The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable John Hogan, KC, Minister of Health and Community Services:

Speaker, I rise today in this honourable House to celebrate the positive impact of well-being initiatives across our province.

In September, we were proud to declare Newfoundland and Labrador as Canada’s first Well-Being Province.

Our government is making record investments in health care with well-being at the forefront of government policy and decision-making to improve health outcomes.

Through an all-of-government approach and collaboration across communities and municipalities, we have taken significant strides to improve the social determinants of health, which include such things as housing, child care, financial security, education and equity.

As a partner in this work, the Department of Health and Community Services is already seeing improvements by:

• Implementing the province’s first Public Health Framework and Health-in-All-Policies approach to ensure policies and initiatives have a beneficial or neutral impact on the determinants of health;
• Introduction of collaborative, team-based health care with a focus on prevention, early intervention and well-being;
• Creating age-friendly and dementia-friendly communities, with a targeted Seniors Health and Well-Being Plan, helping seniors to age well in place with dignity;
• Allocating child care spaces for health care practitioners;
• Constructing a new Mental Health and Addictions Centre which has achieved substantial completion and will contribute to further expanding mental health and addictions services.

Speaker, we know there is more work to be done and we remain committed to continue working with all our partners to improve the health and well-being of our residents.