Quinte News had the chance to speak with the Medical Officer of Health of the South East Health Unit, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, about the recent merger of the three health units and how it will affect residents in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) Public Health, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, and Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH) agreed to merge to become the South East Health Unit after a provincial decision to change the funding model for public health units.
The health units received one-time funding to the tune of up to $4,628,700 to support transition and stabilization costs.
They were also provided with $350,000 in one-time capital funding.
The South East Health Unit became official on January 1, 2025 with Dr. Oglaza named the new Medical Officer of Health and CEO of the health unit.
“South East Health Unit is a good balance between the size we have, that critical mass and capacity, but it’s not too big to make it perhaps less inert and less nimble, and maybe lose some of the strengths we had as individual or prior to the merger,” Dr. Oglaza tells Quinte News.
“I think we kept that right balance of still being nimble, still being connected locally, with now greater capacity to respond to surges based on being a larger organization.”
When asked about how this would affect tax payers, Dr. Oglaza explained, “So the merger is not intended to save money, it is intended that if there are efficiencies, and the efficiency results in savings, these savings are reinvested into that extra capacity and ability to do services.”
“So that’s the change in concept.”
Dr. Oglaza also spoke about the biggest challenge that faces the newly-merged health unit at this point.
“I would say the biggest challenge in terms of conceptually, is we see the end point. We see where we want to go, when we want to get there and the biggest challenge is recognizing that it’s not going to happen overnight,” Dr. Oglaza said.
“This is something that is going to take years. So it’s the patience to have that system which includes building the new organization, building new culture, building the new service delivery, looking as one entity, as opposed to three separate entities, and recognizing that this will take time and not rushing.”
You can listen to the full interview with Dr. Oglaza below:
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