WELLINGTON COUNTY – The county has unveiled its updated community safety and wellbeing plan for 2025.
The plan was last updated in 2021, however Safe Communities Wellington County program coordinator Christine Veit says little has changed.
“There weren’t huge differences,” said Veit.
“We basically take statistics from the OPP, from medical … from paramedics and from hospitals, like the emergency room visits, and not much has changed.”
This year’s top priority is mental health, specifically for youth.
According to the plan, there were 971 mental health act incidents reported to the Wellington County OPP in 2024.
The plan also states the leading cause of hospitalizations among youth ages 13 to 19 from 2005 to 2021 was intentional self-harm.
And there was a 27 per cent increase in students in grades seven to 12 reporting thoughts of suicide between the years 2019 and 2022.
The 2021 version listed motor vehicle collisions (MVC) as the number one priority. This year’s edition lists MVCs at number two.
“[They] are huge again,” said Veit. “The population is increasing across Wellington County, so there are more cars on the roads and so … collisions are increasing.”
Page 20 of the plan states the mortality rate for MVC-related injuries reached its highest level in 2018, at 11 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2018.
While there has been a notable decline, with the most recent data from 2021 showing 6 deaths per 100,000 residents, collisions continue to pose a serious risk to residents, officials say.
“In 2024 alone, Wellington County responded to 2,072 MVC calls,” states the plan.
This year’s third priority is falls by seniors, previously listed as number two in 2021.
“Everybody falls but the reason why we focus on older adults is because [they’re] the ones that end up having to stay (in hospitals),” Veit told the Advertiser.
“The average length of stay for an older adult above 65 years old is actually 65 days.”
That has remained the same since the 2021 plan.
Ranked fourth on the plan’s priorities list is accidental poisonings – unchanged from 2021.
According to the plan, accidental drug poisonings have increased significantly since 2015 in Wellington County due to the unregulated drug supply containing unpredictable and high-potency opioids.
Fentanyl and its analogues remain the leading cause of opioid-related deaths.
In 2023, fentanyl was responsible for approximately 79% of all such deaths in the Wellington Dufferin Guelph region.
Ranked fifth in the plan are pedestrians and cyclists, also unchanged from the previous plan. Emergency department visits and hospitalizations for these groups are highest among youth aged 10 to 15.
Sports and recreation and agriculture injuries were ranked sixth and seventh respectively, the same as in 2021.
Injury rates related to agricultural machinery and tools are high in Wellington County, specifically Minto and Wellington North.
To combat these issues the county will be:
- implementing stronger community engagement and education opportunities;
- expanding traffic calming measures;
- increasing mobility education and opportunities for older adults;
- increasing public awareness on the dangers of substances; and
- other programs, educational tools and community engagement opportunities.
The full report can be found at wellington.ca.
