Merger of two health units moves ahead as application for funding submitted to province, says CEO

Peterborough Public Health and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit voted to merge voluntarily recently. The Ontario government's funding offer spurred them on, so the official request went in at the beginning of April. The pandemic response brought the role of public health units into sharp focus. So has the opioid crisis in both communities. Dr. Thomas Piggott, Medical Officer of Health and Peterborough Public Health's CEO, will discuss the merger in this interview. If completed, it will serve about 300,000 people and cover an area that will include Peterborough, Peterborough County, Curve Lake, and Hiawatha First Nations, plus the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, and Northumberland Counties. You will hear him justify the savings and efficiencies by ensuring Northumberland will not get lost in the shuffle.