Local public health unit rebrands, temporarily reduces sexual health services to focus on merger

Last year, there was a flurry of news over the merger of three local Public Health agencies, which officially took place on January 1, 2025.

As readers may recall, the merger involved the former Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington (KFL&A) Public Health; Hastings—Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH); and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District (LGLD) Health Unit. Those three former Health Units voted to merge in December 2024, with the first meeting of the new Public Health agency taking place on New Year’s Day 2025.

At the time, the new entity was known as the “South East Health Unit (SEHU),” which has been the name of the regional Public Health Unit for six months. However, last month, the agency launched with a rebranding; While that information was unfortunately not shared with Kingstonist at the time, the new Public Health agency is now called “Southeast Public Health (SEPH),” according to officials.

“South East Health Unit remains our legal name as designated by the Ministry. However, we officially launched our new public-facing brand, Southeast Public Health, on Monday, September 29,” Justine Pineau, Communications Specialist with the Health Unit, told Kingstonist in an email on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025.

According to a release at the time of the official launch, SEPH worked with creative branding agency Scott Thornley and Company out of Toronto, who consulted leadership from the three former Public Health agencies to “determine how they wanted the new agency to be represented.”

“The brand identity, which is based on the theme ‘A Place to Blossom,’ is a modern design that includes a logo that represents many parts coming together to create something new, innovative, and resilient that fits the needs of our time,” the SEHU said in the Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, announcement.

“The mosaic is reflective of the diversity of our communities, our work linking community partners, and the breadth of public health services that we offer. It visually represents the action we’ve taken to shape our future together as one agency,” the announcement continued.

“In the same way that public health works to understand and address how environments influence the health and well-being of populations, our brand identity was inspired by our surroundings; local flora native to the southeast region became the inspiration behind the shape of the new logo.”

At the time, Dr. Piotr Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SEPH, said the launch of the new name and “visual identity” is “an exciting step forward in our journey as a new organization that is committed to achieving greater impact by combining our knowledge, strengths, and resources to address complex public health challenges facing the communities we serve.”

“Through our merger, we are a stronger, more resilient organization, able to deliver a broad variety of services that touch every stage of life and every corner of our vast region,” Oglaza said in the announcement.

The official launch also involves a new, dedicated SEPH website (southeastph.ca), as well as new social media profiles under the Southeast Public Health title on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. SEPH said it will use these channels to “share the latest news, updates, and public health content for the region,” however, all of the former Public Health agencies’ websites remain active.

“Over the coming months, community members may continue to see legacy branding from the three former agencies, as well as temporary branding under the name South East Health Unit, while the work of updating all existing content to the new brand is being completed,” SEPH said in the September 29 announcement.

“Please note that the three legacy health unit websites and social media channels will remain operational until the new year to allow for time to sign up to the new SEPH accounts without missing information.”

As the new entity has continued public health work during the merger, the agency’s Board of Health has been issuing monthly updates online, the most recent of which can be read on the SEPH website. Over the past six months, the Health Unit has stopped inviting the media to its Board of Health meetings, as had previously been the practice of KFL&A Public Health, however, Kingstonist has formally requested to be included in those meetings moving forward.

And as work on the merger continues, the regional Health Unit will be reducing sexual health services temporarily in order to “focus on merging teams,” SEPH said in a press release on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, noting the ramping down of some services will allow staff time to integrate into their new teams.

SEPH said that, starting on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, sexual health clinics at its offices in Gananoque, Perth, and Carleton Place will be paused, sexual health clinic hours in Kemptville and Almonte will be reduced, and sexual health clinic hours in Kingston and Belleville may be reduced.

Currently, SEPH is working to integrate staff members from across legacy agencies (the former Public Health units) into region-wide teams to ensure that all southeast residents receive equitable and consistent services across the SEPH coverage area, according to the release.

“This is a major step forward in our merger process. We’ve agreed to reduce some services to allow staff time to transition to new teams and roles, and to ensure we are able to deliver critical public health services during this time of transition,” said Dr. Ethan Toumishey, Deputy Medical Officer of Health for SEPH’s West region.

Sexual health services continue to be offered at SEPH offices across the southeast region. The organization asks the public to check online to see which clinics, dates, times, and sexual health services are available in each area:

• Hastings Prince Edward region: Sexual Health Clinics
• Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington region: Sexual Health Clinics
• Leeds, Grenville and Lanark region: Sexual Health Clinics

“If you are affected by these service reductions and you require urgent sexual health services, please reach out to your primary care provider or a local walk-in or virtual care clinic,” SEPH stated.

Free sexually transmitted and blood-borne infection (STBBI) testing, including Syphilis and HIV, can be accessed through GetaKit by visiting GetaKit.ca, according to the release.

“GetaKit is a study from the University of Ottawa, done in partnership with public health units in Ontario, that offers access to lab-based testing for (STIs) and HIV for people in Ontario,” the local health unit explained.

“Please reach out to our Sexual Health Team if you have any questions about these changes: 613-345-5685 ext. 2005.”

With files from Tori Stafford.