Mystery KCHC initiative gets support from Napanee Council

Greater Napanee Town Hall. Photo by Andrew Clarke via Town of Greater Napanee website.
Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC) will soon undertake a new initiative in Napanee, but what it will be is still a mystery.
At their regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, Greater Napanee Town Council received a report requesting their support for the Kingston Community Health Centre (KCHC) Health Home initiative. They requested the Town provide a large facility to engage with the public, and to waive the rental fees. KCHC were also looking for administrative support for the event, which is to take place over three days. But just what the initiative involves has yet to be announced, leading to some reluctance by Town councillors.
On April 1, 2024, the Town of Greater Napanee entered into a two-year gifting agreement with the KCHC to support “A Proposal for a Practical and Scalable Primary Care Model for Greater Napanee.” The agreement sees the Town donate $26,123 monthly towards a physician recruitment initiative.
At the October 8 meeting, CAO Matthew Grant reminded the Council about the initiative, noting that the Town had “recently received an inquiry from the KCHC ” seeking to partner with the Town on an event “involving the public,” tentatively scheduled for October 21, 22 and 23, related to the Health Home initiative. He said the event is related to their efforts to secure family physicians, but KCHC indicated that full details will only be available to Greater Napanee residents in the coming days.
Grant indicated that KCHC had asked if 99 Advance Avenue could be made available for the initiative. However, staff believe the Best and Bash Arena (BBA) would be more appropriate for any initiative involving the public, as it does not have the congestion associated with a working office complex with “an already full parking lot.” Unfortunately, Grant said, suitable areas for public interaction at 99 Advance and the BBA are booked on the days in question, but he knew KCHC would be open to date changes.
Grant sought the Council’s authorization to make the BBA conference area available and waive the fee “as we are partners in this initiative.” That motion was made and passed.
Next, the discussion turned to the KCHC’s further request that the Town lend some staff support for their initiative. They had asked if the Town could make “up to three” staff members available to help when the dates and events were finalized.
Grant noted that freeing up staff for functions unrelated to Town business would necessarily impact municipal service, “likely in the area of customer service.” He maintained that the Town’s customer service might have to be closed during the event due to staff shortages in the customer service department.
Councillor Mike Schenk motioned to make the staff available for the initiative.
In discussion, Councillor Bob Norrie said he “meant no disrespect” but supported allowing the CAO to “run this organization” and determine what staff he could spare on the day.
Grant explained that he appreciated that vote of confidence, but was seeking the Council’s input because providing staff to KCHC would be a whole different level of commitment to the partnership on the part of the Town. This would be over and above the funding already given by the Town and the free facility.
“The reason I bring this to your attention is I can certainly find a way to make it work… [but] this would come at the expense of service, and therefore, I thought it better to bring it to your attention,” the CAO told Council.
Deputy Mayor Brian Calver noted that customer service has been an area of contention and that closing it down to accommodate KCHC would open the Town to further complaints. And furthermore, KCHC hadn’t yet told them what the initiative was.
Grant said that information was being kept close to the chest while the arrangements were made for the dates and use of space, reiterating that the plans would be made public in the coming days.
Mayor Terry Richardson agreed with Calver, saying, “We’ve ventured into some land here to try and make this thing work. We supported KCHC and our physicians with a substantial amount of money… and we must remember that this initiative they’re going to engage in is not ours. It’s their initiative… I’m a little reluctant to provide the facility and support with respect to staffing.”
In the end, Council cautiously agreed to make up to three administrative staff members available to support the KCHC initiative and directed the CAO to use his discretion to offer administrative support, which may include some service impacts on customer service.
As always, you can read full Council meeting agendas on Napanee’s civic web portal online, and watch meetings live or recorded on the Town’s YouTube channel.
Kingstonist will provide more information on KCHC’s three-day event in Napanee when more details become available. More information on Kingston Community Health Centres and the Health Home initiatives can be found on the KCHC website.