The way health care services in Renfrew County are handled could be changing. At the County of Renfrew council meeting last week, some concerns were raised regarding the position papers on public health and modernization. Chair of the Board of Health for the Renfrew County District Health Unit and Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Mayor, Janet Visneskie-Moore, says discussions were to focus on cost savings with the possibility of a merger with the Ottawa Health Unit. She says the local health unit wasn’t consulted on the document that’s expected to be presented.
Visneskie-Moore questions why the health unit in Pembroke would spend millions of taxpayer dollars to move this year if they aren’t going to continue to have a presence in the community.
Chair of the health committee, health services and social services – provincial modernization committee and Admaston/Bromley Mayor Michael Donohue, says they are looking to find cost savings in back office roles such as finance and administration, human resources and IT. The position papers on health and modernization were supposed to be presented at a meeting in Ottawa today, but due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the event has been postponed with no future date set as of yet. Donohue says since the meetings were cancelled, the funding partners (the County of Renfrew, local municipalities, City of Pembroke and Township of South Algonquin) can engage in further discussions with the health unit.
Donohue says the local share of funding health services has gone up from 25 to 30%. He says with municipalities paying more, we shouldn’t see a decrease in the level of service.
Last year the province announced a plan to amalgamate 35 health units into 10 and move from 52 land ambulance services to 10. Donohue says initially the plans were to have one health unit from the Quebec border to Durham Region. He adds the health minister has since committed to consultation on emergency services and public health, and has withdrawn the limit of 10 health units.
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https://www.pembroketoday.ca/2019/09/05/renfrew-county-district-health-unit-moving-in-2020/
