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The Porcupine Health Unit: Important Facts You Need To Know

Did you know that the Porcupine Health Unit recently celebrated its 78th anniversary? Isn’t it amazing? Now, let’s learn some facts about it.

Like so many Southwestern Public Health Services, The Porcupine Health Unit has been working for years for the betterment of the health of people and for creating awareness about the many diseases prevalent in the world.

The Porcupine Health Unit is certainly worth knowing about, isn’t it?

All About The Porcupine Health Unit

Porcupine Health Unit
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The Porcupine Health Unit was first established in 1944 with the task of screening over 5000 people for tuberculosis. It addressed opioid addictions for a while and has been consistently active in spreading awareness to educate people about other health concerns.

The Health Unit is dealing with current health challenges, such as increasing mental health issues among the young, while it prepares for the future. According to medical experts, there are also some particular local issues depending on the area. Smoking, falls among seniors, and sexually transmitted illnesses are all higher than provincial levels, according to their survey.

The Porcupine Health Unit (PHU) is also collaborating with local school boards to help them implement public health measures outlined in the Ministry of Education’s Guide.

Working upstream is a unique feature of public health. As a result, the health unit aims to keep patients out of the system. The porcupine Health Unit works to eliminate hallway medicine, which is one of the government’s key mandates right now. According to a medical health practitioner, early education is critical in all health-related concerns, and the Porcupine Health Unit will continue to collaborate with community partners to maximize health potential.

The Porcupine Health Unit Branches

The Porcupine Health Unit is in northeastern Ontario, serving the whole Cochrane District as well as Hornepayne in the Algoma District. Timmins, Ontario, is the headquarters, with offices in Cochrane, Hearst, Hornepayne, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Matheson, Moosonee, and Smooth Rock Falls. In total, it has nine branches throughout northeastern Ontario.

1. Cochrane

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Cochrane branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at regularly scheduled clinics.

You can call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

2. Hearst

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Hearst branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at our regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

3. Hornepayne

Mondays from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and Tuesdays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m., the Porcupine Health Unit’s Hornepayne branch is open.

For more information, please contact the office or call 1-800-461-1818.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

4. Iroquois Falls

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Iroquois Falls branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number-1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

5. Kapuskasing

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Kapuskasing branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at our regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

6. Matheson

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Matheson branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at our regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

7. Moosonee

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Moosonee branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at our regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

8. Smooth rock falls

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Smooth rock falls branch is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization, sexual health, and dental services are all accessible by appointment at our regularly scheduled clinics.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

9. Timmins

The Porcupine Health Unit’s Timmins offices are open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Immunization and sexual health clinics are held on a regular basis at the main office.

Dental, infant hearing, and preschool speech and language services are all accessible at the Timcor office on a regular basis.

Call the toll-free number, 1-800-461-1818, for after-hours emergency inspection assistance, where someone is available 24 hours a day.

Health Service Programs Offered By PHU

The Porcupine Health Unit offers a number of programs and services to make you aware of staying healthy. It provides people with tips and tricks to stay abreast with the changing health situations of the world. Some of the following issues that are addressed by Porcupine Health Unit’s awareness programs are as follows:

Alcohol and other drugs, concussions, diabetes prevention program, extreme cold, mental health, healthy eating for a healthy life, infectious diseases, sexual health, smoking, sun safety, and vaccines and immunization.

Here is a little more about the Public Health Services programs.

1. Alcohol and other drugs

alcohol and drugs
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This is quite prevalent among the relatively younger population. If you choose to consume alcohol, knowing the risks that come with it is extremely important. These substances attack a human’s nervous system, which shall lead to physical dependency on some. Irresponsible alcohol consumption can also give rise to chronic diseases in the long term.

Children start getting involved with the usage of alcohol and some other drugs from grades 7 to 12. if the child is in the northern part, it is pretty much definite that his or her exposure to alcohol will happen within school years.

Therefore, the Porcupine Health unit comes with its programs to help parents to delay their child’s exposure to these addictions. These programs educate people about responsible drinking behavior and a lot more.

2. Smoking

Cigarette
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The Porcupine health unit, under their tobacco programs, goes on educating people, especially the youth, about the dangers of first and second-hand smoking with the hope of never letting the youths take up smoking in the first place.

It offers a variety of educational programs on tobacco health risks1 and works to help people quit smoking. Quitting smoking is a tough task as the longer the person smokes, the more dependent their moods and activities become dependent on it. Quitting smoking is a tough task, but it ain’t impossible, and the porcupines are there to help you with that.

Smoking is prohibited in multi-unit housing common areas under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act. There is no existence of safe level of second-hand smoke exposure, and it can harm your health right away.

