[Sust-mar] Please RSVP - Nov 22 Public Health and Mapping Workshop

[Eddie Oldfield]

Dear Madam / Sir:

The New Brunswick Lung Association is holding a workshop on Tuesday,
November 22, at the WU Center, in Fredericton.  The preliminary agenda is
attached.  This workshop will focus on enabling public health professionals
to respond to chronic and infectious diseases with decision-support
technology - in particular, we will examine the role of web-based mapping
for disease tracking, emergency response and health care planning.
Cross-linkages with public safety and environment will also be explored.

The event is free, and lunch will be served.  A description of the workshop
is included below.

Please RSVP with me: eddie.oldfield at nb.lung.ca, OR by phone: 506-455-8961
ext 113

For a map and directions, please visit: http://wucentre.unb.ca/map.php

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Eddie Oldfield
New Brunswick Lung Association
(506) 455-8961 ext 113

***

In this day and age of Hurricanes, flooding, potential pandemics (e.g. Avian
Flu), and other natural or man-made disasters, public health organizations
are under increasing stress to offer adequate response and mitigate health
concerns.

To assist public health professionals in dealing with chronic and infectious
diseases, and responding to health emergencies, the New Brunswick Lung
Association is hosting a public health workshop on November 22, at the WU
Center, in Fredericton.  The focus of this workshop will be to examine the
role of web-based mapping to support evidence-based decision making, monitor
and anticipate population health needs, and to enhance disease surveillance.
**see below

This workshop will bring together professionals across public health, public
safety and environment disciplines, to explore challenges and opportunities
for enhancing evidence-based decision-making through web-based mapping
technology.  The New Brunswick Lung Association was funded by GeoConnections
(Government of Canada) to develop this workshop and engage public health
professionals to participate.  The Public Health Agency of Canada will also
be speaking at this workshop.

Please feel free to extend an invitation to colleagues.
The event is free.  We will be serving lunch and coffee breaks.

There will be a series of presentations in the morning followed by a
facilitated group discussion where participants will be able to provide
input on priority areas.  The inputs will be useful for guiding a
provincial strategy for web-mapping.  Finally, these inputs will help to
guide
the Lung Association in the next phase of development of its web-mapping
health
portal www.nb.lung.ca/mapping.


** As a public health professional, imagine responding to priority health
issues with instant access to:

·       maps highlighting a disease outbreak, and tracking its spread within
a
community;

·       wildlife and domestic animal information useful for predicting
vectors of
potential spread to human communities;

·       air quality and climatic data (both archival and projected up to 100
years) to monitor correlations between bad air quality days / high
temperature days and hospital admissions - in order to alert patients with
respiratory conditions and to plan for appropriate hospital
staffing/resources;

·       statistics and other information for evidence-based decision-making,
based
on the type of outbreak, the rate of infection, and the population density
of an area;

·       applications that enable you to share information in real-time with
other
jurisdictions and to collaborate on response efforts;

·       systems that enable you to store an share information knowing that
privacy
safeguards are in place.


More background documentation summarizing GIS applications in public health
is available upon request.