Now is not the time to reduce health services
To the Expositor:
I agree wholeheartedly with your recent editorial on the merger of health units (‘Amalgamation of Northern health units is a deadly concept,’ September 13, Page 4).
It’s a bad idea for the people of the North and not good for the public in public health.
Bigger is not better when it comes to the merger of the Porcupine Health Unit and the Timiskaming Health Unit.
You now have a health unit that covers a territory from Temagami in the south to Hearst in the north.
These two health units were already struggling with large geographical regions to service and limited budgets.
Does the Ford government, which is imposing these mergers by pushing their idea of the modernization of public health, even understand the health needs of the North?
Modernization is doublespeak for the dismantling of public services.
Having one entity to manage the important role of public health over such a vast geographic area is not good for an aging and mostly rural populations found in those areas.
Strong public health units have always been the bedrock of health in any region, and since the pandemic we know those services are invaluable.
The Northern Ontario population has higher rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, respiratory disease and diabetes, says a report from the former North East Local Health Integration Network.
The people of the North should not accept the gutting of public health via this merger.
Now is not the time to reduce health care services because of government directives that quite often fail to understand the geographical, political and physiological needs of the north.
Where is the “public” in public health? I hope people don’t take this merger lightly.
Thank you,
Sue Nielsen
Cobalt
