BRANTFORD — Six Nations of the Grand River, Brant County and Brantford public service agencies have united to share information and mutual aid to responding to COVID-19.
In a statement, City of Brantford officials announced the formation of the Unified Emergency Operations Centre Advisory Group. The collective has representatives from the Brant County Health Unit, Brant Community Healthcare System, Brant Brantford Paramedics, The City of Brantford, The County of Brant, Six Nations of the Grand River, Brantford Police Services, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Grand Erie District School Board, Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board and Enbridge Gas.
“Consistent with the province of Ontario’s declaration of an emergency, a majority of the agencies on this working group have also activated their emergency operations centres and incident management systems to provide additional supports, management and heightened coordination with partner agencies to respond to the threat of an outbreak of Covid-19 in Brantford and the surrounding area,” said the statement.
“Formalizing this coordinated approach already ongoing lets Brant residents know we are all in this together. As our organizations come together, we also ask our community to do their part and practice prevention practices like social distancing,” said Dr. Elizabeth Urbantke, Acting Medical Officer of Health of the Brant County Health Unit.
“I am very proud of how hard our agencies are working collectively on our response to the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic,” said Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis. “As we’ve learned over the last several weeks, this is a situation that knows no boundaries so it’s more important than ever that we work together to combat community spread in our region so as to protect our citizens and not overwhelm our healthcare systems. The City of Brantford is willing and able to do anything we can to help our citizens and neighbouring municipalities get through this unprecedented crisis.”
Mayor David Bailey of Brant County said, “This situation requires the County and all of its important partners to work together. I am confident in this collective leadership. I am so impressed at how quickly partners are acting and how careful decisions are being made. I want to call on the residents of our community to do your part. Stay home. Practice social distancing if you must go out. Wash your hands well and often. As a community, we will take care of each other.”
Six Nations Elected Chief Mark Hill also echoed the encouragement saying, ”As Onkwehonwe people, we are resilient – and this is not the first time we have come face to face with adversity. The Elected Council is fully determined to prevent widespread infection in our community and support those who need help. This is a time of perseverance. We will get through this together.”
