HKPR health unit thanks Kawartha Lakes for contributions during the COVID-19 pandemic

DAN CEARNS, The Standard

KAWARTHA LAKES: The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) thanked the City of Kawartha Lakes for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a meeting on Tuesday, April 18th.

At the meeting, Anne Marie Holt, HKPR’s Director of Health Protection, made a presentation to council which included giving a plaque to Mayor Doug Elmslie.

“I have the distinct honour to actually recognize the City of Kawartha Lakes and all of you as council members, in the COVID-19 response. This is a[n] historic event. We have not seen this in our lifetime. The last pandemic of this kind would have been documented in 1918,” Ms. Holt said.

The health protection director then specified, the focus of recognition was on “contributions to the mass immunization response.”

“[It] was particularly pivotal in our ability to address [COVID-19] in our population, and your response has been unwavering. The health unit often partners with the City, on a number of initiatives which are quite critical to our communities but often go unnoticed. Collaboration is critical to the protection of the health of our community members. This particular response; we have never seen anything of this magnitude. It was such an amazing collaboration,” Ms. Holt said.

She pointed to the Fenelon Falls community as an example, stating, they “gave up their community centre in order for us to provide immunization services there.”