3. Diabetes prevention program

Under this, the porcupine health unit helps people lower the risk or even prevent developing type 2 diabetes. They help people recognize whether they are at risk or not through a questionnaire which is known as CANRISK2. It is a short questionnaire aimed at Canadians between the ages of 40 to 74 who may be at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes or have been already diagnosed with it, and to draw their attention to certain factors that can be changed.

While certain elements, such as family history or ethnocultural background, are unchangeable, others, such as food, weight, and physical activity levels, can be. The Porcupine Health Unit believes that by helping people know how risk factors can lead to diabetes, people will be encouraged to adopt healthier lifestyles, such as frequent physical activity and keeping a healthy body weight that shall reap long-term benefits.

4. Mental health

healthy mind
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Mental Health has now become one of the most important parts of our health in recent years. The overall body balance that leads to mental well-being is extremely important for people nowadays to tackle the high-pressure world. Mental directly affects a person’s self-esteem, coping mechanisms, and a lot more. Therefore, the Porcupine Health Unit offers mental health programs to help people better understand themselves and their mental health so that they are ready to strive more.

5. Sexual Health

safe sex
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The porcupine health unit offers a lot of outlets to help people become aware of various FAQs related to sexual health. Is it birth control, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections,3 or just sex in general that you’re interested in? The sexual health team can offer you the services and information you require. They provide you with confidential, easily accessible clinics with trained nurses that you can visit to get answers to your queries and even provide low-cost birth control4. The issue of STIs also tends to be as they offer various tests to help you determine if you have any of them.

6. Vaccines and immunization

Vaccine
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Immunization programs aid in the prevention, control, elimination, and eradication of diseases that can be prevented with vaccines. Immunization has alone saved more lives in Canada over the last 50 years than any other medical procedure.

Vaccines safeguard an entire population by preventing the disease from spreading into communities. The more people who are inoculated, the lower the risk of disease spreading as it shall lead to herd immunity and protecting the ones who are not fit for vaccination, such as infants as they are too young to be vaccinated, people with medical issues, and people who may not respond to immunization properly.

The Porcupine Health Unit even entertains inquiries regarding vaccinations to let the people know if their loved ones were eligible to get appointments for the vaccination. Educating every person about the need for vaccines is also a big task at hand as people were very apprehensive at first when the vaccines were made available for the general use of the public. Vaccines used in Canada are incredibly effective and safe. Vaccines are thoroughly tested before being approved for use in Canada. Manufacturers must provide scientific and clinical proof demonstrating the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

Appointments can be scheduled for an individual, their family members, a friend, or anyone whose medical care and appointments you supervise, if any.

7. Infectious Diseases

infectious diseases
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The Porcupine Health unit is a thoroughly active and aware health unit that continuously works to support and protect Ontarians. Porcupine Health Unit addresses and investigates all kinds of reportable diseases, such as the ones that spread through person-to-person contact. This health unit educates people of Ontario of any age because the sooner, the better about how to prevent the spread of such infectious diseases.

From letting people know the importance of washing hands to maintaining distance from other healthy people when sick, the Porcupine Health Unit tries its best to make living more healthy for the Ontario people. They even provide resources to the public and teach them the use of those resources in order to get their teachings put into practice.

Online Presence

The Porcupine Health Unit has an online presence as well, for it understands that to reach a greater number of people having a social media presence is utterly important. It has its own official website. For further information, see the Porcupine Health Unit Facebook page and Twitter feed. All of their community partners’ assistance and collaboration are much appreciated by the Porcupine Health Unit.

Overall Thoughts

Knowing about the work done by health units like the Porcupine Health Unit is very important for your own as well as others’ health and awareness.

Hopefully, you have understood how it functions, and be it online or offline, whenever in need, do not hesitate to reach out to them!

  1. Flay, Brian R. “Youth tobacco use: risks, patterns, and control.” Nicotine addiction: Principles and management 1993 (1993): 365-384. ↩︎
  2. Carver, Tim, et al. “CanRisk Tool—A web interface for the prediction of breast and ovarian cancer risk and the likelihood of carrying genetic pathogenic variants.” Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention 30.3 (2021): 469-473. ↩︎
  3. Unemo, Magnus, et al. “Sexually transmitted infections: challenges ahead.” The Lancet infectious diseases 17.8 (2017): e235-e279. ↩︎
  4. Trussell, T. James. “Cost versus effectiveness of different birth control methods.” Population Studies 28.1 (1974): 85-106. ↩︎

Last Updated on by Sanjana

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  • Bhumikavr

    Bhumika is an author in our team, she has a great zeal in learning new things. Articles like 'What's new' 'Entertainment' and other exciting food and exploring places in Canada are well written by her.

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