Tag: Health

More on Adult Fitness Park

John Draper

A last minute presentation by Keith Oliver at last night’s regular Council meeting seems to have caused a revision in the motion passed by Council.  Instead of the location being the Cobourg Community Centre, it is now not yet decided and once again has been referred to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee (PRAC) where they will consider information provided by Keith in a presentation.  The motion that was passed allows equipment to be ordered so that the grant is not lost (It requires money to be spent by March 31, 2022).  But Keith was also not happy with the choice of equipment – he said some was not suitable for seniors – but this issue was not even discussed… Read complete articleMore on Adult Fitness Park

Zoning of Rehabilitation Centres

John Draper

In July 2020, Council was asked to approve the use of the (mostly vacant) Medical building at 316 King Street East (opposite the High school) as a rehabilitation centre for patients with drug or alcohol problems.  There was a lot of concern expressed by councillors and the public due to proximity to the school so the issue was deferred pending a study of zoning of such facilities (see link below).  A contract was awarded to Meridian Planning Consultants to report on this subject and their report was presented to Council at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.  Their basic conclusion was that such a use should be possible but subject to case by case decisions which would include collecting public… Read complete articleZoning of Rehabilitation Centres

Health Coalitions Survey LTC workers

John Draper

Three groups have teamed up to survey Long Term Care workers to uncover deficiencies.  Using the results, they are now lobbying the Provincial Government to make improvements.  Their Press Conference on Tuesday, June 22 was on Zoom and recorded on Facebook with the video plus full survey results available via Links below.  This report will focus on their key findings and recommendations.  Their survey shows that the big problem is staffing which was a problem pre-Covid but is now worse.  The group believe that Government promises to increase the number of beds are both insufficient and unrealistic.  They also want a focus on public facilities and not “for-profit” homes.  To be clear, they are not talking about Retirement Homes but… Read complete articleHealth Coalitions Survey LTC workers

Pop-ups Brighten the Day in Cobourg

John Draper

In 2016, Cobourg Library created pop-up Libraries around Cobourg. These are small boxes installed in Public places that provide reading material for the public on a trust basis and they are still operating. Based on a sample of two that I looked at, they have a varying success rate. A week or so ago, the Art Gallery of Northumberland created mini pop-up Art Galleries and today, two Port Hope non-profit groups (Cultivate and Greenwood Coalition) have created 10 pop-up herb gardens – 5 in Cobourg and 5 in Port Hope. It will be interesting to see how long they survive but it’s great to see these initiatives. Based on the Library experience, Cobourg people can be trusted to a certain… Read complete articlePop-ups Brighten the Day in Cobourg

Vaccine Update – 21 April

John Draper

At her first media “scrum”, Dr. Natalie Bocking, the new HKPR Medical Officer of Health, provided a comprehensive update on what is being done to cope with the pandemic.  A good part of the statistical data she provided is available online at the HKPR DHU website (That’s the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit web site) but she also provided additional details about variants, vaccines, demographics, clinics, vaccine distribution and appointment availability.  It was open to the media and local media people did ask some questions. This report will provide a summary of information provided but in the interest of transparency, the one hour session was recorded on You-Tube and is available via links below. If you have the… Read complete articleVaccine Update – 21 April

Vaccine Update – 31 March

John Draper

Cobourg is in the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit which is headed up by a Medical Officer of Health (MOH).   This position was held by Dr. Lynn Noseworthy up to her retirement on December 11, 2020 and for the last four months Dr. Ian Gemmill has come out of retirement to do the job in an “acting” role.  He has conducted weekly media sessions that provided good information that could be disseminated but now the new Medical Officer of Health – Dr. Natalie Bocking – will take over on April 5 (see photo below).  At his final media “Zoom” meeting on March 31, Dr. Gemmill gave his usual informative briefing as outlined below.  He continues to stress that… Read complete articleVaccine Update – 31 March

Council Approves Re-zoning of Woodlawn Property

John Draper

Last October, Council was advised that the new owners of the Woodlawn had applied for re-zoning to allow its use as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.  At Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole Council meeting, the results of the public meeting were presented and Council was asked to approve re-zoning to allow the project to continue.  But first, three of the seven members of Council declared conflicts because they owned nearby properties (Councillors Darling and Chorley) or worked for a company that does business with the owners (Councillor Burchat).  This left four councillors to make the decision.  Ryan Guetter of Weston Consulting represented the owners and provided two documents with responses to questions asked at the public meeting in November. … Read complete articleCouncil Approves Re-zoning of Woodlawn Property

Covid-19 Update by HKPR District Health Unit

John Draper

Our District’s Acting Medical officer for Health, Dr. Ian Gemmill, is very helpful in providing regular information on the pandemic. To do this, he holds weekly media briefings and next week will also hold a Virtual Town Hall for the public. With the lockdown to be eased on February 16, there is quite a lot of information to be disseminated this week.  Next Tuesday (the day after family day), Cobourg will move out of the “stay at home order” and into a zone – and according to Dr. Gemmill this will most probably be the Orange zone – see details below. The decision will be made by the Province and announced on Friday. He also said that another 1000 vaccine… Read complete articleCovid-19 Update by HKPR District Health Unit