The Board of Health in Chatham-Kent is sounding the alarm over a lack of provincial funding hurting its ability to properly provide programs and services to meet the needs of the community.
Director of Public Health Teresa Bendo told the board members at their monthly meeting on Wednesday that services will be reviewed and some will need to either be eliminated or reduced because of inadequate funding or an inadequate number of staff members.
"Annual decreases in staff complement to balance the budget have resulted in decreased frequency and continued elimination of public health programs and services. Future funding mitigation strategies will impact CK Public Health’s ability to provide its current programs and services," said Bendo.
The Ministry of Health has recently confirmed the continuation of provincial funding support for COVID-19 response and recovery through the 2023 funding year, but Bendo said new pressures on public health because of the COVID-19 pandemic will require funding, if public health is to participate fully in the health recovery of the citizens of Ontario.
She added that throughout much of 2022 many public health programs remained on hold due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response and it's becoming increasingly difficult to fill vacancies for positions, especially for the position of public health inspector.
"Staff and managers have worked significant, prolonged hours for the pandemic response. Sick time taken has increased during the pandemic. Competing demands of continued COVID-19 response and return to ‘regular’ work is cited by staff as contributing to ongoing high stress levels," she noted.