Volunteer involvement in Ontario's public health

Addressing volunteer involvement in public health is especially relevant and timely due to several recent occurrences; the creation of the Ministry of Health Promotion; the tabling of the Revitalizing Ontario’s Public Health Capacity:. [...] With support of the OPHA, the Volunteer Resource Managers Network has: • developed a terms of reference and strategic plan • submitted a position paper (accepted) to the Capacity Review Committee for the inclusion of volunteers in its final report • populated the volunteer management section of the OPHA website • prepared a poster presentation on Volunteer Involvement:. [...] A Vital Component in Achieving Optimal Outcomes From Public Health Programs and Services for presentation at the 2006 OPHA conference • advocated and obtained support from the Director of the Public Health Research and Education and Development (PHRED) and from the Executive Director of the Champlain Local Integrated Health Network (LIHN) for the inclusion of both peer educators and volunteers in [...] All public health units across the province vary in terms of their inclusion of volunteers and the professional staff who manage them despite the Ministry of Health endorsing the involvement of volunteers and recommending that all public health units include coordinators of volunteers along with their professional program staff in 1983. [...] However, advocacy for the thousands of volunteers and growing number of coordinators of volunteer resources in public health is worthy of support, recognition, and endorsement from the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, the Ministry of Health Promotion, the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, and Boards of Health across the province.