The Hastings Prince Edward health unit is gradually “ramping up” opening its services that were cut back during COVID-19.
Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Alexa Caturay reported to the Board of Health on Wednesday that there have been initial steps to resume immunization appointments.
“We did not close. We scaled back the in-person sessions we offered. Now we’re working on plans to resume select in-person services to meet the needs of those with the highest needs in the community. Some of the initial steps around that include resuming immunization appointments. Priority will be focused on early childhood and adolescent vaccine.
“There are plans in place to resume some other in-person services over the coming weeks and those include offering urgent breast feeding consultations on an as-needed basis for those for whom virtual appointments are not appropriate. There’s a triage and safety plan in place for that.”
Dr. Caturay says they are prioritizing some services.
The immunization appointments will give priority to early childhood and adolescent vaccines.
Over the next few weeks other programs will resume, including urgent breast-feeding consultations.
From the Health Unit:
Beginning this week, catch-up immunization appointments have been offered to clients whose appointments were cancelled in response to the pandemic. Plans are underway to resume other in-person services over the coming weeks, including:
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- Offering urgent breastfeeding consults on an as-needed basis.
- Providing urgent sexual health services as needed.
- Providing Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) treatment for those in need
- Administering birth control for those who are under the age of 26
- Providing access to screening for contacts of STIs
- Continuing inspections of food service settings, drinking water facilities, and migrant farm workers’ accommodations
When in office, clients will be encouraged to wear a non-medical mask. While the HPEPH approach to service delivery is changing in order to keep clients and staff safe, meeting local public health needs continues to be a top priority. Any upcoming changes in service provision will be communicated at hpePublicHealth.ca.
