Tag: Health

Busy Opening Day for Market and Smør

John Draper

According to Lucas Cleveland, Market and Smør is giving the Cobourg community what they asked for – a greengrocer focused on local, fresh food.  When they came to Cobourg and before they could open a store to do that, Lucas and Montana took over the beach canteen with the idea of providing healthier snacks.  Per their business principle of listening to their customers, they found that French Fries etc were wanted; so these were included in their offerings. For their new store, a survey told them that customers want “local” more than they want organic so “local” is the focus – although 20% of their product is certified organic. Lucas said that many local farmers grow organically but can’t afford… Read complete articleBusy Opening Day for Market and Smør

Province Funds Four Extra NHH Beds for Flu Season

John Draper

At the Northumberland Hills Hospital this morning, M.P.P. David Piccini announced that the Province will be providing $242,000 in “surge funding” to provide four extra beds to help eliminate hallway treatment during the flu season (that’s likely until the Spring).  David said that “one patient treated in a hallway is one patient too many” and “this move will reduce the strain on the health care system in advance of the upcoming flu season.”  In introducing David, NHH CEO Linda Davis said that just this morning, there were 11 people in the Emergency Department waiting for an inpatient bed.  The total bed count of the Hospital will increase (albeit temporarily) from 108 to 112. Also announced was additional Province wide funding… Read complete articleProvince Funds Four Extra NHH Beds for Flu Season

Hospital Opens for Tours

John Draper

Today, Northumberland Hills Hospital (NHH) celebrated their 15th anniversary by giving tours of their outpatient area.  That included a look at their Dialysis unit, Diagnostic Imagery, the Birthing Unit as well as providing some general information about their services.  NHH employs over 600 people and is a $71M/year operation; it’s twice the size of the previous hospital and provides a wide range of services.  In addition they have a satellite Mental Health Clinic that features a walk-in clinic.  During the tour, the Directors of each unit provided statistics and were open for questions.  The point of the exercise was to help get the word out what services the hospital  provides but it was also clear that staff were very happy… Read complete articleHospital Opens for Tours

FSD Pharma Announces Restoration of Certo building

John Draper

At a Press Conference on Tuesday Oct 9, Thomas Fairfull, President and CEO of FSD Pharma had a ribbon cutting ceremony as he announced the start of work on “converting the historic Certo building … into a heritage museum and on-site dispensary. The Certo building is an important part of Cobourg’s history and the Company intends to preserve this unique building.”  But they are seemingly not interested in local media, only “national media with media credentials” were invited – so the photo below was taken later in the day.  Mayor Brocanier and Mayor Elect John Henderson were at the ribbon cutting but MP Kim Rudd was not although she was invited.  The Certo building on the old Kraft property was… Read complete articleFSD Pharma Announces Restoration of Certo building

Good News at  Launch of Hospice Fundraising

John Draper

There were 200 people at the official launch of the public fundraising for the new Northumberland Hospice.  The project was announced a year ago (see links for details) and in December launched “quiet” fundraising – that meant going around asking potential donors and offering naming rights for $25K to $1.5M.  At the official campaign launch at the Baltimore Community Centre on June 5th, the amounts raised to date were announced.  Also announced was the fact that the Hospice will now be built from the outset with 10 beds and not the 6 originally announced.  This will require a new goal of $9.3M instead of the $7M originally set.  But to date, a good amount of that has already been raised… Read complete articleGood News at  Launch of Hospice Fundraising

Hospice Fundraising Campaign Receives One Million Dollars

John Draper

A year ago, it was announced that a 6 Bed “in-patient” Hospice would be built in Cobourg.  Since then land has been procured on Ontario Street (just south of the Alliance Church) and a fundraising campaign has started (see Links below).  The Fundraising joint Chairs are Patti and Gord Ley and they were joined by Lynda Kay as Campaign Director.  They will be officially launching the campaign on June 5 but today, they announced a $1,000,000 leadership gift by the Read Elliott Family Foundation which was established by Kym and Brian Read.  In recognition of this substantial gift, the Hospice Care wing will be named the Read Elliott Family Foundation Hospice Care Wing. Kym and Brian are residents of Cobourg… Read complete articleHospice Fundraising Campaign Receives One Million Dollars

Golden Plough Build to go to Next Stage

John Draper

At their next meeting, County Council will be asked to approve the award of a $3M contract to Salter Pilon Architecture Inc. for architectural and engineering services for the rebuild of the Golden Plough Lodge (GPL).  Construction costs for the project have been estimated at $49.0M but there is a possibility that the project will be expanded from 151 to 180 beds.  In that case, the estimated total of $82.5M includes not just construction costs and the additional beds but also all other associated costs such as professional services, land/property value, approval/permits, insurance and applicable taxes.  Of this, approx. $35M would come from the Province and the rest from our taxes spread over 25 years.  The expansion from 151 to… Read complete articleGolden Plough Build to go to Next Stage

New  Partnership for Mental Health

John Draper

A significant number of calls for Police help often end up transporting an individual to the Hospital for “Mental Health” reasons.  One of the health goals of the Central East Local Health Integration Network (Central East LHIN) is to help individuals remain in their communities and homes – that is, look after people before their problem reaches a crisis stage and before they need to go to a Hospital.  A new partnership between the OPP, Cobourg Police and community health providers will mean that people with mental health or addictive issues can get assistance sooner.  Funded by the LHIN and called M-HEART (Mental Health Engagement and Response Team), existing Mental Health Response Officers will be accompanied on ride-along with new… Read complete articleNew  Partnership for Mental Health