LOCAL HEADLINES

Schools have restarted across the region and understandably some parents welcome the return of routines and schedules.

Influenza season has arrived earlier-than-normal – and rollout of flu and COVID-19 immunizations is underway, the province has announced.

Eighteen months after the official voluntary merger that created Lakelands Public Health, the region’s top public health doc says the priorities and challenges ahead are still many as several crises continue to intersect and public health has a major role to play.

Lakelands Public Health is growing with the appointment of Dr. Maxwell Tran as the health unit’s new associate medical officer of health.

Lakelands Public Health is gearing up for its fall campaign to offer reduced-cost rabies vaccination clinics for canine and feline friends in the region.

The local health unit has put out an earlier-than-normal call for the coming respiratory season after confirmation of the first influenza case for 2026-27.

Lakelands Public Health is reminding residents about the importance of emptying wheelbarrows and other items that hold standing water where mosquitoes like to breed after three mosquito pools tested positive for the West Nile virus in the region.