Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is launching a new online learning platform next month to increase public health education across the region.
The free courses will cover a range of health and safety topics, from common infections to proper pool maintenance.
“It’s significantly going to improve the accessibility of the education that we have here,” said WDGPH operations director Phil Wong during Wednesday’s Board of Health meeting.
“We do a lot of in-person workshops and training. A lot of folks, they just can’t take time off work to come into the health unit or meet somewhere to do a course,” he said.
The courses will be asynchronous and virtual, meaning people can tackle them whenever, wherever, and move at their own pace. They will also be mobile-friendly, so participants have the choice of using a computer, tablet or phone to complete them.
The first courses being launched are a recreational pool and spa course, geared towards lifeguards and pool and spa operators. The other is personal service settings, with 10 modules, geared towards places like nail and hair salons, tattoo parlours, electrolysis centers and more.
“You can pick and choose which modules you want to take depending on the service that you provide to the community with your business,” he said.
The courses have been developed by public health and education experts, and are designed to be easy to understand while filling training voids in program areas from basic health literacy to advanced professional training.
These two courses in particular address gaps in training available to inform operators of recent regulatory changes.
Wong said there will be quizzes throughout the courses, and you get a certificate of completion when you’re done.
The quizzes are based on 10 years of infraction data from local inspections. He said they plan to track whether the courses are reducing infractions going forward.
He said public health is planning to do an operator needs survey to determine future course offerings.
Next courses will cover a range of topics from zoonotic and vector-born diseases, infection prevention, and substance use diversion.
As for other courses, he said “the sky’s the limit.”
You can read more about the new learning platform and available courses here. When the website launches, it can be found at https://learn.wdgpublichealth.ca/.
