Dr. Thomas Piggott arrived early Wednesday morning to a warm staff welcome and full slate of community health briefings to start his first day on the job as Peterborough Public Health’s new Medical Officer of Health and CEO.
“I’m excited to finally be here and join the tremendous team at Peterborough Public Health,” said Dr. Piggott. “My top priority is to connect with as many of our stakeholders as possible to understand local priorities and how together we can strategically advance the public health of our community.”
In addition to taking over as Incident Commander for the local COVID-19 Emergency Response, Dr. Piggott will be meeting with representatives across every sector in the community in the coming weeks, including local Indigenous leaders, municipalities, healthcare and social service organizations, education institutions, businesses, environmental groups, and many more. He will also serve on numerous provincial committees as well, including the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health.
“While there are many pressing issues locally and opportunities for positive change, addressing the opioid crisis and responding to climate change are areas I expect will become a major focus for us in the years ahead,” stated Dr. Piggott. “There is already a great deal of good work happening on these fronts and I want to help our team focus on equity, or fairness, in these areas and all of the work we do. For now, the priority will be the continued pandemic response and I commit to evidence-based and transparent local decision-making to guide collaborative efforts in keeping this community safe and healthy.”
Dr. Piggott’s first public speaking engagement will take place on Thursday at the next bi-weekly COVID-19 media briefing.
He will also be presenting a virtual education session on Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m. for parents and caregivers with questions about the COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 years.
He is planning to attend several local upcoming municipal council meetings as well, starting with a budget presentation to the County of Peterborough Council on Dec. 15.
“There's a lot of work to do, but for today, I'm just excited to start getting to know the fantastic team that I'm joining and the people and organizations in this wonderful community.”