Primary Care Collaborative looks forward to working closely with new Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore towards strengthening primary care providers' roles in pandemic respon...

TORONTO, June 2, 2021 /CNW/ - The Primary Care Collaborative ("PCC") congratulates Dr. Kieran Moore on his official appointment as Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, effective June 26, 2021. We also extend our appreciation to Dr. David Williams for his leadership in this role over the past five years. Thank you, Dr. Williams, for your dedication and important work to keep Ontarians safe, and we wish you all the best in your retirement. 

Over the past several months, the PCC has worked closely with decision makers on primary care's involvement in vaccination efforts in the province. Through this work we met regularly with Dr. Moore in his role as Medical Officer of Health for Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington Public Health (KFL&A) and as a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Distribution Task Force. It comes as no surprise to the members of the PCC that KFL&A Public Health continues to be publicly recognized for its exemplary response to address the COVID-19 pandemic due to the strong leadership of Dr. Moore. 

Dr. Moore is a consistent champion for an equitable vaccine rollout and the need for increased involvement of primary care in vaccination efforts in all 34 public health units. We are grateful to Dr. Moore for his advocacy, and his proactive efforts and successes around partnership with primary care in KFL&A.

The PCC looks forward to continuing to work with Dr. Moore as he assumes his new role as Chief Medical Officer of Health in late June. In addition to ongoing work around the pandemic response and a more consistent role for primary care, our Collaborative stands ready to support provincial efforts to address the parallel public health crisis of toxic drug overdose deaths. Leadership is needed for people who continue to be at risk of overdose, and death from overdose, and we are hopeful that with Dr. Moore we will see some much-needed progress in preventable overdose deaths, and the devastation this creates for families, friends, communities, as well as health care providers.

The PCC welcomes our continued partnership and collaboration in our work with Dr. Moore towards more equitable responses to Ontario's most pressing health crises. We look forward to his leadership in facilitating greater connections and collaboration with primary care and public health as we build back towards a new normal beyond the pandemic.

SOURCE Primary Care Collaborative