Though the pandemic is often described as coming in waves, for over a year now we have been asked to be on constant guard to protect ourselves and our loved ones from COVID. This has been exhausting and frustrating. I think that if we looked back honestly, we can all remember a time where we could have acted with more grace or been more kind to others. Sometimes it seemed that with each announcement or news about the pandemic, from vaccine supply to distribution to school closures to lockdown measures, we each responded differently depending on how it affected us. Most often our frustration has expressed itself in focusing criticism on our leaders. We got angry with our Prime Minister, with our Premier and now locally there are people concerned about leadership at the Public Health Unit.

I think it's very important to keep a very key point in mind as we get closer to a return to normal, which is that as a community, Grey Bruce has managed through this pandemic generally well and we must give credit to those entrusted to care for us. As a former Mayor and past Board Member of the Health Unit, I think it is all but certain some of the recent concerns raised in the community will in due course be examined, but before we get to that point we have to get through the pandemic. This should be the sole focus of the entire team at the Health Unit right now.

In fact the Public Health Unit has given us lots to celebrate. There were no COVID attributed deaths in Grey Bruce in 2020. They developed a vaccine distribution method, the Hockey Hub Model, that has been adopted in other parts of the province. They set early records for numbers of people vaccinated. While long term care homes were being battered in the first stages of COVID, our outbreaks locally were managed. They proactively set up a field hospital as a precautionary measure. They helped keep our region in the Green Zone through most of the pandemic. And importantly, we all listened and responded when at the first hint that our local numbers were rising and we were asked to stay home for 48 hours.
The fact that we have been this successful needs to be a part of the conversation when the performance of the Health Unit is evaluated.

For all the questions raised by a few in our community, we need to acknowledge that we have been well served by a dedicated team of professionals working in extraordinary circumstances on our behalf. The results speak for themselves, and I'm grateful to each member of the Health Unit who have my enduring support. They have surely earned our confidence.

Ruth Lovell Stanners
Owen Sound