Algoma Public Health may have to do more with less, says agency’s top doc

Algoma Public Health (APH) board members approved the agency’s 2019 budget at their monthly board meeting Wednesday, looking to the future with some concerns over the amount of funding APH will receive under the provincial government of Premier Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives.

In a written report to the board, Dr. Marlene Spruyt, APH medical officer of health and CEO, stated "Jennifer (Dr. Jennifer Loo, Algoma Public Health associate medical officer of health) and I were able to attend the Council of Medical Officers of Health (COMOH) meeting in Toronto on October 30. We had been hoping that we might have been provided with some information from the new government regarding their vision for public health but the Minister (Christine Elliott) cancelled her attendance.”

“The message is clear that there will be no new dollars and that we should all expect to do more with less,” Spruyt wrote.

“The draft 2019 operating and capital budget was reviewed and prepared on the basis that there will be no increase in the 2019 provincial cost shared portion of the funding that is received,” wrote Sergio Saccucci, APH Finance and Audit Committee chair.

APH’s funding ratio for 2018 was 70 per cent provincial funding and 30 per cent municipal funding.

The board approved the 2019 APH budget of $14,735,055, a slight increase over the 2018 budget of $14,721,543, with a small surplus of $17,511.