Public health is vital to our community
Public health is a sector within Canada’s health care system that frequently works in the background and often goes unnoticed when things are well. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, public health agencies across Canada and around the world moved into the spotlight and stayed there throughout the course of the pandemic. The Simcoe […]
Vaping, a growing trend in Simcoe Muskoka
by Dr. Charles Gardner The landscape of commercial tobacco and nicotine products has become more complex with the arrival of vaping products containing nicotine, which includes electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), the primary users of which are youth. While smoking among youth continues to be at an all-time low, vaping is now addicting young people to nicotine […]
West Nile virus and Lyme disease: reducing your risks
With winter well behind us, many people are happily heading into the garden, on the trail, to the water, enjoying the sun and the warm, fresh air. Any outdoor activity, be it cycling, walking, paddling or just enjoying time in a park with friends and family, provides an opportunity to increase physical activity, benefitting overall […]
Municipalities planning for healthier people
For a number of years, I have written on the need to build and rebuild our communities for health. It is important that our communities become easier, safer and more pleasant to walk, cycle or take public transit to work, school, shopping and recreation. Protecting the environment, which provides our air, food and water, is […]
Safety critical to active transportation
Being physically active is essential to good health, and one of the easiest ways to get moving on a regular basis is to use active transportation to get places you’re already going. Active transportation, which is simply any form of human powered transportation, from walking to cycling to skateboarding to using a wheelchair, is a […]