By Jenn Watt

Staff sick time continues to put extra pressure on the bottom line at Haliburton Highlands Health Services. At their board meeting on Oct. 1 finance committee chairman Dale Robinson said that costs have not come down for sick time at the corporation.

“Basically it’s not terribly different from last year” he said.

HHHS CEO Varouj Eskedjian said the committee has compared this year to last and found similar costs associated with sick time and is now seeking out information on other institutions to compare.
“Year over year we’re doing a bit better but not that much better” Eskedjian said.
“To the end of August HHHS is spending $68500 more than budget” he told the paper.

HHHS is currently running a small deficit Robinson told the board but said the CEO is looking into funding to offset expenses.