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Oxford County Moves Forward With Health Unit Merger

Oxford County council has officially agreed to the merger of the Oxford, Elgin, St. Thomas Health Units.

Oxford County Council is ready to move forward with the next step to merge their health unit with Elgin St. Thomas. 

The proposed Oxford Elgin St. Thomas Health Unit will serve approximately 204,000 residents in southwestern Ontario. Warden David Mayberry says council approved the merger today. 

"Council has officially agreed to the merger of the Oxford, Elgin, St. Thomas Health Units and that we would like the Province to implement the regulation that is required to move that process forward."

Warden Mayberry says the merger will have a couple of benefits for Oxford County. 

"We anticipate over the longer run there will be cost savings, also having a larger area, we will be to attract more health professionals with certain levels of expertise." 

Elgin St. Thomas Public Health and Oxford County Public Health first began exploring a potential merger in 2017 as a way to optimize programs and services for their mix of small urban and rural communities while ensuring a strong voice for rural public health in Ontario. The health units already shared a history of collaboration as well as similar geographic, demographic, health status and population characteristics.

The document will go before the Elgin St. Thomas council tonight and if it is approved, the merger can start to move forward.  If everything is approved the projected date for the legal merger of the two health units is on May 1st. 

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