Do you know a young public health champion? Here's how you can nominate them

Algoma Public Health is on a search for a new crop of public health champions and this year it has added a youth category to the celebration of people in the community who have made a difference.

Now in its fourth year, the public health champions award is a way for Algoma Public Health (APH) to recognize locals who have stepped up to keep the community safe and healthy.

“When we go through all of our experiences during the pandemic, it’s really easy to focus on the hardships and the negatives,” said Dr. Jennifer Loo, medical officer of health for Algoma in a phone interview on Tuesday. 

“We have seen a lot of resilience and a lot of giving from our community partners and community members. To be able to acknowledge that is really important at this time because these are folks who, a lot of the time no one knows the amount they are doing. They are flying under the radar,” she added.

In past years, APH has recognized municipalities and local leaders in the community, but also regular people who are doing their part to keep the community safe and healthy.

This year, in addition to naming one or more public health champions, APH is seeking nominations for a young public health champion who is under 30 years of age.

“A lot of times we overlook and don’t give enough credit to the young people in our community. A lot of them don’t just have good ideas, they actually put them into action,” said Loo. “I think they also inspire all of us to know even though the pandemic has been a tough time for all of us, it has really allowed us to showcase the spirit of some individuals who can rise above and help out their communities.”

Loo encourages people to nominate individuals, businesses or organizations that are big and small for the annual recognition.

“A lot of this generosity and community spirit that we have noticed, we know there are a lot more stories like that out there and we would like to share them,” she said.

Loo said hardships can bring out the best in people and the challenges we collectively face through the COVID-19 pandemic is are no exception.

“There are a lot of great stories embedded in those times of crises about heroes and people with a lot of courage and those are folks who are doing that work here in our own community,” said Loo. 

A call for nominations ends on Friday at noon and winners will be announced at the Feb. 23 meeting of the board of health.