South East Public Health is counting the benefits they’ve found through the merger process.
During Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Health, the board reviewed a report that documented all the benefits the organization had found from the merger process.
While the organization received funding support from the province during the merger process, they also listed multiple material benefits the organization found along the way. Those benefits include improved access to programs such as breastfeeding education for expecting mothers and mental health supports with more people able to use those programs, enhanced preventative measures to protect the public from disease outbreaks, and higher capacity for lab testing, outbreak response, and vaccine supply.
The process to combine systems and infrastructure from the legacy organizations into a single network for South East Public Health has also led to modernization of many older systems still being used, increasing efficiency.
So far the health unit has found $3.4 million in savings post merger. Those savings come from reduced management staff, more efficient purchasing, and savings on mortgage payments.
The board accepted the report without comment.
