KFL&A Public Health is a local public health agency with over 326 staff and 274 volunteers who deliver public health programs and services to the people of the KFL&A area. The underlying goal of our services and programs—from immunization, physical activity, nutritious eating, food safety, raising healthy babies and children, sexual health, tobacco use reduction, and many other public health areas—is to promote and protect the health of the more than 209,230 residents of the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington region.
Healthy People, Healthy Places
KFL&A Public Health promotes and protects the public's health and strives to reduce health disparities through a skilled and dedicated work force that collaborates with our partners and communities and engages our residents to be as healthy as they can be.
We are directed by Ontario's Health Protection and Promotion Act, and the Ontario Public Health Standards: Requirements for Programs, Services, and Accountability. We develop and implement evidence-informed policies, programs, and services to address the public health needs of the residents in the KFL&A region.
Board of Health Members |
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Message from KFL&A Board of Health Chair, Denis Doyle |
![]() I want to thank everyone for getting vaccinated and for supporting others to get vaccinated too. Together, our community’s efforts contributed to our region having the lowest death rate from COVID-19 in the province. This speaks to the remarkable effort and collaboration we have had with community partners throughout COVID-19. A special thanks to our 11 member municipalities for their support and to the Mayors and Wardens who met virtually every two weeks throughout 2021 to address COVID-19 issues and to enact consistent plans across the region. It will be a long journey to recover as a community and to normalize COVID-19 as we have normalized all the other infectious disease viruses. However, as all of you have shown we have a solid foundation of unity and collaboration to move forward as a team. Speaking of teams, we welcomed new leadership in October when Dr. Piotr Oglaza joined KFL&A Public Health as the new medical officer of health, replacing Dr. Kieran Moore who moved on to be Ontario’s new Chief Medical Officer of Health. We want to acknowledge with thanks the tremendous work of Dr. Hugh Guan and Linda Murray, who stepped in to lead the agency during the recruitment phase. As well, a great deal of thanks goes to all Board members who put forth a special effort, and attended additional meetings, while interviewing and selecting our new Medical Officer of Health. The seamlessness of ongoing public health efforts over the course of this transition speaks to the professionalism of KFL&A Public Health staff. I applaud their dedication. Over the past year, the KFL&A Board of Health advocated to the provincial and municipal governments in several areas to support public health measures and to protect the health of our residents, including requests to:
As we move forward, it is my hope that we will continue to work together to address priority public health issues in the region. Together, we make KFL&A strong. |
Message from KFL&A Public Health Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Piotr Oglaza |
This past year was a year like no other. It has challenged us, made us adapt to new realities, and inspired us to never give up. But most importantly, it has made us proud of what our community can achieve together in a time of great crisis. When it came to getting COVID-19 vaccine into arms, the KFL&A region was a leader in achieving one of the highest vaccine coverages in the province. This significant accomplishment was due to the tremendous support and commitment of staff and volunteers, health care agencies, primary care providers, pharmacies, schools, businesses, and municipalities. Our community partners opened their doors to host vaccine clinics and offered their facilities and staff to help at these clinics. KFL&A region was also home to some of the largest mass vaccination clinics in the province which was a joint community effort involving large numbers of volunteers. Our health care partners worked tirelessly to support these vaccine clinics and to provide vaccinations in their own settings. Many pharmacies across the region made the vaccine accessible in every neighbourhood while Paramedics reached those who were homebound. These collective efforts of community partners were remarkable and reflected the strength of our community. Over half a million COVID-19 vaccines (506,011) were administered in local vaccine clinics resulting in almost 93 per cent of 5 years of age and older receiving one dose of vaccine. As well, almost half a million COVID-19 tests (468,355) were completed with a quarter of a million patients (259,728) swabbed at local assessment centres. We are grateful for the support that we have received from our community, partners in other sectors of the health system and businesses, the excellent advice, and ongoing funding from 11 municipalities across the region and our residents for getting vaccinated and adhering to public health measures to keep each other safe. Although the pandemic is not behind us, the efforts of the residents and communities that make up the KFL&A region have positioned us well to minimize further disruption and illness. As circumstances change, we will adapt and change with them. As a community, we have worked incredibly hard to limit the spread of the virus and we all want to continue to keep our community healthy and safe. Many of the basic public health measures we emphasized during the pandemic will hopefully continue, including good hand hygiene, physical distancing, staying home when ill, and even mask wearing, if people so choose. I am so pleased to be part of this community. It has been an honor taking on the role of medical officer of health at KFL&A Public Health during this critical time in public health history. I love my work in population health and I welcome the opportunity to continue to provide leadership as we move forward and focus on many other priority public health issues. Let us continue to work together, support one another, and demonstrate our strength and resilience. Together, we make KFL&A strong. |
January 4: Provincial education minister confirms delay start date for in-person elementary and secondary school classes.
January 10: First lab confirmed COVID-19 death in the KFL&A region.
January 17: First mobile vaccine clinic at Extendicare Kingston.
January 25: In-person learning resumes at KFL&A elementary and secondary schools.
March 1: Mass immunization clinic opens at INVISTA Centre.
March 8: Vaccine clinic opens at Kingston Community Health Centre.
March 15: Mass immunization clinic opens at Strathcona Paper Centre.
March 29: Government of Ontario expands vaccine appointments to adults 70 years and older.
April 3: Government of Ontario imposes a provincewide emergency brake for at least four weeks as a result of an alarming surge in case numbers and COVID-19 hospitalizations across the province.
June 16: Government of Ontario expands vaccine appointments to individuals 12 years of age and older and second doses accelerated for some populations due to new Delta variant.
September 18: Government of Ontario expands eligibility for third dose vaccine appointments to priority populations.
Operating expenditure | Amount |
---|---|
Mandatory programs | $17,396,733 |
One time funding | $7,920,578 |
Ontario Seniors Dental Care program | $800,200 |
Syndromic Surveillance Project | $296,148 |
Blind Low Vision, Preschool Speech and Infant Hearing program | $1,827,932 |
Healthy Babies program | $1,068,388 |
Private Sewage program | $195,050 |
Special project expenses | $912,813 |
Total | $30,417,842 |