The Health Unit satilte office at 35 Bridge Street in Picton will remain open. (Jason Parks/Gazette Staff)
Picton will continue to have a Southeast Public Health (SEPH) satellite office.
For now. And for the foreseeable future.
At their monthly meeting in Kingston Wednesday, December 17, the SEPH Board voted to continue to have branch offices in small and rural communities within the catchment area. The Board will revisit the issue in September 2026.
An amalgam of regional health units from Quinte to Leeds & Grenville, Medical Officer of Health and CEO Dr. Pitor Oglaza previously announced in November SEPH would cancel leases for offices within proximity —50 km or less — to offices in Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, and Smiths Falls as of March 1, 2026. Picton was on the list.
Three public health inspectors are assigned to the local satellite office, one on contract. Programming includes sexual and oral health services.
But Board members pushed back. There was outrage in several Eastern Ontario communities. Municipal leaders in places like Kemptville and the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville spoke out loudly and publicly against the move.
Locally, Executive Director of the Prince Edward Family Health Team Barinder Gill voiced concern, noting public health services offered in Picton “Form the backbone of prevention and early intervention, helping to keep people well and reducing pressures on hospitals, primary care, and emergency services.”
“The absence or alteration of these rural programs and services will have profound impacts on the well-being of our community,” he wrote. “Without them, residents must travel farther, delays increase, and vulnerabilities compound — particularly for families without vehicles, seniors, newcomers, and those navigating complex challenges.”
On Wednesday, December 17, there was a pause enacted on rural closures. And a pact between SEPH and the PEFHT to keep the local health unit office staffed and the lights on.
“I’m pleased to see that Prince Edward County, and Eastern Ontario rural interests overall, were taken very seriously by the SEPH Board of Directors, and broadly supported,” Councillor and SEPH Board Member Bill Roberts said. It was Mr. Roberts who stumped for a halt on the closures last month and struck a chord with his Board colleagues.
In Picton, the news is a recently signed partnership agreement between PEFHT and SEPH will allow the health unit to continue using a clinical space at 35 Bridge Street. The boardroom will remain available for SEPH vaccination clinics, and there’s space to support the well water sampling program free of charge.
At the meeting, Dr. Oglaza expressed his gratitude to the PEFHT and all municipal and community partners for their generosity and willingness to collaborate in continuing partnerships to best serve communities across the SEPH region.
“This is a wonderful change of course,” Mr. Roberts told the Gazette. “Moving forward, we will now have real and meaningful – not performative – consultations with Shire Hall, our community health partners, and our schools.”
The councillor added there’s now a ‘proof of concept’ that “real consultation and partnership results in innovative & better solutions to effective and efficient healthcare delivery.”
In a report to the board, Dr. Oglaza said after critically assessing the best way to serve the southeast region as a unified agency, the organization would merge teams across the region. The examination found rural branch offices are under utilized and not operating at full capacity. They were also failing to make the best use of time and resources and may not be providing optimal service delivery for hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations. Collectively, leases in rural and small communities cost $550,000 annually.
He explained the post-amalgamation assessment illustrated a need to find new ways of delivering services to rural communities. The shift from local bricks and mortar offices uses four guiding principles:
The Board revisits the decision in September following a review of an updated report on the rural strategy implementation and use of the branch offices. With the exception of Picton where collaboration has won the day.
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