Health Archives — Lindsay Advocate

Stricter provincial rules are necessary to slow COVID surge: Health unit

Published on April 16, 2021 in Health by Roderick Benns

Dr. Bocking, Medical Officer of Health at HKPRDHU

Extremely difficult, but absolutely necessary.

That is the reaction of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPRDHU) to new, tougher restrictions announced today by the Ontario government to try slowing surging COVID-19 case counts in the province. With many hospitals, ICU units, health care providers, and public health agencies (like HKPRDHU) facing overwhelming pressures due to COVID-19, additional action has to be taken now.

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Increase in COVID-19 cases stretches health unit capacity

Published on April 16, 2021 in Health by Lindsay Advocate

Dr. Natalie Bocking, medical officer of health for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit says that the recent spike in cases has stretched the capacity of the health unit to its limits.

She says the organization has had to make some process changes to balance the work involved with new cases while continuing to offer mass immunization clinics in the communities.

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Public urged to be vigilant as local COVID cases spike

Published on April 6, 2021 in Health by Lindsay Advocate

Until everyone has been vaccinated, the new local medical officer of health, Dr. Natalie Bocking, is urging people to remain vigilant and continue to follow public health recommendations to help stop the increased spread of the COVID-19 virus in the area.

During the past seven days, staff from the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit have conducted investigations on more than 94 new confirmed COVID cases. The bulk of these new cases are in Northumberland County, but additional cases have been confirmed in Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County.

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Lockdown: Small businesses scramble again to counter COVID and its variants

Published on April 1, 2021 in Business/Community/Health by William McGinn

Another lockdown is upon Ontario due to an acceleration of COVID-19 variants – and two local businesses are facing different realities because of it.

At 1:30 this afternoon, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the lockdown will begin just after midnight on April 3. This will not be a stay-at-home lockdown. Schools will remain open but for at least the next four weeks, various local businesses are to be subjected to the similar sort of measures already in place in hotspot regions.

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School board trustee wonders why teachers are not a priority for COVID vaccines

Published on March 27, 2021 in Education/Health by Kirk Winter

School board trustee wonders why teachers are not priority for vaccines

As far as trustee Gary Brohman is concerned, staff working in Trillium Lakelands District School Board schools are essential workers and he cannot understand why the province has not made the vaccination of teachers, administrators and support staff a priority.

At the recent school board meeting, Brohman advocated forcefully for staff vaccines to be safe against the threat of COVID-19.

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Province invests in Extendicare, Lindsay, creating 160 long-term care beds

Published on March 18, 2021 in Health/Provincial by Lindsay Advocate

The Ontario government is expanding Extendicare in Lindsay, one of 80 long-term care homes province-wide.

According to a media release, these spaces are part of the government’s delivery of 30,000 long-term care spaces over 10 years.

Extendicare Lindsay is being allocated 96 new spaces and 64 upgraded spaces. This project will result in a 160-bed home in Lindsay. Keep Reading

Drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the LEX

Published on March 16, 2021 in Health by Lindsay Advocate

Starting Thursday, March 18, Ross Memorial Hospital, with the support of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, will be operating a public COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Lindsay Exhibition (LEX) located at 354 Angeline St S.

As per the province’s vaccine distribution implementation plan, at this time only individuals born 1941 or earlier are eligible to be vaccinated.

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“Aging tsunami” drives paramedic plans for the future

Published on March 12, 2021 in Community/Health by Kirk Winter

Province keeps municipalities guessing: Is paramedic funding down or up?

Consultants Todd MacDonald and John Prno gave council a first look at their 10-year master plan for the Kawartha Lakes paramedic service. Their proposed solutions are driven by demographics, and if adopted will see a considerable re-shaping of how and where the service does business from 2022-2031.

MacDonald and Prno suggested that over the next 10 years there will be “steady long-term population growth in Kawartha Lakes” and that the bulk of the growth is going to be in the population cohort above the age of 65.

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Mass immunization clinics: What it will look like in Kawartha Lakes

Published on March 5, 2021 in Health by Roderick Benns

As more vaccines get shipped to Kawartha Lakes in the coming weeks and an increasing number of citizens become eligible to get one, what do plans look like here for mass immunization?

According to the plan as it’s written now, the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit is not planning an around-the-clock effort where vaccines are administered 24/7.

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Province to move local health unit to ‘yellow’ as local cases decline

Published on March 5, 2021 in Health by Lindsay Advocate

Declining new coronavirus cases in recent weeks means COVID-19 restrictions will be eased somewhat starting Monday in Haliburton County, Northumberland County and Kawartha Lakes.

As of 12:01 am on Monday (March 8), the Ontario government will move the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPRDHU) region to its Yellow COVID-19 colour category. This is the second lowest level in Ontario’s five-colour COVID-19 Response Framework, and one step below the current Orange category that the area has been in for the past three weeks since the provincial Stay-at-Home order was lifted in mid-February.

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