News

ODPH was invited to re-join the Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA) as a constituent society and a member of the Board of Directors. The ODPH Executive considered and discussed this opportunity at great length, and is pleased to share that we will be re-joining this fall. Through discussions with the OPHA leadership, we feel reassured of OPHA's strengths, and the benefits and value in being part of the Association.

Our membership will: 

• Allow for the unique and important voice of ODPH to be present at this provincial public health leadership table
• Enhance our advocacy work, which is a key direction in our 2015-2019 strategic plan
• Reinforce our key nutrition messages and integrate them into various provincial advocacy efforts
• Provide a more consolidated and strengthened voice from public health at the provincial level

We look forward to strengthening the voice of OPHA in relation to nutrition and food issues through the incredible skills of our membership to support the work of public health in Ontario. 

If you have questions, feel free to connect with Evelyn (evaccar@toronto.ca) or Rebecca (Rebecca.Davids@york.ca). 

The ODPH Executive

The Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health (ODPH) has submitted a review for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s Land Use Planning 2015 Co-ordinated Review.  The letter outlines ODPH’s rationale for adding our lens to this review, as well as summarizes our recommendations.  The document discusses our recommendations in the context of the six goals of the review. A discussion document  for the 2015 Co-ordinated Review is also available if you are interested in reading it. 

Sincerely,

On behalf of the Menu Labelling Working Group and the ODPH Executive, I'd like to provide a brief update about Bill 45 and ODPH`s response to the Standing Committee on this issue.

The Menu Labelling Working Group has written and submitted a response letter to the Standing Committee on General Government.  We have been granted an invitation to present to the Standing Committee on April 22, 2015 at 5:30pm. Renee Gaudet, chair of the Menu Labelling Working Group, will be representing ODPH and our position. In a nutshell, ODPH supports the following  two recommendations for amending Bill 45 Schedule 1, Healthy Menu Choices Act:

• Both calorie and sodium content information should be displayed.

• Menus and menu boards should also include reference values for calories and sodium.
  

The ODPH Executive would like to thank the Menu Labelling Working Group for their leadership in this time sensitive endeavour. We are very excited that we were granted the opportunity to present to the Standing Committee and are hopeful our recommendations move forward.

Heather Thomas

Past Chair, ODPH

It's finally here...the new ODPH website and membership management system!!

We are calling this a SOFT launch of our NEW ODPH website and membership management system because there is still new content that is needed for the site.  Over the next few months I will be looking to members and workgroup members to help identify areas of the site that need to be updated and to help write content.

The following video has all the details you will need when accessing the NEW site. It will also explain our new membership management system and how our email correspondence will change. We will no longer be using the Mailman email service but instead a forum connected to our new website. This change may take a little time to get used to but it is a very exciting change! Once we have people using the site, a video describing the specifics to the forum will be sent to all members. Also important to note, the listserv email address is listserv@odph.ca.

I hope that ODPH members are as impressed with our NEW site as I am. Lifeline Design has been absolutely amazing to work with and has made this very HUGE job a lot easier! They have provided unlimited support and many, many wonderful website features that will benefit our membership. As part of their support, Lifeline Design's Dave Saraiva, has agreed to provide a few webinars over the next few weeks/months (and as needed) to help members with our new website and membership management system. The dates of the webinars are as follows (EST). I will also send the webinar dates and time as outlook invites this week.

April 16th from 2-:00-3:00 pm

April 23rd from 10:30-11:30am

April 27th from 11:00-12:00 am

April 30th from 3:00-4:00pm

Again, I hope you are impressed with the new site and I appreciate your patients as we work together over the next few months to make our NEW site the best it can be for members and non-members! Thank you again to Lifeline Design for making this all happen.

Please do not hesitate to email me directly if you have comments or questions.

Julie Slack

Website Coordinator

jslack@nwhu.on.ca

(807) 597-6871 ext. 3713

Don't forget to register for this year’s exciting Nutrition Exchange: Fuelling Public Health Nutrition. 
The event will be held on May 7-8, 2015 in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake at the White Oaks Resort. 

Some of the topics include: Family NutritionTools to Advance Practice School Nutrition Policy and Partnerships Don’t miss out on this fun, informative and networking opportunity.  We also have a fantastic wine tasting social event scheduled for Thursday night!

Please feel free to pass along the information to your colleagues and networks.  The event is open to everyone.

Don’t delay! The early bird registration rate is available until March 27th, 2015 and the final registration deadline is April 24th, 2015. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Your ODPH 2015 Exchange Planning Committee:

Lindsay Fera

Candice Einstoss

Jamie Hurst

Elsie Azevedo-Perry

Heather Harvey

Chelsea Socholotuk