Changing guard at the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce

On November 16th, Cholly Boland, CEO for Winchester District Memorial Hospital (WDMH), spoke with reporters, giving updates on what is happening at the local hospital.

He told reporters that there’s “a lot of things we do that are worthy of note.”

“We are in the process of developing a research initiative.”

In addition, “we have academic programs and placement programs for everything possible,” said Boland. He reported talking to many students at the University of Ottawa as well as the Elizabeth Bruyere Institute.

He said WDMH has “nurses and doctors at every stage of their training. We have two medical residents.”

Boland is also trying to attract administration students to the hospital through visits to the University of Ottawa.

He said the “backbone” of the hospital is technology, where computerization and the full implementation of patient information will allow all departments to be “connected with one source of communication.”

Boland believes that the health professional’s “biggest tool is information.” 

Having a patient’s information all stored in one location that’s easily accessible to all health care professionals is “really invaluable. It’s really going to move us ahead.”

Boland also talked about working in conjunction with the Ottawa Hospital “to bring more services (like surgery) here and,” he continued, “helping Ottawa, which is a bottleneck” with lengthy emergency room wait times. 

The integration of Dundas Manor with the hospital is expected to be “concluded some time  early next year, subject to the government giving us final approval.”

As for the controversy over the purchase of Dundas Manor, Boland said, “the owners of Dundas Manor were looking for a buyer and they could have picked anyone. We’re a public organization. We’re all about health care.”

“None of the money will go to profit; it will all be reinvested.”

According to Boland, “the first driving force is  to provide quality healthcare.”

“We do some really progressive senior services care here.” 

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Lisa Lewis wanted to do something to help the Froats family cope with their expenses while Brody remains in CHEO, so she organized what she thought would be a small pancake breakfast fundraiser.

The event, held Saturday at the Recreation Hall in Riverside Heights, raised $800 for the family. 

Thanks to Riverside Recreation donating the use of the hall and the food for the event, the entire proceeds from the sale of the breakfasts will go to the Froats family. In addition to the 86 breakfasts sold, those who attended generously donated another $370.

“I wasn’t planning on so many people coming out, but I’m glad they did,” said Lewis. She was thrilled with the support and appreciative of the efforts of those who volunteered to help out including; Ann Lewis, Linda Robinson, Alice Pemberton, Madison DeJong, Melanie, Jeremy and Tyson Whitford, Carl and Gail Robinson and Terry Hamilton.

“It’s fantastic what Lisa has done here,” said Gail Robinson, who thanked Lisa and the volunteers on behalf of the family. “The community, everyone, has been so wonderful. I know Mark, Lisa, Brody and Brett are very appreciative.”

The funds are meant to help the family with expenses so that they can focus on their time together. Brody has been in CHEO since late last year as a result of complications of Prader-Willi Syndrome. 

His father Mark remains at CHEO with him. Mark is a contractor who has been unable to work since Brody was admitted to hospital. Brody’s mother Lisa is battling cancer and finished her chemotherapy last week.  

[…]

The very newest features coming to the Morrisburg Waterfront are canons folks. That’s right canons…but probably not the kind you are thinking of.

With the completion of dotmocracy done with area children at the end of the school year, the selections for the Splash Pad coming to the Children’s Park in Morrisburg have been made and included among the elements are some “water-spraying” canons.

In fact the water canons ranked number one in the children’s selections.

On the design front, the Playground planning committee is looking at the potential layout for the splash pad that will include something for everyone and that will fit in with the current playground structure.

A Splash Pad is a zero depth aquatic structure which combines water movement–flowing, spraying, jetting and misting–for kid’s play.

There is no standing water, no lifeguard requirement and minimal water consumption.

Splash Pads provide safe alternatives for small children, non-swimmers and those times when there are forced beach closures, which as a general rule occur every summer at the beach in Morrisburg.

And with the design work well underway, the very important work of continuing to raise money is about to go public.

Since the original playground build, the playground committee and the community have quietly gone about raising money for the splash pad. The total is now sitting at $116,000.

The targeted amount is $200,000.

To date the committee has prepared numerous proposals for available grant money, and they are now working on ways to engage the general public.

It is hoped the community will now jump into the Splash Pad Project with donations and events to raise the required money. Every little bit will help.

Coming up during the Tubie parade, the community is invited to donate to the Splash Pad Float, which will be easily recognizable as it will be carrying a whole lot of “little splashers”.

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