Do you know a public health champion?

To go along with Algoma Public Health’s 50th anniversary celebrations being held throughout this year, APH board members approved a recommendation to establish an annual Public Health Champion Award at their regular monthly meeting Wednesday.

“The Public Health Champion Award will provide public recognition to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to public health in the Algoma district,” APH literature states.

“This is a project we’ve been talking about for a while internally…it’s important because it’s a positive reminder to the community the health of the public is everybody’s work, not just our work, we don’t work alone,” said Dr. Marlene Spruyt, APH medical officer of health and CEO at Wednesday’s board meeting. 

“There are things that individuals do (to promote public health and well-being) sometimes without even working directly with us (such as), bike trails, the Neighbourhood Resource Centre, those kinds of projects, and this would be a way to just acknowledge the individuals,” Spruyt said.

An individual or group will be honoured annually beginning this year, with a plaque containing the names of each year’s honourees to be mounted in the APH building at 294 Willow Avenue.

Nominations of individuals and groups will be welcome from across the entire Sault and Algoma region which APH serves.

Spruyt said the number of nominations each year could be large, and suggested the award selection committee, to be made up of APH board members, staff, the medical officer of health and associate medical officer of health, should focus on a particular category in subsequent years, such as physical activity promotion, food issues and others.   

The call for nominations will run from Aug. 1, 2018 to Sept. 28, 2018. Nomination forms will be made available online or can be filled out and emailed/mailed/faxed to Algoma Public Health.

Nominees must be individuals or organizations residing in the Algoma district. APH board members and current APH staff are not eligible.

A selection committee will review all nominees based on the following criteria: 

• how they have provided leadership in efforts to reduce health inequities, advocating for public policies that address the social determinants of health (for example, advocating to the government for the Basic Income Guarantee) 
• how they have fostered collaboration to improve the health of the community, such as strengthening partnerships across sectors and groups within a community (for example, the Neighborhood Resource Centre in Sault Ste. Marie)
• how they have built community capacity by empowering marginalized and vulnerable populations (for example,  teaching and offering community kitchens)

The Public Health Champion Award will be given at APH’s official 50th anniversary celebration in November. 

APH said it plans to promote nominations through news releases, social media and the agency’s partners and stakeholders.