Oxford County Drug Strategy Steering Committee
The Steering Committee is led by:
- Peter Heywood, Director, Southwestern Public Health
- Randy Peltz, Executive Director, Oxford County Community Health Centre
The membership of the Steering Committee is comprised of:
- 3 Community Members/Persons with Lived Experience
- Addiction Services Thames Valley
- Canadian Mental Health Association, Oxford
- Emergency Physicians Woodstock Hospital/Coroner
- Ingersoll Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic
- Ontario Provincial Police
- Oxford County Community Health Centre
- Regional HIV/AIDS Connection
- Southwestern Public Health
- Sub-Region Planning and Integration (Oxford), SWLHIN
- Tillsonburg/Ingersoll Hospitals
- Wellkin Child & Youth Mental Wellness
- Woodstock Police Services
Creation of the Oxford County Community Drug & Alcohol Strategy
Community Consultations
Our consultant, DPRA, identified eight themes after a series of community consultations:
- Education and awareness
- Children and youth
- Housing
- Transportation and outreach services
- Addressing stigma
- Greater investments into upstream approaches
- Building greater local infrastructure and resources for problematic substance use
- Family engagement and support
Each of the themes was accompanied by two or more short and long-term actions and were shared with members of the steering committee for further consideration and discussion.
Opioid Situational Assessment Completed
Southwestern Public Health supported the creation of the Strategy by completing a situational assessment for Oxford County. Information captured in the situational assessment report was similar to the findings of DPRA’s consultations. A preview of the opioid situational assessment report was shared with community stakeholders on Wednesday, September 26, 2018. The invitation was extended to members of the Oxford County Drug Strategy Project Steering Committee and organizations that were referenced by participants in the report. The purpose of the meeting is to share a portion of the report with the providers that were mentioned in the report before it is released publicly and to also discuss how SWPH will share these and other findings more broadly.
Opioid Response Plan
Southwestern Public Health presented a draft version of Oxford’s Local Opioid Response Plan to members of the Steering Committee. The focus of the presentation was a formalized response threshold criteria for Oxford County that recognizes that each threshold will generate a response from participating agencies based on their operational mandates. Further discussion is required to refine the proposed criteria.
Community Workshop
In March 2019 a community workshop was held in Ingersoll. Members of the community, stakeholders, and partner organizations were invited. The objective of the workshop was to determine what actions found within the strategy were “low hanging fruit” and could be achieved with little investment, which actions required moderate investment, and which would require a lot of time and investment to accomplish.
Meeting Minutes
Vision
A community working together to help prevent and reduce problematic substance use and problematic substance-use related harms within the community.
Mission
To provide an action plan highlighting priority areas and clear pathways to achieving all community-based recommended actions
Core Themes Emerging From Community Consultations
Qualitative analysis of focus group and interview discussions carried out during the community consultations identified a number of core themes and concerns regarding problematic substance use in Oxford County.
These Core Themes Include:
- Addressing stigma;
- Investing in upstream approaches;
- Ensuring adequate housing;
- Reducing transportation barriers and increasing outreach initiatives;
- Building local infrastructure and resources for problematic substance use;
- Enhancing education and awareness;
- Supporting and engaging families; and
- Focusing on children and youth.
Recommended Actions
Based on the evidence review and community consultations, recommended actions relating to addressing the core themes were identified. These recommended actions were organized according to the four pillars and address a range of strategic areas including:
- Leadership and Coordination;
- Education and Awareness;
- Community Capacity Building;
- Training, Research, Evaluation & Advocacy; and
- Social Determinants of Health.
Implementation Plan
Key Components for Implementing the Recommended Actions in the Community are Described, Including:
-
Drug strategy implementation and governance structure;
- Timeframe for completion of actions items;
- Performance measures for monitoring and evaluation of progress; and
- Potential risks and mitigation strategies.