Four key pillars that sustain an effective health system

Last fall, we pledged $38 million so all Ontarians could receive a free flu vaccination.  Ontario is the first jurisdiction in Canada to provide this no-cost service, which is part of an ongoing commitment to health promotion and disease prevention.

Our government’s vision of health care includes affordable, accessible and quality services for all Ontarians at every stage of their life and as close to home as possible.  Through programs such as the flu vaccine, we must strive to provide more preventative health and health promotion services.  We can achieve this vision by strengthening the four key pillars that sustain an effective health system.

We all know that healthy living is the best kind of health care.  That’s why the first pillar is keeping people healthy through health promotion, injury and disease prevention.

Our continued investment in asthma awareness, diabetes education and stroke prevention are a few elements in that plan.  Healthy Babies, Healthy Children is another very successful program that enables our children to reach their full potential – as does our Pre-School Speech and Language Program.

In Haldimand-Norfolk, the Ontario Government committed over $1 million in 2000 to the Healthy Babies, Healthy ChildrenProgram.  Then in December 2000, we announced plans to ensure all babies in the province have access to a hearing test.  The local District Health Council received $44,174 in start up funding for the purposes of purchasing equipment and training staff.  Annually, the health department will receive $62,971 to ensure babies and their families get the support they need.  Brant County received $48,100 for basic equipment and training.  The program in Brant will receive ongoing funding of $68,569 for 2001/2002, which will be used to pay for the actual services for children.

Although our government has invested in all of these areas in order to keep people healthy, there is still more for all of us to do.

The second pillar focuses on early diagnosis and treatment.  This encompasses such areas as a more effective primary care system, including our Telehealth service, which is in operation in Northern Ontario as well as the 416 and 905 areas.  This new 24-hour, seven day a week health information service will be only a phone call away for residents in Haldimand, after February.

The third pillar involves ensuring services are provided closer to home.  This is being done through the construction and expansion of five new cancer centers, the construction of three more cardiac care centers, and the rapid expansion of dialysis treatment centers to all parts of our province.

The fourth pillar centers on hospitals – it focuses on timely access to the full range of hospital care and treatment, ranging from day surgery to specialized surgery and treatment.  This includes the expansion of priority programs, adding new drugs, increasing spending on research and teaching, and enhancing access to rehabilitation and complex continuing care services.

In 1995, we discovered that, notwithstanding the tremendous skill and commitment of the health care providers in our system, we had inherited a system unprepared to meet the needs of Ontario’s growing and aging population.  For that reason we undertook immediate action on fundamental reform.  We started to build on our strengths to build a new, modern health care system equipped to meet the needs of the 21st century and beyond.