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EOHU Celebrates 90 Years of Protecting and Promoting Health in Eastern Ontario

2025-05-22

The Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) is celebrating 90 years of protecting and promoting health in Eastern Ontario this year.

“For decades, the EOHU has been a leader in delivering forward-thinking, community-focused public health services to achieve its mission of promoting wellness, preventing and protecting against disease and injury, and advocating for healthier communities,” says Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical Officer of Health at the EOHU. “Public health works in the background and involves many aspects of our everyday lives to improve and safeguard the health and quality of life of the region’s residents.”

Founded in 1935 as a 5-year pilot project funded by the Ontario government and the Rockefeller Foundation, the EOHU was the first county health unit in the province. At the time, the region was plagued by poverty and poor health, as tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and other deadly diseases were running rampant. The region’s struggles showed in its infant mortality rates, which were amongst the highest in the province. Over the course of the pilot project, infant mortality rates and deaths from tuberculosis and other diseases dropped dramatically. The EOHU’s initiatives proved so successful that by 1950, the Ontario government had expanded the number of health units to 37 across the province.

The EOHU continued to be at the forefront of many public health initiatives in the years that followed, including the push for legislation to pasteurize dairy products and the ban on smoking in public spaces. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic proved just how indispensable the services offered by public health are to the wellbeing of the community.

Along with the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009, the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be one of the biggest challenges that public health faced in decades. Dr. Roumeliotis adds “COVID-19 put an enormous strain on the healthcare system overall, and our health unit was no exception. The EOHU's dedicated staff proved to be our strongest asset and I truly appreciate their efforts in helping the community overcome the monumental challenges we faced during the pandemic years.”

Moving forward, the EOHU will continue to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of area residents through its routine programs, which include restaurant inspections, immunization services, dental services, infectious disease control, chronic disease prevention, preschool speech and language, tobacco cessation services, and emergency preparedness, just to name a few.

To learn more about the work the EOHU does every day to keep the community healthy and safe, check out The 3 P’s of Public Health video series on the health unit’s YouTube channel.