{"id":5452,"date":"2024-04-17T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T13:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/?p=5452"},"modified":"2024-05-17T22:00:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T02:00:23","slug":"short-sighted-and-dangerous-public-health-ontario-lab-workers-are-sounding-the-alarm-about-potential-lab-closures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/news\/short-sighted-and-dangerous-public-health-ontario-lab-workers-are-sounding-the-alarm-about-potential-lab-closures\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cShort-sighted and dangerous\u201d &#8211; Public Health Ontario Lab workers are sounding the alarm about potential lab closures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO, April&nbsp;17, 2024 \u2013 OPSEU\/SEFPO President JP Hornick and members working at Public Health Ontario (PHO) Labs were at Queen\u2019s Park today to sound the alarm about the potential closure of six (6) out of 11&nbsp;PHO labs in Ontario, and the risk it poses for all Ontarians \u2013 especially rural families and communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the last few years have taught us anything, it is that public health should never be taken for granted,\u201d said Hornick. \u201cLike many choices made by this government, if Premier Ford decides to shutter the doors of these 6&nbsp;labs it will be short-sighted and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PHO currently has a plan to close the laboratory sites in Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Orillia, Hamilton, Kingston, and Peterborough as part of its \u2018modernization plan\u2019. In December 2023, the Auditor General endorsed this plan and recommended that the labs be closed within 12&nbsp;months.<\/p>\n<p>Combined, these labs collect and process thousands of water samples and time-sensitive medical tests each day. They are integral to our public health infrastructure in Ontario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TORONTO, April&nbsp;17, 2024 \u2013 OPSEU\/SEFPO President JP Hornick and members working at Public Health Ontario (PHO) Labs were at Queen\u2019s Park today to sound the alarm about the potential closure of six (6) out of 11&nbsp;PHO labs in Ontario, and the risk it poses for all Ontarians \u2013 especially rural families and communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the last few years have taught us anything, it is that public health should never be taken for granted,\u201d said Hornick. \u201cLike many choices made by this government, if Premier Ford decides to shutter the doors of these 6&nbsp;labs it will be short-sighted and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/news\/short-sighted-and-dangerous-public-health-ontario-lab-workers-are-sounding-the-alarm-about-potential-lab-closures\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">\u201cShort-sighted and dangerous\u201d &#8211; Public Health Ontario Lab workers are sounding the alarm about potential lab closures<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[673,96,406,777,293,284,119,1079,1075,1076,1077,490,559,1078],"class_list":["post-5452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-budget-cuts","tag-canada","tag-hamilton","tag-hamilton-region","tag-kingston","tag-labour-rights","tag-ontario","tag-ontario-government","tag-ontario-public-service-employees-union","tag-opseu-sefpo","tag-orillia","tag-peterborough","tag-public-health-ontario","tag-timmins","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5456,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5452\/revisions\/5456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillcoviding.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}