1. www.skeinc.com Health and GIS The Municipal Opportunity Hugh Williams 416-738-9583 hwilliams@skeinc.com

2. Intro to SKE Inc. URISA sustaining member. Ontario govt. Vendor of Record 14 years of growth and leadership in GIS implementation. Key directions: A) “Ontario GeoPortal” and related business applications: B) Provide hosted “spatial cloud computing” (SC2) solutions. C) Custom application development. Partner with iHealthSolutions for health sector GIS requirements and applications.

3. Theories How Swine Flu is Being Transmitted…

4. Presentation Discussion: 1.Public health has many key programs that GIS can support. 2.Public health recognizes need for GIS – but many challenges exist. 3.Opportunities for municipalities to leverage / support public health. 4.New technologies / solutions available to make it easier – such as spatial cloud computing.

5. Health Delivery in Ontario ( 101 ) Public Health Units (36) – Deliver programs to keep people healthy (healthy babies, tobacco, rabies, immunization, drinking water, STD/AIDS education, oral hygiene, many more) – Have a municipal footprint. – Co-funded through municipalities and Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) (14) – Plan and fund health care system delivery – hospitals, CCACs, health care providers. – Footprint does not follow municipal boundaries.

6. GIS Can Support.. Population health and analysis. (at risk, status, behaviours). Disease monitoring / tracking / remediation: e.g. West Nile Virus. Service delivery improvement: e.g. inspection routes and territory assignment. Healthcare access. Information management: e.g. timely access to information.

7. GIS Capacity in Public Health Varies ! – From little capacity to dedicated GIS. – Leads to non-standard approaches; “haves” and “have nots”. – IT often not a spending priority when viewed against health program delivery. – GIS not core business – although well understood in epidemiology GIS Interest Group through APHEO (Assoc Public Health Epidemiologists of Ontario). PHAC (Public Health Agency Canada) support. Municipal partnerships enabling capability.

8. GIS Usage in Public Health (stats from 2008 survey – 22 health units, mostly Epi’s) 82% ESRI software. 41% some training in GIS or spatial analysis.; 82% have knowledge of GIS applications; 1/3 of respondents good at GIS. Most commonly used for a) exploring data, b) geocoding, c) buffer analysis. Other: cluster analysis; grid analysis; network analysis; Project use includes: vector borne surveillance e.g. West Nile (79%); cluster analysis, distance to hospital, ward profiles, population health maps. Over 70% feel standards lacking and needed.

9. Health GIS Challenges Data / Information – Access – Integration – Sharing / publishing. – Privacy Core functionality – e.g. geocoding Cost – architecture and implementation. Capacity – training and dedication. Corporate support

10. Municipal Opportunity Comments from Leeds, Grenville, Lanark Health Unit: – good relationship with municipality’s GIS coordinator and technician – Can’t “concentrate anywhere near as much on GIS as I would like and we can’t afford a dedicated GIS technician”. – Potential for cost savings by sharing GIS resources – Envision a GIS web portal (enabling sharing) maintained by an external provider. – Data privacy a concern, but ways to overcome this.

11. Municipal Opportunity Several examples of municipal GIS support of public health: Waterloo; York; Sault Ste. Marie/Algoma; many others… How is your municipal GIS supporting the health unit’s role in health promotion and healthy communities? New technology services-based solution: Spatial Cloud Computing

12. Spatial Cloud Computing (SC2) SC2 provides information integration, publishing and access through a geographic interface. Service-based model that requires little or no additional technology infrastructure / data / capacity. Privacy concerns addressed – health data don’t leave the health unit. Municipal GIS data and analysis capability + SC2 would quickly provide a complete solution. SKE Inc. implementing SC2 through multi-award winning GeoPortal application.

13. Thank you. Hugh Williams SKE Inc. hwilliams@skeinc.com 416-738-9583