Health unit staff honoured provincially

News Release
NWHU

Dryden family physician , Dr. Karen Mazurski and Northwestern Health Unit Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Pete Sarsfield both received the Heather Crowe Award today for their work to protect workers in Northwestern Ontario from second-hand tobacco smoke. The award recognizes the efforts of individuals and organizations in promoting a smoke-free Ontario at the local level. It was created by the Ontario Government in December 2005 to honor Heather Crowe, an Ottawa-area waitress and non-smoker who contracted lung cancer due to exposure to second-hand smoke in the restaurant where she worked. Ms. Crowe lost her battle with lung cancer earlier this week.
Doctors Mazurski and Sarsfield received their awards during a joint news conference between the Northwestern Health Unit, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit and the Regional Cancer Care Centre held to celebrate the incoming Smoke-free Ontario Act. MPP’s Michael Gravelle and Bill Mauro presented the awards via video conference and congratulated both doctors for their contribution to a healthier Ontario.
The joint news conference was a celebration of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act which comes into effect on World No-Tobacco Day, May 31. The Act is part of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy that includes initiatives to prevent children and youth from starting to smoke, help smokers quit smoking and protect people from exposure to second-hand smoke indoors.