Trepanier residents asked to design and
build dam on Lacoma Lake.......
(
read the letter from Jane Bender Ministry of
Environment)
THE
PEACHLAND VIEW - February 26th, 2009.
IHA pushes for collaboration
with area municipalities
By
Dave Preston
The
greatest contributions to the improvement of health for
citizens have been made not by the healthcare industry,
but by local governments, and those in charge of
citizens’ health need to start working closer with
municipalities like they did years ago, according to
Interior Health Authority’s medical health officer.
“It is
the encouragement of civic communities, supporting
healthy lifestyles, ensuring safe roads and housing,
good drinking water and proper sanitary services that
has resulted in most of the improvement in health status
that we have enjoyed over the past century,” Dr. Paul
Hasselback said in a presentation to
council Tuesday.
Public
health bodies were born from municipal structures and
fostered close relationships between the two, said
Hasselback.
In
every province except
Ontario,
the formation of Regional Health Authorities has severed
the close relationships and new staff, council members
and structures, “….have obliterated the importance of
maintaining the close linkages between local government
and public health units,: said Hasselback.
Interior Health now deals with 10 regional districts, 52
municipal governments, 54 First Nations and 16 school
boards, Hasselback said.
“It
behooves us, in Interior Health, to step forward to work
towards re-building the relationships since we share a
mutual objective of improving the wellbeing of the same
citizens that we serve,” said Hasselback.
IHA
looks after 70 pieces of legislation involving public
health and has recently started working with several
local jurisdictions that are referring various plans to
the health authority, which looks at them from a healthy
living perspective.
Hasselback encouraged council to foge an alliance with
IHA and re-establish the municipality’s role in public
health. He suggested major developments and Official
Community Plan amendments should be referred to the
health authority for input.
IHA
inherited responsibility for nearly half the province’s
drinking water systems but nearly 80 percent of the
systems in need of significant infrastructure
improvements, said Hasselback.
Peachland is commended for its proactive work in
providing water to the Edgewater Pines Mobile Home Park
but the district should also look at improvements for
the Antlers Beach and Hardy Falls’ water systems and
even consider helping the Trepanier Ditch Users, who
fall outside the district boundaries, said Hasselback.
Coun.
Terry Condon said small jurisdictions will find it very
expensive to provide water consistent with Canadian
Drinking Water Standards.
“You
are running a risk here,” Hasselback said of Peachland’s
untreated water. He said municipalities have to
recognize the liability of providing drinking water
given what has happened in places like Walkerton,
Ontario and North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Hasselback said IHA does not always get referrals from
the Ministry of Mines about gravel pits and Peachland
could certainly forward applications to the health
authority for comment.
