"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 4 August 2013

I Bet You Didn't Know This

I've been asking if anyone in the course of their travels has sighted a Public Health Nurse.

I was a  member of the York Region Board of Health  thirty years ago. Chairman of  The Board during my second term.  The Medical Officer of Health initiated a conversation about the  nursing function at that time. He provided  a history of the service.

The various workshops  referenced seemed pretty much like  a make-work program  to me even then. 

A  teacher friend  talked about nurses visiting the schools and said it was pretty much of a mystery what they were doing there.

In the blog we've heard about a nurse visiting when a new baby came home. But not again. And another  coming to the door but no further. Not much meat there. 

Nowadays,  new mothers  and babies get pretty much all the service they need from the family doctor or midwife ,whichever is their choice. 

When I had my chat with the MOH ,he said the nurses  thought they should  receive higher pay than hospital nurses because they had additional certification. And they  should have teachers' vacations.

I didn't see anything on the  copy  from the  Public Health Nurses web site that threw any light on 
their function  It was just a stream of  service-sounding verbiage creating the  impression of a function. 

I thought somebody ought to see them about in the community and have an idea of what they're doing. 

The  Public Health  Board is financed ,in the main and regulated  by the Province but operated by York Region. 

One wonders what does happen when a service is no  longer required?

When it's a shared responsibility , who does  make the decision  to terminate? 

Or not? 

Anyway. I got a positive answer to my question about  an elusive sighting on Friday. 

You know we have a Trails Advisory Committee. Which, by the way , has come to believe  that without trails, the  human race cannot  possibly survive. 

Because of  the connection to  the outdoors and healthy living, the Region apparently asked the committee if they would like a public health nurse to attend their meetings. 

They said yes. 

So now a public  health  nurse sits in on four hour long committee meetings.

Four hours is half a day's work with half a day's pay , complete with benefits.

They may be doing the same thing in every municipality. There are nine. 

She  never speaks. Has nothing to say about trails. Just takes her place at the table and stays there .


I  am a Councillor and I  would not have known that unless I asked a question on the remote chance there would be an answer. 

Now,  we have all heard about the overwhelming cost of the health care system.  

Seniors in the main are held responsible

I wonder if there's a web site to tell us the cost for  nurses to sit in on meetings  with such an esoteric connection to health and well being.

Don't forget, it was the Region that sought out he opportunity to occu

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, If this Council & the Trails Committee are dumb enough to let her sit there without contributing anything, she is going to be smart enough to occupy that chair. But it is funny in a dreadful way.

Anonymous said...

Resident birds never notice the cuckoos in their nests. But they feed them to the detriment of their own families.

Anonymous said...

You would appear to have landed a lively one. you probably should include travel expenses. it is highly unlikely that an Aurora resident has this cushy job. but then stranger things have happened. who signs off on that woman's pay cheque? parks & recreation ?

Anonymous said...


Does anyone out there know that Aurora has a Trail Master Plan.

Does anyone out there know that Aurora is a member of the Nokiidaa Trail Committee, along with Newmarket and East Gwillimbury?

The objective of this latter is to investigate the possibilities of building a walking trail from Aurora to Lake Simcoe. There is a time reference to this of fifty years.

If the Trails Advisory Committee is entitled to a public health nurse to sit in silent attendance, would that mean two nurses in attendance whenever the Trail Master Plan is being considered? What about when the Nokiidaa Trail Committee meets, two nurses, a doctor and an EMO vehicle in attendance?

Surely the two councillors who sit on the Trails Advisory Committee have the intelligence to tell the public health nurse that his/her services are really not required and that his/her talents would be better used elsewhere?

Or do they not have this intelligence?

Anonymous said...

That's got to cost quite a bit more than a case of beer. But I suspect it won't become a ' scandal ' if Gallo is heading up the committee with Ballard riding shot gun.

Anonymous said...


4-year old boy gets re-elected mayor in Dorset, Minnesota.

Wonder who manages his campaign?

Anonymous said...

So, is it the fault of the Public Health Nurse that she was instructed to sit on the committee?

Is this any different than having other support staff sit on committees?

I would think that Public Health is perhaps concerned with potential accidents or health issues that may occur on a trail.

What is the protocol if someone (let's say a senior) is on a trail in Aurora and trips and breaks a hip?

Anonymous said...

9:21
I saw no fault being assigned other than stupidity & that certainly was not directed at the nurse. Sometimes your boat seems to leave the dock far too early.

Anonymous said...

Canada Politics
Andy Radia
" With Wallin expense audit complete, Senator Mac Harb could be in more hot water "
And, yeah, I know it's off-topic.

Anonymous said...

Margaret Wente has an interesting article today that clearly shows the growing divide, coming abyss.