Renfrew County and District Health Unit (RCDHU) has officially been in operation for 60 years. A media release distributed earlier this year stated that during the past six decades RCDHU has played an essential role in protecting and promoting the health of our community with services dedicated to preventing disease and injury, promoting healthy behaviors, responding to emergencies, supporting health equity, and more. Above: Facebook/RCDHU profile cover.
Heather Daly, CEO for RCDHU said, “This is a significant milestone we are celebrating this year and it could not have been achieved without our dedicated staff – both past and present – our community partners and the residents of Renfrew County and District that we have served and continue to serve.”
Possible public health unit mergers
In 2023 the Ontario Ministry of Health announced a new initiative to support public health units that decide to pursue mergers with other health units. The goal of supporting mergers and stabilization of programming is to enhance capacity, stability and sustainability in the public health sector. A media release from RCDHU stated that the Province has indicated that this is not a cost reduction initiative and any efficiencies achieved will be retained by the health units to support service delivery. Specific objectives of the program include:
- Increase populations served by health units closer to 500,000 (taking into account geographical challenges).
- Improve critical mass through increased size of health units.
- Enhance recruitment and retention capabilities of health units.
- Improve organizational performance.
- Retain local service delivery and frontline jobs.
The release went on to say that the RCDHU Board of Health has passed a motion to apply for provincial funding to explore the feasibility of amalgamation with neighbouring health units. All the health units involved must independently consider the feasibility studies, and the Boards of Health involved must endorse any proposals for mergers. Proposals are to be submitted to the Province in early April 2024. Implementation of mergers is intended for January 2025.
“We welcome this opportunity to explore potential mergers with other public health units, in support of enhancing public health capacity and effectiveness to better protect and promote the health of Renfrew County and District residents,” states Joanne King, Chair of the RCDHU Board of Health. “Ensuring that we retain local service delivery and enhance public health services will be our primary focus as we consider the results of the feasibility studies and whether a merger makes sense for RCDHU.”
RCDHU today
RCDHU presently serves a population of 107,522 across a large geographical area of approximately 15,000 square kilometers.
RCDHU(2024,Jan.23) RCDHU Celebrates 60 Years of Public Health Dedication [media release]
RCDHU(2024,Feb.15) RCDHU Considering Potential Mergers with Neighbouring Public Health Units [media release]