDWS) directive template.
• Conduct all required SDWS compliance and complaint-based inspections, re-inspections, risk assessments and issuances of directives in accordance with the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Strengthen program capacity by identifying and training Public Health Inspectors to provide back-up support for inspections, issuance of directives and management of adverse water quality incidents. 

Durham Health Connection Line

Goal: To ensure Durham Region residents have access to health information, counselling, and referral to appropriate resources on health issues as outlined in the Ontario Public Health Standards.

• Respond to inquiries from the community.
• Collaborate with Population Health Division programs to deliver health education, counselling, and referrals on topics identified in the Ontario Public Health Standards.

Infant & Child Development

Goal: To enhance the growth and development of children, including those with a developmental disability and/or risk of developmental delay by partnering with families to provide support, information, and early intervention services.

• Provide home visiting services for children between the ages of birth to school entry and who have a developmental disability or who are at risk of a developmental delay.
• Provide resources and service coordination for families and increase awareness of inclusionary practices with community partners.

Pregnancy & Parenting, and Healthy Babies Healthy Children (HBHC)

Goal: To achieve optimal preconception, pregnancy, newborn, child, youth, parental and family health.

• Collaborate with community partners to provide families with the opportunity to participate in HBHC screening (prenatal, postpartum and/or early childhood) to identify potential risk for compromised parenting and child development.
• Provide home visiting services to families identified with risk for compromised parenting and child development.
• Develop a strategy to build community partners’ capacity to implement the Ontario Early Adversity and Resilience Framework in diverse community settings, to mitigate the effects of early adversity and build resilience among families in Durham Region.
• Develop a strategy to address social and cultural norms to support the prevention of family violence in Durham Region.

Chronic Disease Prevention

Goal: To reduce the burden of chronic diseases of public health importance* and improve well-being.

*Chronic diseases of public health importance include, but are not limited to, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, intermediate health states (such as metabolic syndrome and prediabetes), hypertension, dementia, mental illness and addictions.

• Support the development and implementation of a plan led by Durham Youth Health Group to address their identified topic of mental health.
• Implement a tobacco and vaping enforcement enhancement plan, to support Durham Region school communities with addressing smoking and vaping on school property, in collaboration with Tobacco Enforcement Officers. 
• Collaborate with community partners to explore local priorities for action to address food insecurity in Durham Region.

Oral Health

Goal: To enable all children in Durham Region to attain and sustain optimal oral health and development potential and to support adults who require assistance in accessing oral health information and services.

• Ensure provision of the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program and Healthy Smiles Ontario program to offer preventive, dental and denture care services to eligible recipients in Durham Region Health Department’s (DRHD) Dental Clinic. 
• Finalize the agreement between Brock Community Health Centre (BCHC) and DRHD, and strategize the implementation plan for providing preventive, dental and denture care services in BCHC’s dental clinic, with a potential launch in summer 2026.
• Evaluate the Oral Health Division's existing programs and services through the redesign of the client experience survey and implementation of the Data for Equity sociodemographic data survey pilot.
• Offer and provide dental screening to all children participating in Durham Region schools during the 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 school years and resume portable clinic services in high priority neighborhoods.
• Deliver health promotion activities and education focused on children’s and seniors' oral health in DRHD’s Dental Clinic, as well as at schools, community centres, long-term care homes and community events.
• Expand services to include health promotion activities and dental screening in all child care centres in Durham Region.
• Expand Indigenous partnerships and evaluate the feasibility of implementing an oral health screening program in collaboration with local Indigenous communities.

Prevention of Injury & Substance Misuse

Goal: To reduce the burden of preventable injuries and substance use.

• Coordinate the implementation of the local opioid response plan in partnership with Durham Region Opioid Task Force members.
• Participate in knowledge exchange and advocacy activities related to evidence-based alcohol policy information, in collaboration with provincial and federal committees.
• Implement three evidence-based healthy routine strategies addressing screen time and physical activity as protective factors to support positive mental health throughout the lifespan, in collaboration with the Healthy Families program.
• Facilitate social health promotion for two priority populations through coordinated activities with community partners.

School Health

Goal: To achieve optimal health of children and youth in schools through partnership and collaboration with school boards and schools.

• Implement a school board liaison role within six school boards in Durham Region.
• Implement identified school health indicators to measure the effectiveness of the Comprehensive School Health approach for schools in Durham Region.

Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017

Goal: To ensure tobacco, e-cigarette vendors, and other organizations subject to the Smoke Free Ontario Act, 2017 (SFOA) comply with the Act and restrict youth access to tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

• Conduct required inspections of all known tobacco and vapour product retailers, as mandated by the Tobacco, Smoke and Vapour Protocol, 2021.
• Conduct an inspection of all secondary schools in Durham Region for compliance with the prohibitions under the SFOA. 
• Draft an amendment to strengthen the Durham Region Smoke and Vape By-Law in response to continued non-compliance at restaurants permitting hookah smoking, and review the timeline for implementation.

Immunization

Goal: To reduce or eliminate the burden of vaccine preventable diseases through immunization.

• Support compliance with the Immunization of School Pupils Act in all students aged 4 to 17 years old for 39 secondary schools and 228 elementary schools for the 2025/2026 school year.
• Provide provincially funded immunizations to all eligible Grade 7 and 8 students through school-based clinics at 190 elementary schools.
• Develop a plan to address vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine confidence in Durham Region.

Infectious Diseases Prevention & Control - Health Protection

Goal: To reduce the burden of communicable diseases and other infectious diseases of public health importance.

• Conduct investigations of diseases of public health significance including sporadic disease investigations, outbreak investigations and suspect foodborne illness investigations.
• Plan and implement Durham Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Hub Education Day/Respiratory Event for long-term care homes, retirement homes and congregate living settings.
• Collaborate with the Health Analytics & Research Team to expand the outbreak email notification and automation initiative to include child care centres (CCC) and other congregate living settings, ensuring community partners are informed of all active outbreaks in Durham Region.
• Inspect all personal services settings (PSS) and licensed CCC for compliance with relevant regulations, protocols and guidelines.
• Complete and launch the PSS online learning module for PSS operators.
• Provide access to the WEE Care Manual on Durham Region’s website and create a French version of the manual for the French speaking child care community.
• Investigate and respond to all complaints regarding IPAC practices and make referrals to appropriate regulatory bodies.
• Receive and respond to reported suspect and confirmed animal cases of avian chlamydiosis, avian influenza, novel influenza, Echinococcus multilocularis or tuberculosis infection in accordance with the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Respond to all reported cases of potential rabies exposures received from the public, community partners and healthcare providers (HCP) in accordance with the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Develop a communication strategy for the Rabies Control program to include social media and news releases for public awareness and ‘FAX Abouts’ for HCP and veterinarians.
• Implement the Vector-Borne Management Strategy to include larval mosquito surveillance and treatment, as well as tick dragging, and develop and implement a communication strategy for the public, HCP and veterinarians. 

Infectious Diseases Prevention & Control - Population Health

Goal: To reduce the burden of communicable diseases and other infectious diseases of public health importance.

• Manage all suspected and confirmed cases of tuberculosis according to federal guidelines and provincial protocols.
• Manage all suspected and confirmed sexually transmitted/blood-borne infection cases and contacts in accordance with the Sexual Health and Sexually Transmitted/Blood-Borne Infections Prevention and Control Protocol, 2019.
• Manage all suspected and confirmed sporadic communicable disease cases and contacts in accordance with the Infectious Diseases Protocol, 2023 and the disease specific appendices.
• Offer sexual health services at Durham Region Health Department’s (DRHD) two clinic locations.

Goal: To deliver a quality  Paramedic Services system that is responsive to client needs and reduces mortality and morbidity related to illness and injury through the provision of pre-hospital advanced life support procedures. Primary program delivery is through the Region of Durham Paramedic Services with assistance from the Central Ambulance Communications Centre and local fire department tiered response programs.

• Expand capacity by adding ambulance coverage through the conversion of two existing day cars to 24/7 operations and the deployment of a new peak-period ambulance in Seaton.
• Develop and implement a clinically safe, evidence-informed Alternate Destination Model in partnership with Priority Health, launching first in Pickering and subsequently expanding to Oshawa, to provide an appropriate non-hospital care pathway for eligible low acuity patients.
• Enhance system performance by continuously updating and monitoring the deployment plan to fully leverage the Medical Priority Dispatch System. 
• Engage stakeholders on a quarterly basis to evaluate operational trends, adjust deployment strategies and ensure alignment with evolving community needs.