Hospital Crisis, Mask Mandates, & Public Education tool @ Ottawa Public Health meeting December 2022
Channel: EquitableEducation
Date: 28/12/2022

Deputation by Greg Macdougall (EquitableEducation.ca) to the OPH Ottawa Board of Health meeting December 20, 2022.

A highlight was the presentation of the Healthcare Crisis Crowdsourced Database, which is online: https://equitableeducation.ca/2022/hospital-crisis-database

A full accessible overview of the deputation (full transcript is available by CC):

0:13 Slide 1: Outline
* Hospital / Healthcare Crisis
* Mask Mandates, + OCDSB
* Public Education resource 

0:31 Slide 2: Hospital Crisis
* Child died while no ambulance available October 25th. Thread: https://twitter.com/ottawalevelzero/status/1596023298730692608
* Message from staff at General Hospital, late October. Originally posted on Ottawa sub-reddit.
* Photo from rally across from CHEO / General Hospital, December 9th: https://twitter.com/MelissaCoenraad/status/1601341151092518912

1:52 Slide 3: Mask Mandates
* Segments from four Ottawa Citizen articles (November 8th, 9th, 14th, and 23rd) that report on OPH statements about masks.

2:48 Slide 4: OPH submission to OCDSB meeting November 22nd.
"“I am writing to provide public health data and context as you consider ways to increase mask wearing in schools. … The Science Table pointed out that schools are not isolated from communities and so implementation of temporary measures should not be done in isolation of the broader community measures for indoor spaces.”

3:09 Slide 5: Questions x3
* How effective have been the ‘strong suggestions’ and getting public buy-in for voluntary masking in Ottawa in past month?
* What science is behind the position that mask mandates aren’t worthwhile at a city level, and only at a provincial level?
* What does it say to OCDSB and community to say you will  support businesses and organizations to implement mask mandates, then provide recommendation to not do so as a submission to the meeting where they will vote on issue?

3:52 Slide 6: Public Education resource tool (intro)
Crowdsourced Database on the Healthcare Crisis
Online at EquitableEducation.ca
Primary purpose:  Collect various types of relevant information in a central spot.
This makes the information more accessible to people of varying digital literacy levels, and for people who aren’t able to closely follow all the news and details due to time constraints.

4:20 Slides 7-8: Screenshots from Healthcare Crisis Crowdsourced Database
* Link: https://equitableeducation.ca/2022/hospital-crisis-database 

5:13 Slide 9: City of Ottawa public recruitment for boards and committees
* Link: https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/council-committees-and-boards/get-involved-local-government/join-committee-or-board#section-9dac29ef-160c-498e-9c53-c266bdd8c94d

Video of the full meeting (1-hour):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLcrxfal7U0
(This presentation is approx between 41-46 minutes)