Cloyne Public Health Office Closure Put On Hold
Lennox and Addington County Warden Nathan Townend paid a visit to Addington Highlands Council last week (December 2) on the occasion of the selection of Tony Fritsch as Reeve and Ken Hook as Deputy Reeve.
He talked first about Henry Hogg.
“Henry was like Queen Elizabeth II to me,” he said, “because everyone thought he'd be there forever. I very much admired him. He was a very important figure around the horseshoe at our county meetings. I also admire Reeve Fritsch, when he speaks at our table, everbody listens. I have every confidence in his leadership.”
Warden Townend is also the L&A County representative to the Board of the SouthEast Ontario Public Health Unit (SEPH). The Board met on November 27, and at that meeting they decided to defer the sweeping office closures that had been announced a few days earlier.
The Cloyne office, which is unlike the others because it is owned by Public Health and the others are located in rented spaces, has also been spared, for now.
The Board asked Dr. Oglaza, under whose authority the offices closures had been announced, to provide justification for the closures at the next Public Health meeting, on December 14.
“I was particularly concerned about the Cloyne office, coming as I do from a remote corner of the county, Amherst Island,” said Warden Townend. “For now, hopefully, we have more time to work on keeping it.”
Two major issues for Addington Highlands stemming from the still possible office closure are the collection and submission of water samples, and the need to find a new location for the local food bank, which uses space in the public health building .
Addington Highlands is seeking a meeting with the Reeve and CAO of North Frontenac to discuss the location of the food bank in the medium to long term. The Food Bank serves families from both townships equally.
Deputy Reeve Hook said that from what he has been told, services offered at the Cloyne Public Health Office at one time included a traveling nurse, immunization clinics and a dental clinic, but those services have been cut by Public Health over the years.
“The nurse who worked out of that building retired, and was never replaced. It's not that the services were not needed or used, they were pulled by Public Health,” said Hook.
Councillor Helen Yanch, who is a former member the Board of Kingston Frontenac Public Health, said that Public Health has lost its way.
“It was very frustrating, sitting on the board,” she said, “they just kept drawing things away. They do nothing now, nothing. They need to get back to what they should be doing; water, septics, and immunization.”
Signage Project – Council approved a $33,118.91 contract for signage on 7 township buildings. The contract covers construction and mounting of the signs.
Glimmer of Hope For Bridge Street
Public Works Manager Brett Reavie reported in progress that has been made towards the repair of the failed culvert on Bridge Street in Denbigh, which has forced the closure of the street. Hydro One will be removing and repositioning a hydro pole that is in the way, a culvert for $95,000 has been located, and applications and environmental assessments are in process with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Denbigh Lake is classified as a warm water lake because it is shallow, and that means construction can proceed up until March 15. Reavie hopes to get the project completed by then, but said there are a lot of variables that could make that time frame challenging.
