Digital Commons Network^™

Case 7 : Going Beyond Bike Racks And Pedestrian Crossovers: Achieving Health Equity In School Travel Planning, Megan Graat, Andrew Clark, Jason Gilliland, Lloy Wylie

Western Public Health Casebooks

The Elgin-St. Thomas, London-Middlesex, and Oxford Active and Safe Routes to School (ASRTS) Steering Committee have established a School Travel Planning Equity Working Group. The goal of this group is to use the Government of Ontario’s Health Equity Impact Assessment tool to evaluate current inequities in school travel planning programming – a community-based approach to addressing barriers to and facilitators of walking and wheeling to and from school – by identifying relevant populations, potential impacts, and mitigation, monitoring, and dissemination strategies (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2018). The goal of the case is to provide readers with the opportunity …

Case 3 : Coming Together To Promote Change: Best Practices To Prevent, Treat, And Manage Type 2 Diabetes In Indigenous Communities In Canada, Sacha Bragg, Harsh Zaran, Regna Darnell

Western Public Health Casebooks

Marie is a nurse and a member of the Bull Rapids First Nation. She is frustrated that there are no resources to help Indigenous people cope with the issue of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, which is a major health issue in this community. Marie knows something needs to be done, so she undertakes research to determine whether there are any interventions that can help her community prevent, treat, and manage type 2 diabetes. During her research, she discovers Diabetes Alliance and the quality improvement strategy they have developed to empower Indigenous communities to create their own plans …

Case 10 : Middlesex-London’S Public Health Emergency: Hiv In People Who Inject Drugs, Daniel E. Murcia Monroy, Tamara Thompson, Amanda Terry

Western Public Health Casebooks

Middlesex-London is experiencing an alarming rise of new HIV cases in people who inject drugs (PWID). Despite a demonstrably successful harm reduction program and primary care effort, the rapid increase in HIV remains. To help reduce the incidence of HIV in PWID, in association with Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC), My Sister’s Place, and the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU), the Counterpoint Needle and Syringe Program in Middlesex-London distributed over three million needles in 2016. Nevertheless, healthcare workers continue to diagnose PWID with HIV and other infections. Of those needles distributed, only 1,895,798 were recovered through these organizations and, thus, improperly discarded …

Case 12 : Housing And Health: A Human Rights Approach To Wellbeing, Amanda Steger, Johanna Macdonald, Amardeep Thind

Western Public Health Casebooks

The Health Justice Initiative medical-legal partnership serves clients experiencing human rights violations, especially related to housing. Through the provision of legal services, education, and systemic advocacy, it aims to improve clients’ care, health, and wellbeing. The current case revolves around a client and her many health struggles, amplified by her unliveable Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) unit. Like many TCHC units, it is in extreme disrepair and unlikely to change due to TCHC’s funding shortage. The client is physically unable to take the stairs to her apartment due to a heart condition and mentally unable to take the elevator due …

Case 1 : Where Are The Sex Workers?, Jaspreet Bhullar, Rebekah Vaughan, Gerald Mckinley

Western Public Health Casebooks

The Bloom Clinic of the WellFort Community Health Services in Brampton, Ontario is mandated to serve six specific populations for HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) testing. The Bloom Clinic also tests for all Hepatitis viruses, HIV and STIs. The six priority populations listed below were identified as at-risk peoples due to having barriers “accessing traditional forms of health care” (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2013).

• Substance users
• People involved with the correctional system
• Homeless people and those with inadequate housing
• Aboriginal Peoples
• Street-involved Youth
• People with tattoos and/or piercings

The specially designed, multidisciplinary Bloom Clinic HCV team consists of a …

Case 7 : Transitioning From Prison To Community, Alison Green, Graham Betts-Symonds, Amardeep Thind

Western Public Health Casebooks

The Irish Red Cross (IRC) Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) Prison Program was piloted at Wheatfield Prison in 2009 and, following several successful evaluations, was implemented across all of Ireland’s 14 prisons in 2014. The CBHFA Prison Program trains inmates as special status IRC volunteers through weekly CBHFA training sessions, which take place over six months. After completing the community assessment module within the CBHFA program, volunteers, with the support of prison staff, implement projects and engage in peer-topeer health education in an effort to promote the health of the prison community. In addition to having a positive …

Case 3 : Ciguatera Fish Poison: An Emerging Risk Associated With Climate Change?, Molly Dion, Patricia Huston, Lloy Wylie, Charles Trick

Western Public Health Casebooks

This case takes place in the Bahamas and surrounds a complex toxic illness, Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP). It discusses how CFP is contracted and where it is most common, as well as prevention and diagnosis methods. It then goes into the context of the Bahamas, setting the stage in terms of health care, health of the population, government, and various employment industries. Due to its location in the Caribbean, the Bahamas has a large number of tourists each year contributing to the number of CFP cases, as well as affecting the local populations in a variety of ways. This case …

Case 4 : Returning To Our Roots: Building Capacity In Public Health For Action On The Social Determinants Of Health, Giovanna Longo, Kevin Churchill, Lloy Wylie

Western Public Health Casebooks

Canadians are healthier than ever before, and live longer. But improvements in health are not distributed evenly between population groups. In fact, studies show that only 25% of our health is determined by health care and 15% by our genetics. The remaining 60% is determined by factors outside the traditional health care system, such as our income and social status, education, employment and working conditions, social support networks, social and physical environments, and culture. These factors are called the social determinants of health (SDOH). When these conditions are distributed in ways that are unfair, unjust, or avoidable, they are termed …