| dc.description.abstract | In 2006 the Province of Nova Scotia released a report entitled The Renewal of Public
Health in Nova Scotia. This report served as a comprehensive overview of opportunities to
enhance public health services in the province. The overall intent was to demonstrate the need to
elevate public health from the shadow of the traditional acute care model of health care delivery.
This report identified deficiencies with existing structure, function and responsibilities, and
included broad recommendations for addressing these issues. One of the areas of concern relates
to the Environmental Health profession, and the fragmented approach to service delivery and
government oversight in the province. As the result of an uncoordinated structure of several
departments contributing to safeguarding the health and safety of its citizens, many areas of
environmental health have become under-addressed or completely unaddressed.
This project builds upon The Renewal of Public Health in Nova Scotia report. It outlines
a proposal for how Environmental Health can move forward and be effectively managed across
multiple departments / agencies. It identifies a number of strategies related to collaboration,
priority setting and core competency skill development to strengthen the overall approach to
health protection. Finally, it also demonstrates the value of combining diverse knowledge,
strengths and skills to enhance decision-making and service delivery for the protection of
environmental public health. | |
