The new Acting Medical Officer of Health in Chatham-Kent is asking residents to commit to civility and collaboration this fall and winter because COVID-19 isn't going away.
Doctor Shanker Nesathurai attended his first Chatham-Kent Board of Health meeting on Thursday where he told board members the public health unit is slowly returning to normal after a long and tough pandemic and many of the regular services that were suspended to deal with the coronavirus have come back.
Doctor Nesathurai said the pandemic left an indelible mark on everything and everyone, but COVID-19 will now be normalized and will be managed like other infectious diseases.
Dr. Nesathurai also said plans for a vaccine rollout are underway, both for flu shots and COVID-19 shots, and he's asking the public to please follow the vaccine guidelines.
"It's been disruptive for sure. I think that we have all been affected by the pandemic, but I think we also have to make a plan to move toward normalization and part of that plan is to accept that the province is going to give some additional guidelines about vaccine and to follow the vaccine guidelines," said Dr. Nesathurai.
Dr. Nesathurai also said rural public health units have some very unique challenges to overcome, like a large area to cover and long distances to get services, but added they are not insurmountable.
"If it takes you an hour to drive to the hospital, then that's really an opportunity to improve services and programming. If contraceptive services are not available to you close by, that's one more challenge for public health services and programming," he said.
Dr. Nesathurai said improving the health of the community and keeping people safe are the two key factors that attracted him to Chatham-Kent.
"How do we advance the health of the community and how do we prevent illness and really that to me is the opportunity in medicine, it's the opportunity in public health service. How can we prevent people from getting sick and living the best life that they can and I thought coming here would be one step that I could contribute to that important mission," noted Dr. Nesathurai.
Reducing opioid-related deaths and improving nutrition and the mental health of the community are also top priorities for Dr. Nesathurai.
Dr. Nesathurai also shared some thoughts on why he thinks smaller, rural public health units find it difficult to find medical officers of health. He said medical students have plenty of opportunities across the province and country, particularly in urban areas, and public health is "not well" understood by some.
