Job Cuts At The Health Unit
The local Health Unit is making some job cuts.
Health Unit officials say that the approved 2024 budget includes reductions in staffing and programming across multiple areas.
“Our health unit, like others in the province, is facing a fixed 3-year provincial increase of 1% per year, which does not keep up with current inflation. In addition, work associated with COVID-19 response, including outbreaks, case and contact management, and vaccination, is ongoing. However, provincial funding will no longer be available. These factors, in combination with an internal program review, created the basis for difficult but essential decisions related to reductions for the coming year,” a news release said.
The Health Unit has begun the process of notifying our staff of an overall reduction in the number of unionized and non-union positions by approximately 10% relative to their 2023 complement. This amounts to 24 unionized and non-unionized positions; however, through attrition and voluntary retirements, they endeavour to reduce this number to the extent possible.
Programs impacted include:
- Nutrition and Healthy Eating Services
- Infectious Disease Prevention
- Healthy Growth and Development
- Tobacco and Vaping Prevention
- Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction
- Injury Prevention
- School Health Promotion
- Immunization
- Oral Health Promotion
- Environmental Health Promotion
They say that these programs will continue to operate, but various levels of impact will be experienced, and clients will be notified accordingly.
