Two southwestern Ontario health units are planning to merge into one.
Elgin St. Thomas Public Health and Oxford County Public Health announced plans Friday to join forces to create a single public health entity serving the two counties by next spring.
“Elgin St. Thomas and Oxford County health units have a long, rich history of working jointly together, sharing similar characteristics across the people they serve, as well as sharing the same LHIN [Local Health Integration Network] and school boards," said Elgin St. Thomas Board of Health Chair Bernie Wiehle in a statement. "Each of our communities has unique needs, separate from each other, and those needs will continue to be met. We’re confident the model we are putting forward will ensure a strong, vibrant, and efficient public health agency for now and for the future.”
The newly merged health unit would have one medical officer of health and one chief executive officer. It would be governed by a transitional board appointed in spring of next year. An autonomous board of health with citizen and municipal representatives would be formed in the fall of 2018.
Currently, the two health units share similar geographic, demographic, health status, and population characteristics. They began exploring a potential merger as a way to align with the Province’s Expert Panel on Public Health report released in June. The report, dubbed "Public Health within an Integrated Health System,” calls for a reduction in the number of health units, from 36 to 14.
The merger would also create a stronger, unified rural voice for public health in Ontario, health unit officials stated in a news release.
If the merger is approved, public health offices would remain in both St. Thomas and Woodstock to better serve the 90,000 people in Elgin-St. Thomas and the 114,000 residents of Oxford County.
"Through this merger, our residents will continue to have significant voice through their elected and citizen appointments, and will continue to receive public health services from the people they have come to know and who know them,” said David Mayberry, Oxford County warden.
The proposed merger still needs to be approved by the minister of health and long-term care.
