By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
With a provincial election coming, the Association of Local Public Health Agencies has issued a Public Health Primer that was shared at the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s April board meeting.
“Ontario’s 34 local public-health agencies are the front line of the COVID-19 response,” it declares on its front page, going on to describe the pandemic’s impact on their resources. For example, each agency had to divert an average of 78% of its resources to COVID-19 response.
Meanwhile, a measurable rise in substance use, mental-health issues and other factors that contribute to chronic disease should result in substantial future demand on public-health resources.
“For all intents and purposes, we have been the face of pandemic response in the last two years and have played a tremendous role,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Natalie Bocking said.
Still, when the province passed its Pandemic Emergency Preparedness Act on April 14, there was no mention of health units at all.
The act is meant to support Ontario staying open, with a focus on hospitals, acute-car beds and health work force capacity – largely in terms of acute-care and long-term-care facilities.
“Ensuring appropriate PPE supplies, building more hospital beds and a provincial pandemic-response plan,” Dr. Bocking listed.
“It’s interesting that the act does not mention health units at all – I wanted to bring that to the board’s attention and figure out a way to demonstrate the tremendous role health units have played during the pandemic response.”
The province might not be in a position to respond in a meaningful way during an election campaign, she allowed.
“But we will continue to advocate for an understanding of the role of the public health unit and the need for sustainable capacity to respond to pandemics and emergencies in the future.”
