The Grey Bruce Health Unit is taking over the pre-school speech and language program from the Owen Sound Hospital.
Medical Officer of Health Doctor Hazel Lynn says the hospital wants to focus more on acute care of ill patients, rather than community programs.
Doctor Lynn says the new program fits in well with their home visiting programs, and she adds a number of health units across the province now host this program.
The program will test children for hearing and speech problems right from birth, and the Health Unit is also lobbying for all children to get hearing tests from their family doctor at 18 months.
Doctor Lynn says following the tests, they get referrals from speech and language pathologists to see if the kids need additional therapy.
The program currently has a budget of close to a million dollars per year, and the Health Unit is looking at adding another speech pathologist because there is a waiting list for the program.
They also want to expand the program, so that Health Unit workers can re-enforce it when they do home visits.
Doctor Lynn says the people who ran the program at the hospital were essentially laid off, then hired on by the Health Unit — with a few new additions.
