Dr. Natalie Bocking has resigned as deputy medical officer of health for Lakelands Public Health.
Medical officer of health Dr. Thomas Piggott made the announcement during the board of health’s virtual meeting on Wednesday (February 18).
A native of London Ontario, Dr. Bocking moved to the City of Kawartha Lakes in 2019 with her husband and their two children to her husband’s family farm. At the height of the pandemic in April 2021, she was appointed medical officer of health for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District (HKPR) Health Unit, following the retirement of Dr. Lynn Noseworthy the previous December.
After the HKPR Health Unit — which served Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County — legally merged with Peterborough Public Health on January 1, 2025, both Dr. Bocking and Dr. Piggott competed for the position of the merged health unit’s medical officer of health role.
In February of that year, the board of health announced Dr. Piggott was the successful candidate for the position and that Dr. Bocking would assume the new role of deputy medical officer of health.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Dr. Piggott extended “a tremendous thank you” to Dr. Bocking “for all of the work that we’ve done together over the last couple of years of the merger journey and before, collaborating as neighbouring health units and as peers.”
“I’ve been deeply fortunate and grateful to work alongside Dr. Bocking through this really challenging journey for the organization and (have) deep and immense respect for Dr. Bocking and the work that she’s done here.”
For her part, Dr. Bocking said her time at both the HKPR Health Unit and Lakelands Public Health “has granted me many amazing opportunities to work alongside passionate and committed staff and community partners.”
“I’d like to take a minute just to say thank you to all of the staff at Lakelands Public Health. You are an incredibly talented group of people, and I’ve learned immensely from you. I have full confidence that you will continue to put the public health needs of the communities that we serve first and foremost.”
“I also wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to our many community partners that I’ve worked very closely with over the last several years to improve the health and well-being of our communities — it has been a true pleasure. And finally, I look forward to hearing about the many great things to come at Lakelands Public Health and wish everybody all the best.”
Selwyn Township deputy mayor and board of health chair Ron Black thanked Dr. Bocking for her contributions during the merger of the two health units.
“We all knew mergers were very challenging times, and having your voice at the table to bring things together and bring resolution and understanding, and all of those things that we needed through the merger — the decision to make the merger and then over the past year with the new Lakelands organization,” Black said. “It’s been challenging, and the board greatly, greatly appreciates every effort that you put into making it the success it is today.”
Kawartha Lakes deputy mayor Tracy Richardson, who worked with Dr. Bocking as medical officer of health for the HKPR Health Unit, also thanked her for her work.
“I can’t express how deeply grateful we were for your unwavering support throughout the pandemic, and for the steady and passionate leadership that you brought to the public health during this most challenging time,” Richardson said.
“You became the voice for our community and you made an incredible contribution, and you really did impact our our communities. I sincerely just want to thank you for your steadfast work through the merger, and I know your next chapter will be fantastic just because you are fantastic.”
Other board members who expressed their appreciation to Dr. Bocking included City of Kawartha Lakes councillor Don Joyce, Township of Alnwick-Haldimand mayor John Logel, Municipality of Highlands East deputy mayor and board of health vice chair Cecil Ryall, Peterborough city councillor Keith Riel, Peterborough city councillor Joy Lachica, and Peterborough County warden Bonnie Clark.
Prior to moving to Kawartha Lakes in 2019, Dr. Bocking worked as a locum family physician in northwestern Ontario and spent four years working as a public health physician with Thunder Bay District Health Unit and Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority.
In that role, she supported the development of a community-based, First Nations-governed public health system for 31 rural and remote First Nations. This included overseeing tuberculosis and hepatitis C programming, population health assessment, and maternal and child health support.
“I went into public health because I thought that some of the issues or health problems I was seeing in family medicine really could have been addressed so much more effectively at a population level and that was really where public health fit for me,” Dr. Bocking said in 2021.
