County council hears from WECHU, concerns rise over mental health

By Fred Groves

Health dominated the Essex County Council meeting last week in Essex as local politicians heard a report from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) and decided to take affirmative action over the ongoing concern of mental health.

“I want to give a genuine thank you for your support and trust in the Health Unit over the past three years during COVID,” said Dr. Ken Blanchette, CEO of the local health unit.

Along with public health directors, Kristy McBeth, Linda Watson and Eric Nadalin, the annual service plan was presented to the county which includes nine program standards. These include school health immunization, chronic disease prevention and food safety.

“We are happy to say that our students are the most up-to-date maybe in the history of the health unit which is great news for the community,” said McBeth, in regards to school immunization.

Blanchette pointed out that continual support from the county’s seven municipalities is what keeps the community healthy and helps manage day-to-day crisis. He also noted that Windsor-Essex is a diverse community and a diverse environment when it comes to health care and promotion.

“The health unit is emerging, as all of us are outside of COVID, and it’s very important to get the message out to the public that we have restored all of our staff to the regular programming.”

There are 34 health units in Ontario and they all respond to community needs and priority populations. Plans are a balance of provincial requirements for programming and local responsive efforts in most needed areas which is a public health mandate.

Tecumseh’s Joe Bachetti who is the county’s deputy warden, inquired about a partnership that the Health Unit is currently entering with the University of Windsor. Blanchette said there is a construction project underway which will be the new office for WECHU.

“The university sits in one of the highest priority areas in Windsor-Essex. It’s a perfect place to relocate,” said Blanchette.

There was also a lot of discussion at Wednesday’s meeting over what council members consider to be a lack of resources in the county, for mental health.

Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers said that police in his town are having to take mental health concerns to the City of Windsor because there are no facilities in the county.

LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche said that all municipalities in Essex County are experiencing similar situations.

“We have asked the Health Unit if we could get a satellite office in LaSalle that deals with mental health,” said Meloche.

She added that EMS must deal with mental health issues every day and they need to know where to take patients.

“We need it in each and every municipality,” said Meloche about satellite offices for mental health.

“We all need more support when it comes to mental health.” funded through the board’s accumulated surplus.

Essex County Acting CAO Mary Birch said that the county could attempt to get grants for community well-being and added that the Western Wardens Association will bringing the topic of mental health up at the next Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting.

Some of the budget highlights for the WECDSB that address the board’s priorities include a $7.6-million increase in salary expenditures – which account for 79 per cent of the board’s budget – for a total of $228.2million, to cover the costs of new hiring to accommodate enrollment increases; a 9.4 per cent increase in expenses for educational assistants and a 13.4 per cent increase for Early Childhood Educators; a5.4 per cent increase in grant revenue to support special education needs; a six per cent increase in grant revenue to support mental health and well-being for students; $653 in program funding for education staff to support reading interventions; and $464,00 in program funding to support math recovery plans.

“This budget allows us to continue to provide the excellent service that our students and their families have come to expect from us,” said WECDSB director of education Emelda Byrne in a press release. “Our school board continues to grow, and this is a roadmap to provide the best possible learning opportunities for our students, while responsibly managing our resources.”

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