At the August 21 District of Muskoka Council meeting, District Chair Jeff Lehman recognized Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Dr. Charles Gardner, for his work.
Garner will be retiring at the end of September. He has been the area’s MOH for 20 years, since 2005. Prior to that, he served as MOH with the Leeds Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit for seven years. He has worked in general medical practice in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Zimbabwe. He’s a past chair of the Association of Local Public Health Agencies (ALPHA)Board and past chair of the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health. In June 2023, he received a Distinguished Service Award from ALPHA for his work in public health and a Faculty Educator Award for public health and preventative medicine residency at the University of Toronto in 2020. He’s also a board member of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada.
“Dr. Gardner is very active personally and professionally in the promotion of health through green compact, complete walkable and cyclable communities, and, if I may, Dr. Gardner also had the immense challenge of leading the public health response to the COVID pandemic in our area—an incredibly difficult time for all those in leadership positions of any kind but particularly public health which was very much thrust into the spotlight under very difficult circumstances, needless to say,” said Lehman.
“I had a lot of conversations with Chuck during that time period, and it was an enormous challenge both professionally and personally, I know,” said Lehman, who described Gardner as one of those people who sees the bigger picture in terms of creating healthier communities. He said Gardner was able to educate many people during the years who were in leadership positions about the importance of making those health connections.
“Dr. Gardner, for me, has been a constant advocate to remember that the social determinants of health, the things that determine whether we can live a healthy life, are the bigger picture, and when we keep our focus on that, we’re able to provide greater community wellness and design better places for people to live,” added Lehman.
Councillor Terry Glover thanked Gardner for taking his calls and calming him down during the pandemic at a time when he was new to the job of Mayor of Lake of Bays. Councillor Sandy Cairns, who has been on the health board for some time, thanked Gardner for the knowledge she has gained and has been able to share with the Health Services Committee at the District. She remembered COVID times, which she described as a tough, “and, of course, during COVID there was two of us that received not a very nice, fake, I guess you could say, lawsuit against two of our members on council. I was one of them, and Dr. Gardner helped us to get through that easily, and we had no problems after that,” she said, and thanked him. Councillor Peter Koetsier also thanked Gardner for being an educator.
Gardner thanked District Council and Lehman for inviting him to receive such an honour, which he referred to as extremely touching. He said it has been his honour and pleasure to address District Council over the years on many items of importance to public health. He thanked the support of councillors on the board and summarized some of the issues and challenges during his 20-year tenure. From implementing the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, rendering spaces smoke-free, which had a huge impact on smoking rates, said Gardner, to periodic spring floods, preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear disasters, concerns for pandemic and an actual pandemic, as well as preparing for the G8 Summit in 2010 in Huntsville.
“We’ve sought to safeguard community water fluoridation, we’ve worked indeed on healthy community design with municipalities, and on climate change. I always say that our municipalities and municipal councils are the most important levels of government and institutions in our society for health and promoting the health of our population as a whole, that you work very far upstream, and it’s certainly critically important for public health to be working with and for our municipalities,” he said. “I do appreciate all that our councils, such as yourself, do, and I shall work diligently to my very last day, which is at the very end of September, on Truth and Reconciliation Day,” said Gardner, who acknowledged his team and staff, whom he referred to as excellent. “We look forward to the future. There are many challenges that face us as a society, as a species going forward in the future, and public health will always be there for you.”
Don’t miss out on Doppler!Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox six times per week!
Click here to support local news
0 Comments