GUELPH – The region’s top doctor has praised the County of Wellington for its “incredible contribution to fighting the unprecedented threat of COVID-19.”
Warden Kelly Linton read portions of a letter from Medical Officer of Health and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) CEO Dr. Nicola Mercer at the June 30 county council meeting.
“Without the county’s support, our region would not have been as safe, nor as ready to emerge from the pandemic as we are,” Mercer stated.
“With your support our region has carried out a historic vaccination campaign. Together we have ensured we are ready to take the next step forward together … we can say with pride and confidence that our work made a difference.”
Earlier in the meeting councillor Chris White noted the county had spent about $150,000 supporting public health and vaccination efforts during the pandemic.
Linton thanked “our whole county team from the CAO down,” for making pandemic support efforts a priority.
“And I also want to thank all county councillors for your support all through this whole COVID experience and thank the mayors and CAOs across our whole county,” Linton continued.
“For a number of months, we were meeting weekly and that was so incredibly important to make sure that we had a singular vision and unity across all seven municipalities.”
Linton added, “And Dr. Mercer was there on every call. So we’ve had direct access to Dr. Mercer from day one. And so I wanted to make sure that we thank, firstly, our staff from our CAO to the senior team, to all of our county staff who volunteered to be part of that significant initiative.”
A report from human resources director Susan Farrelly indicates over 120 county employees were redeployed outside their own departments “to assist in pandemic support efforts.
“This included approximately 25 employees who were redeployed to assist [WDGPH] in their community COVID-19 vaccination clinics,” stated Farrelly, who also pointed out the county worked with CUPE Local 973 on finalizing two memorandums of understanding for the rapid redeployment of employees as needed, including assisting at the county’s Wellington Terrace long-term care facility.
Farrelly noted formal redeployment to public health concluded at the end of May, with the final redeployed employee returning back to work at the county.
A redeployment recognition luncheon is planned at the Wellington County Museum and Archives on Sept. 7.
“It was very important this county stepped up very strongly during COVID, not just with vaccine support for the board of health, but having our staff make personal volunteer decisions to step in ….” said White.
“This has gone on for a long time and I think some people may forget how, in a word, scary, it was initially. And for people to step up and volunteer, it’s really a feather in the cap of the county.”
