Plans are slowly taking shape for the official creation of a county-wide Safe Communities Committee.
But with similar committees already in place in many of Wellington County’s seven municipalities, Safe Communities leadership committee co-chairman and county councillor Gary Williamson, said the intent of the county committee is to augment what is already in place and assist smaller committees in Wellington with getting their message out. He also noted working together will allow the county and municipal groups to “share ideas,” and information.
Representatives from local fire departments, ambulance services, health unit, hospital officials, ministry of labour, emergency management planning, OPP and politicians met Sept. 20 at the OPP station here to firm up ideas for what the county committee’s objectives will be. The committee is planning a priority session at Aboyne Hall on Nov. 22 to establish the principles that will govern it.
“There were rumours out there that we were taking over,” Williamson told the 17 representatives at the meeting. “That’s not the case at all. If something works we should be sharing it.”
Barry King, Ontario representative for Safe Communities Canada which is responsible for approving the creation of a county committee, said the objective is to establish what criteria the local group will work on, including farm and workplace safety, drug and alcohol prevention and establishing programs to safeguard against road and pedestrian accidents.
“Injury is predictable and preventable,” he said of the group and Safe Communities Canada main objective.
He praised the efforts of the diversified services in the county for coming together to establish a county committee.
“If you take at look at your three emergency services, police, fire and ambulance, and they wanted to start something like this themselves how far would you get?”
He recalled the 1998 ice storm that crippled parts of eastern Ontario and Quebec. At that time, King was the police chief in Brockville. He said the city was informed early in the morning that power would be cut to the entire community. Only parts of the hospital and the fire and police departments had their own power and with many seniors living in Brockville it was necessary to find a building to house them.
King said some preliminary work had been done to establish a safe communities group which allowed city and emergency officials to reach out and find resources needed in the community.
“We needed to open up a high school for seniors. We got 1,000 beds brought in from Ottawa and generators. All this to hold 3,000 people (at the high school) and be able to take care of them. With the 30 police workers I had at the police station, 15 with the OPP and 22 with the fire department we couldn’t do that.”
With all the resources in place Brockville and its residents were able to weather the storm, he said.
The work done by the Brockville committee in educating about accident prevention eventually resulted in a drop in the number of individuals treated at the city hospital.
He pointed out the local committee is the second to have county backing and the “first in the province that’s OPP lead.”
At last week’s meeting there was also preliminary discussion about the size of the budget that would be needed for the committee once it’s officially established. King said the committee in Woodstock operates with a $25,000 budget that was donated by Toyota in Woodstock. He said the local committee’s budget will be determined by the scope of its mandate and fundraising efforts coupled with the county contribution.
To date the county has paid $500 to have affiliate the committee with the national organization and will be asked to put up about $1,500 for the upcoming November meeting where about 60 people are expected to attend.
Bell also suggested the committee could come under the auspices of the county economic development department because being profiled a ‘safe community’ can attract businesses.
He pointed to Brockville where three companies located due to the safe community designation.
Also making a presentation to the committee was Ishan Angra, health promotion specialist with the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit, who presented figures on the top injury causes in the unit’s jurisdiction. The injury figures, including falls, accidents, and self-inflicted injuries, are intended to give the committee an indication on where it should concentrate its efforts.
Linda Dickson, county community emergency management coordinator and committee secretary, presented an on-line and public survey intended to determine public concerns associated with injuries and their causes. The survey received 116 responses.
“Most respondents felt that people aged 12 to 25 were at the greatest risk for preventable injuries, and as such said more training and education programs for youth would be valuable,” she said.
“Motor vehicle-related injuries were consistently rates as the most important category of preventable injuries,” she added. “Impaired driving, traffic violations, bicycle safety, and pedestrian safety are top concerns. Several comments expressed fears concerning the dangers of specific streets, and a few complained about the general lack of sidewalks and bike lanes.”
Williamson said he expects the November meeting will be about four hours long.
