Tag: Health

Health Team gets funding for Community Paramedicine

John Draper

The Ford Government last year announced that LHINs would be disbanded and instead we would have “Health Teams” and Northumberland was one of the first to form such a team.  One of their goals in the first year was to implement a Community Paramedicine program and now MPP David Piccini has announced that this will be funded by the Province to the tune of  $342,000.  The idea is to take advantage of skills that paramedics already have and do some pro-active health care.  So as well as paramedics responding to 911 calls, they will also do things like “assisting with diabetic care, doing medication assessment, providing flu vaccinations, conducting post-injury or illness evaluation, and other care functions”.  The overall intent… Read complete articleHealth Team gets funding for Community Paramedicine

Adult Fitness Park Gets Council Support

John Draper

Since November 2016, Keith Oliver has been coming before Council to campaign for an adult Fitness Park and in May 2018, the Waterfront study included Outdoor Adult Fitness as one of its goals.  Since this was approved by council, Town support seems to be mandated.  Last June, Keith won Council support for help in applying to the Federal Government for a grant and also spoke of success in fundraising from the Cobourg Community.  He was not so successful in getting support in recent budget sessions but at the Committee of the Whole Meeting on 27 January 2020, he tried again and said that Council support was needed before other donors (such as Rotary) would contribute.  This time he succeeded in… Read complete articleAdult Fitness Park Gets Council Support

Local Health Teams are Prepared for “Corona Virus” Threat

John Draper

The public health scare from the virus originating in Wuhan has caused health teams across the world to make sure they are ready to cope if it arrives in their area.  Although it’s an International Health Emergency, so far there are no cases in Northumberland.  However,  the HKPR Health Partners have issued a statement saying that “we have heightened our communication to ensure we continue to share the information and resources needed to protect the public’s health”.  The statement describes what the virus is, what is involved with being prepared, where to get daily updates, the connection with common flu, and what to do if you have recently travelled to Hubei province in China and have symptoms  (Wuhan is the… Read complete articleLocal Health Teams are Prepared for “Corona Virus” Threat

Problems with Wheels Transportation Service

John Draper

At the Committee of the Whole Council meeting on Monday, two issues were raised by delegations that affected transport for disabled people. One was about a person who needed to go to the Hospital from the Golden Plough Lodge (GPL).  Since it was an emergency, an ambulance provided Transportation but when the patient was discharged, it was no longer an emergency so an ambulance was not available. However, since the 93 year old was on a stretcher, there was no way to get home to the GPL who said they are not mandated to provide this kind of transport. Eventually, after a long wait and a $160.18 charge to a credit card, Voyageur Medical Transportation did the job. The other… Read complete articleProblems with Wheels Transportation Service

Northumberland Ontario Health Team Announced

John Draper

On June 6, 2019, the Provincial Connecting Care Act came into force.  This governs a complete revision to how Health Care is managed in Ontario. The biggest change for Northumberland will be that the role of LHINs will be much reduced and replaced by Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) which will be overseen by a new agency Ontario Health.  Today, Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health announced the approval of the Northumberland Ontario Health Team.  The idea is that the OHTs will manage and ensure integration of all health services in a geographic area – in this case Northumberland.  Or as MPP David Piccini puts it in a Press Release: “Through an Ontario Health Team, patients will experience easier transitions… Read complete articleNorthumberland Ontario Health Team Announced

Report from Opioid Round Table

John Draper

In early September this year, Adam Bureau initiated a Round Table discussion to determine what could be done about the opioid crisis.  The intent was that recommendations would then be brought back to Council and he now plans to do just that.  At the November 12 regular Council Meeting, Adam made a Notice of Motion that he would be reporting back at the November 25 Committee of the Whole Meeting.  He provided a number of documents from the Round Table discussion and based on that discussion, recommends actions for Council.  More details are below but in brief, he asks for a community-wide summit in February 2020, an allocation of $10,000 from Town funds and better communication with the Public on… Read complete articleReport from Opioid Round Table

MPP Piccini Announces New Funding for NHH

John Draper

At an announcement this morning at the Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH), MPP David Piccini announced $3.79 Million in new annual funding for the Hospital.  The formula has been revised so that this will continue in future years.  Bob Sanderson, Warden Northumberland County said: “By rectifying an historical inequity in hospital funding formulas, the Province is ensuring that the dedicated staff, physicians and volunteers of NHH have the support they need to continue delivering excellent care to local residents.”  NHH CEO Linda Davis was clearly happy with the change and said that “this announcement is a turning point in the evolution of Northumberland Hills Hospital” and  “We know all too well what our priority needs are. We have – until now… Read complete articleMPP Piccini Announces New Funding for NHH

Adam Bureau acts on Opioid crisis

John Draper

At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday September 3, Councillor Adam Bureau made a “Notice of Motion” – this means the motion will be considered at the next Council meeting.  The motion asks permission from Council to form a partnership and invite the Cobourg Police Service, the Cobourg Fire Department, Northumberland EMS and representatives from the county, MPP David Piccini and MP Kim Rudd.  They would then hold a round table discussion to come up with suggestions to combat the opioid crisis.  The choice of people is because “this group of people deals with this issue on an almost daily basis and would have first-hand knowledge on recommendations on how to eliminate opioids and other harmful and fatal… Read complete articleAdam Bureau acts on Opioid crisis