On June 7th, the Sudbury Clinic opened its doors to people in the region who wished to know more about services offered by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers Inc..  The new clinic is located at 432 Westmount Avenue.

The occasion was to celebrate both the opening of the new clinic location and the thirty-fifth anniversary of the organization. The event featured displays, distributed informative materials and staff answered questions about projects and activities.  Staff showcased several of OHCOW’s tools and apps, including the Heat Stress Toolkit, Ergonomic Tools and the Silica Control Tool. Booths exhibited the work of local cluster investigations such as the McIntyre Powder Project, and had the interdisciplinary team to meet and answer questions.

Brittney Ramakko, the executive director of the Northern Region at the Sudbury office explained to visitors and media that one of the key aims of OHCOW is to help workers establish that their illness or injury was work related. A lot of OHCOW clients have applied to WSIB for compensation but have been denied, and OHCOW gives a more independent assessment of their claim.

Among the guests were retired United Steelworker Leo Gerard and Sudbury MPP Jamie West. West complimented OHCOW for its wealth of health and safety resources for workers, and presented a congratulatory scroll to Ramakko.

Gerard, a former United Steelworkers international director and Companion of the Order of Canada, said he was pleased to be on hand to celebrate the anniversary. He recalled the early days when OHCOW was first established in Hamilton in 1989 by the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). Due to the increased awareness of injury and disease caused by dangerous and unhealthy working conditions in the 1970’s and 1980’s, a demand for more effective diagnosis of work-related health problems and prevention strategies became prominent.

The event was covered by local news outlets:

Sudbury.com

Sudbury Star

CTV News