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No closures planned for health unit offices
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
regional health units in Ontario which did not receive any increase at all to their annual funding allocations. Meanwhile, Roumeliotis and other EOHU staffmembers are working on reducing some fixed operation costs while bothmaintaining existing services programs and keeping local district health unit offices open. “The district offices are important to us,” Dr. Roumeliotis said. “There is no question of closing any of them.” In-house programs like vaccinations, water quality testing, and other services will continue at district offices. EOHU staff will make greater use of mobile-technology systems, where feasible, for some services that do not require residents to go to the district office. Dr. Roumeliotis said the overall cost-ef- fectiveness plan should be in place by next year. “The public outside should not be affected at all,” he said. “We are not closing. We’re maintaining our local operations.” 613-850-5744 La maison du store par Danny & Sandra Décor 100 stores en démonstration *Venez voir votre store avant de l’acheter* • Peinture • Tissus • Céramique • Cadeaux
The bad news for the regional health unit is that it is a victim of provincial spending restraint measures. The good news is that staff are working on a plan to guarantee that the doors stay open at local district health offices and that all current public health services remain available as usual. “We aren’t closing, we aren’t leaving,” said Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, chief medical health officer for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU). Last month the United Counties of Pres- cott-Russell council (UCPR) expressed concern about how provincial budgeting plans might be affecting the EOHU’s own operations budget plan. The province provides the lion’s share of EOHU operating revenue at about $9.4 million this year, with the Five Counties and City of Cornwall providing the remaining quarter of the $12.5 million EOHU budget. Dr. Roumeliotis confirmed, during a March 6 phone interview, that the provincial funding has been restricted during the past few years, though this year there was a 0.6 per cent increase in the provincial support fund. He also observed that inflation for most of the EOHU’s operation costs well exceeds that minimal increase in provincial funding for the agency. Still, Roumeliotis noted, the 0.6 per cent increase is a result of a recent provincial
Les résidents de Prescott-Russell n’ont pas à craindre la fermeture d’installations du Bureau de santé de l’est de l’Ontario. Bien que le bureau régional de santé connaisse une insuffisance au chapitre du soutien financier provincial, le Dr Paul Roumeliotis, médecin-hyg iéniste en chef , s’est montré rassurant. En effet, il a signalé que des plans étaient en cours pour réduire une partie des coûts fixes de l’unité régionale de santé, sans avoir à fermer les bureaux locaux, ni à réduire les heures de service ou les services en soi. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
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review that noted that the EOHU is one of the largest health regions in the province,
and that it and seven other regional health units are underfunded. There are 28 other
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