Public health needs more municipal funding

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is asking local municipalities to step up and provide more money to help meet COVID-19 demands.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the Board of Health approved the 2021 budget at $17 million, down $170,384 from this year.

The biggest cuts to the budget are the face-to-face services, from $180,000 to $98,000.

The board decided to ask municipalities to ante up an extra 1.5%, almost $51,000, in levies.

The health unit is planning an additional 6.2 full-time positions in the new year, most of those for school staffing.

Director of Finance Valerie Dunham tells Quinte News they wanted to make sure of the same level of staffing during COVID and that was “a key driver” in the budget.

“We reduced anywhere we could because there’s a lot of additional COVID-related costs. For example, all the PPE that we have, the storage unit and, of course, all the original staff costs”

Dunham says it is very unusual for Public Health to have a deficit.

The budget is making up the $288,000 by taking most of it from reserves.

Dunham added, “We’re pleased with it (the budget). We’re hopeful that if the pandemic continues and we need more funding we’ll get additional from the province.”

When asked if Public Health would continue to have extra Covid-designated nurses in the schools, Dunham replied, “Right now the terms of the nursing contract are such that those eight positions will conclude in July by the 31st. Again, we are very hopeful that the funding will continue because it’s a much needed service in the community.”

She emphasized that it is a provincial decision.

The budget includes the minimum level of staffing required to continue to meet the demands of the pandemic, priority services and a potential mass immunization. In fact, as more planning is completed,and details become available, additional nursing staff may be required to meet the demands of a mass immunization program for Cobvid-19.