By Cecilia Nasmith
Despite increasingly troubling COVID-19 numbers, the April meeting of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit heard that the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is not lowering its 2021-2022 Service Delivery Expectations.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Natalie Bocking said that full activity is expected for all their programs funded through the ministry, and that a service-delivery plan is required.
This has been submitted, Dr. Bocking added.
Some scale-backs over the past year have been inevitable, she continued, such as the Healthy Babies Healthy Children programming – which at least continued in some form as other programs were shut down.
“As everyone is aware, as a direct result of this pandemic and impacts on things like social isolation, financial impacts, physical-health impacts – there has certainly been increased demand on this program, and early-childhood programs. Our staff has noticed increased mental-health needs among clients they interact with in Healthy Babies Healthy Children programs,” she pointed out.
Previously, this would be noted among 75% of families receiving such services. Now it is noted among 90%.
While demand for services is increasing, Dr. Bocking noted, funding levels will remain the same.
The ministry letter urged the health unit to look at ways to adapt programming to meet needs in a mostly-virtual world.
“All the measures suggested had already been taken into consideration by program staff, and most of them had been employed to really maximize what we can do in the area of decreased in-person interaction, which has been so much of what those programs are rooted in,” she added.
