Southeast Public Health is seeking to streamline its operations to provided more effective ways of offering programs and services to local residents.
Over the last several months, Southeast Public Health officials say the organization has been critically assessing the best way to serve the southeast region as a unified agency.
“The merger has given us time and funding to truly look at how we were delivering programs and services as legacy agencies, and to find new and innovative ways to provide programs and services together, as Southeast Public Health,” stated Dr. Piotr Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health and CEO of SEPH.
Through this process, a comprehensive assessment of SEPH office locations, service usage, and occupancy costs was undertaken.
Community needs, evolution of service delivery models, and workforce preservation were also evaluated.
The findings from this assessment indicated that several leased office locations were being underutilized, and that cost savings from terminating these leases could be reinvested back into the agency to fund new and effective ways of offering programs and services.
This approach, officials say, will protect core public health programs and services while enhancing the long-term sustainability of the agency.
Following this assessment, the decision was made to relinquish leases for offices within proximity (50 km or less) to offices owned in Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, and Smiths Falls as of March 1, 2026.
The affected office locations are as follows:
- Almonte
- Gananoque
- Kemptville
- Napanee
- Perth
- Picton
- Trenton
Operations will also discontinue at the office owned in Cloyne on March 1, 2026, where the space has been underutilized as it is not conducive to facilitating SEPH programs and services. Operations will continue in the leased office in Bancroft, due to its significant distance from the four owned offices.
In the coming months, the SEPH will introduce rural service strategies that will employ evidence-based ways of delivering services to rural communities that leverage existing community strengths and resources, while focusing on key areas like connectivity and integration of programs and services across southeast region.
There are no permanent employee positions being eliminated due to these changes.
