Barb Willet
As manager of Best Start, Barb provides leadership, and oversees
the planning and delivery of Best Start services across the province.
To do this Barb draws upon her health promotion, consultation
and management experience acquired through her 17 years with OPC.
Barb is Acting Executive Director, Health Nexus and Health Promotion
Manager for the OHPRS Secretariat, till January 2009. During this
period Wendy Burgoyne would lead the Best
Start team.
Frank Kabunda
As administrative assistant, Frank provides the bilingual support
to Best Start program. Frank puts his technical skills to use
on the database and website. He is committed to helping clients
access the information and resources they need as efficiently
as possible.
Hiltrud Dawson
Hiltrud has extensive experience in the maternal newborn field
as a nurse, midwife as well as lactation consultant. She last
worked as coordinator of the Breastfeeding and Newborn Assessment
clinic at St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton. During that time Hiltrud
pulled together a multidisciplinary team that implemented the
Baby-Friendly Initiative. St Joseph's Healthcare became Ontario's
first Baby-Friendly Hospital in March 2003. Her passions include
breastfeeding and the adjustment of mothers and families after
the birth of their baby and the impact of mother's physical, social
and mental issues on infants.
Louise Choquette
Louise Choquette is the Bilingual Health Promotion Consultant.
Her formal education is in Communications and Educational Technology.
Over the past few years, she has been involved in a variety of
health promotion initiatives in public health and for not-for-profit
organizations in the areas of heart health, physical activity,
tobacco use prevention and substance abuse prevention.
Meghan Boston-McCracken
Meghan is the Bilingual Information Specialist
with the Best Start Resource Centre. She oversees the Maternal
Newborn and Child Health Promotion Network, writes the bi-weekly
bulletin, conducts research, shares information, supports the
team on special projects, and provides information, referrals,
and brief consultations to clients. Meghan completed her Honours
Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Masters of Social Work.
She has conducted research and managed information in the areas
of family support, child welfare, homelessness, psychology, child
development, social work, health promotion, learning disabilities,
and community economic and social development.
Sabrina Moella
Sabrina Moella is a bilingual administrative assistant. She comes
from Paris, France. She has a Masters degree in Marketing and
Communication and she has been working for three years as a communication
and administrative assistant in France before chosing to come
to Canada. She also worked as a volunteer for non-profit organizations.
She has now joined the Best Start Team to provide administrative
suppot both in Enlish and in French.
Sue Weststrate
Sue Weststrate is a Health Promotion Consultant with Best Start.
For more than twenty years, Sue has focused her interest and energy
on the early years, having provided support to children, families
and service providers in a variety of child care, public health
and community resource settings. Sue's experience includes management
of child care resource and special needs resource consulting programs
and an entrepreneurial business. Her expertise includes children's
service planning and coordination, client case management and
community development. Sue has a degree in Psychology and post-graduate
certification in the Management Development Program for Women
from the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University.
Wendy Burgoyne
Wendy has worked extensively on teen pregnancy, reproductive health
risks in the workplace, health before pregnancy and the effects
of tobacco smoke and alcohol during pregnancy. She assists communities
across the province by providing presentations, consultations
and designing new provincial resources. Wendy has presented at
many conferences including Missouri Healthy Start, Guelph Conference
on Human Sexuality, the Ontario Public Health Association Conference,
Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse Congress, Maternal Newborn Network
and has provided on-site consultations for over 30 Ontario Health
Units. Wendy will be leading the Best Start team till January
2009.
Our Staff 