A Port Hope man is furious about the lack of information the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) is, or better said, isn’t releasing concerning COVID-19.
Randy Fallis said, “the (HKPR) Board needs to take the bull by the horns and have the Medical Officer of Health put the information out that we need to protect ourselves.”
Fallis doesn’t make his statement lightly. He’s been frustrated for months concerning the lack of information.
After reading an editorial in Today’s Northumberland Fallis said, “it was right on the money.”
“We’ve been needing this for a long time.”
In mid-April Fallis filed a Freedom of Information request with HKPR requesting more information concerning COVID cases in our area. After being told he would receive a reply “shortly”, they proceeded to wait 28 days before denying his claim. But the claim wasn’t denied for privacy reasons, but because the HKPR doesn’t maintain records in the format he wanted, they claim they are not obliged to “create new records.”
Fallis then appealed the HKPR decision to the Information & Privacy Commissioner’s Office. But since they have been closed due to the pandemic, Fallis is still waiting for a final decision on whether the data will be released.
Ironically, the information Fallis is asking for is released in many other health unit jurisdictions.
“That is information that is available in other health (unit) jurisdictions including Durham next door, Hastings/Prince Edward to the east, Simcoe/Muskoka which is to the west of Haliburton and Renfrew to the east of Haliburton.”
“So it’s all around us, yet we can’t have access to it here to help protect ourselves through the pandemic.”
Fallis said the mission statement of any health unit should be to protect the people in their jurisdiction.
“That’s why we need the information – to help inform us if the virus is in our local municipality.
Fallis has been doing background work regarding COVID for months finding that municipalities surrounding Northumberland County are releasing this data at the lower tier municipal level or in some cases at a more refined, or neighbourhood level.
“The problem is Northumberland’s vast size. So if you give me data that there are COVID cases in Northumberland that could be somewhere up in Trent Hills which is an hour away.”
“It’s still important, but I want to know what’s going on in my municipality (Port Hope) that is going to affect my life.”
“I want to know so I can protect myself.”
“I’m not looking for any personal health information, I’m just looking for statistical data on what’s going on in our area and that is being released in many other health unit jurisdictions.
The other piece of information the HKPR District Health Unit won’t release is the number of COVID tests that have been completed.
“So we really don’t know how much testing they’re doing. This is important to know because the more testing you do, the better you know how much COVID is in your area. Many other regions do provide the number of tests they’ve done and the percentage of the population in that area that has been tested.”
“I’m really frustrated. I just feel it’s a real disservice to the public.”
“This is the most important public health issue we’ve had in 100 years. This needs to be a priority for HKPR.”
With information being released on cases of COVID in schools, day cares, and long-term care facilities across the province and lower-tier municipality COVID data in some jurisdictions, Fallis said, “it makes no sense at all.”
“It’s totally perplexing.”
“The health unit has failed to live up to their mission of protecting the health and safety of the public in the HKPR region.”
The last issue Fallis had raised is why the local health unit stopped giving daily updates in July.
But as of Friday, October 2 they announced they would be releasing daily updates. Fallis isn’t sure, but hopes the pendulum is starting to swing towards what is right.
Fallis had hoped that the HKPR District Health Unit Board would intervene, but their silence regarding the matter speaks volumes.
The health unit board consists of three mayors from Northumberland County.
Doug Elmslie (City of Kawartha Lakes) , Andrea Roberts (Haliburton County), John Henderson (Northumberland County), Tracy Richardson (City of Kawartha Lakes), Bill Cane (Northumberland County), Bob Crate (Northumberland County) and Carol Brown (Provincial Appointee).
The Board has only met twice since the pandemic started in March.
“I think the province should step in.”
“There needs to be consistent information put out across the province. Right now, some jurisdictions get the information and others don’t. That’s the problem and it’s not right.”
“I’m hoping to find somebody that will listen to see if we can get this information released, because the pandemic isn’t going away anytime soon.”
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Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
