CN overpass project slated for this summer

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.” 

[…]

Voters in South Dundas should have received a copy of a pamphlet in the mail this week that explains how they vote in the upcoming municipal election.

In this election South Dundas voters will have the opportunity to vote by phone, internet or paper ballot.

This pamphlet is not the Voter Information Letter, that will be send out the second week in October.

Electors in South Dundas will personally and individually receive by first-class mail, a Voter Information Letter containing the following information;

1. The toll free telephone number to call and the website to visit to vote;

2. Your confidential and Personalized Identification Number (Voting PIN);

3. A list of the candidates nominated for each office and instructions on how to vote;

4. The telephone number of the Voter Help Center.

As an added security feature, voters will be required to add your date of birth before voting. Anyone unsure if their full date of birth is on the voter’s list, may have to come into the Voter Help Centre (Municipal office) to fill out a form and provide photo identification.

Voting will commence on October 22, 2014 at 9 a.m. and conclude on October 27, 2014 at 8 p.m. 

Voting access by telephone and internet will be available on a continuous six day, 24-hour basis during this voting period. The “vote by telephone” method requires use of a touch-tone telephone. The “vote by internet” method requires use of a computer with internet access.

As in the past no proxies are permitted with these alternate voting methods. Any individual, during the six day voting period, may request assistance at the Voter Help Centre (Municipal Office).

In addition, all County Libraries have established internet access centers for the use of the public at locations in the various communities in the United Counties of S.D.&G.

To accommodate all electors, the Municipal Office will be open extra hours. For further information call them at 613-543-2673.

[…]

On October 17, 2012, at a scheduled meeting of the Canadian Club, Catherine Merkley, a Morrisburg resident, will be reuniting with her now famous former boss, Robert R. Fowler.  

Merkley worked for Fowler when he was the Deputy Minister in the Department of National Defence (DND) in Ottawa in the early 1990s.  He was then posted to be a Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in 1995.  

Merkley went to New York for an “all girls weekend” in 1996 and visited Fowler and his family at his residence in downtown New York City.  

From 1990 to 1995, Merkley was Fowler’s Administrative Assistant dealing with the Prime Minister’s Office, Privy Council Office, Minister of National Defence, all other Group Principals within the DND and Other Government Departments, at a trying time for DND, that being during the Somalia Affair and the disbanding of the Airborne Regiment.  

When Fowler was posted to the UN, Merkley was transferred to a Staff Officer position in the Personnel Group working for Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire (now a Quebec Senator) and working with General Rick Hillier, (who later became the Chief of the Defence Staff, the highest ranking military position in the DND).  

Merkley’s next position was that of the first female civilian Coordinator after the move of the Canadian Army Headquarters to Ottawa, then she became an Administration Manager for the first DNDCanadian Forces Ombudsman, Andre Marin, and finally she was promoted to the Human Resources Manager position with the Judge Advocate General (the military lawyers for DND).   

Merkley took early retirement, after 28 years service as a civilian with DND, in 2005 to move back to her roots, near Chesterville.  

In 2008, when Fowler was kidnapped by the Al-Qaeda, Fowler’s former personal staff of 10 employees, including Merkley, most of whom are still in the National Capital Region, were in constant contact via E-mail.  The minute Fowler was released they sighed a huge sigh of relief.  

As soon as Fowler’s book “A Season in Hell – My 130 Days in the Sahara with Al Qaeda” was published, Merkley rushed out to buy a copy and hopes to have it personally autographed by him at the meeting.  

October 17, 2012 will be their first time seeing each other since 1996.  

In 2007, Merkley, with her husband, Kevin, moved to their retirement home on County Road 4 just outside of Morrisburg.  Since that time, Merkley has been a Family Law Assistant for the local law firm of Gorrell, Grenkie and Remillard, acting as Family Law Assistant to J. Douglas Grenkie.

[…]