News

We currently have six dogs at the South Dundas Animal Shelter, including four that are ready and really eager to be adopted and two that have just arrived.

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Winchester District Memorial Hospital announced Friday, February 1, that a new Sleep Lab is being added to the list of clinical services available for local communities. 

WDMH has teamed up with Hospital Alliance Group to offer this important service close to home. The Sleep Lab will operate in the Dillabough Building from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Monday to Friday. 

Overnight sleep studies will help diagnose a wide range of sleep disorders, from insomnia and sleep apnea, narcolepsy and night movement disorders such as limb movement disorder. 

As the demand for service increases, it is expected the service will expand to seven nights a week.

“Hospital Alliance Group is pleased to be working with WDMH. We know that sleep disorders affect 15 to 20 per cent of the population and if left untreated can result in higher risks of diabetes, heart disease, impotence, depression and arrhythmias. 

Sleep disorder patients also may have daytime sleepiness which increase motor vehicle accidents, work related accidents, poor job performance and decreased quality of life,” adds Lino Di Nardo, President of Hospital Alliance Group.

“WDMH is continually looking for ways to better serve our communities and the sleep lab will be a great benefit to local residents,” notes Lynn Hall, Vice President, Clinical Service and Chief Nursing Executive. 

“We spend about one third of our life sleeping, and sleep is important to help repair and restore our bodies. Our specialists at the Sleep Lab look forward to helping you manage any sleep related ailment and will provide guidance in the treatment of such disorders.”

Patients should speak to their family physician for a referral.

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Despite the lack of snow, this year’s Snowarama for Easter Seals, held at the Riverside Heights Community Centre on Saturday, February 2, still raised nearly $2,000, according to Leslie Disheau, co-ordinator with Jean MacDougal of the event, now in its 17th year. “It was disappointing the snow disappeared just ahead of the day,” Disheau said, “but the Nation Valley Snowmobile Association, made up of the South Dundas Snowmobile Club, the Winchester Township Snowmobile Club and the Mountain Trailblazers, continues to support us. The funds raised in our area, stay in Dundas to help our kids in need.”

This year the Easter Seal Society set up a website to make it possible for people to pledge on line. As in other years, the pancakes and sausage breakfast served at Snowarama was run by the Brewers R. A. Hockey Club and Keith Robinson. Helping fund raise, top photo (l-r) are Abby Steward, Hailey Steward, Mia Serviss and Kylie Schell, while Lacey Schell and Ben Serviss sit in front. Getting ready to dig into the syrup and pancakes (left) is Kurtis Steward.

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Stormont Dundas South Glengarry Federal riding association President Del Jones today announced that National Liberal leadership candidate M.P. Justin Trudeau will visit Cornwall on Tuesday, February 12, 2013.

“We are pleased that Mr. Trudeau, the M.P. for Papineau has accepted our invitation to address, members, supporters and those interested in the federal Liberal leadership campaign,” said Jones.

The Stormont Dundas South Glengarry riding association will host a meet and greet for Trudeau at the Best Western Parkway Inn Cabaret Room at 1515 Vincent Massey Drive Cornwall from 4-5:30 p.m.

“This is an open event, anyone from the public that would like to hear Trudeau speak or meet him is welcome to attend, there is no admittance charge, everyone is welcome,” said Jones.

Trudeau was first elected to Parliament in the 2008 general election in the Montreal area riding of Papineau, he was re-elected in 2011.

“As the March 3rd cut off for signing up new members or supporters to be eligible to vote in the Liberal leadership contest Mr. Trudeau’s visit is welcome as an excellent opportunity for residents of this riding to see and hear first-hand why they might want to become involved in this process,” said Jones, “ all leadership candidates have been invited to visit our riding.”

Residents of the riding are welcome to contact Del Jones at 613-543-3588 or Denis Sabourin at 613-346-5416 for information.

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Good dental health hygiene is important, although it can be expensive.

Dental hygienist Lori Garlough, owner of the Tooth Fairy Dental Hygiene Clinic in Ingleside, understands that, and wants to give back to her community, so she is offering free dental cleaning for low income adults, this Saturday, February 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This service is not for those who are already participating in one of the existing government programs and is not geared towards children.

“I wanted to make dental hygiene more affordable when I opened my business in Ingleside seven years ago,” she said. 

Even though she provides an affordable alternative, she knows that the cost is still too high for some low income families.

To take advantage of Garlough’s offer of a free cleaning this Saturday, those interested must call the office (613-537-8427) to register.

This one day event is an independent dental hygiene practitioners effort called Gift from the Heart. It’s a day set aside for dental hygienists to educate everyone on the link between oral health and overall health by helping lower income Canadians. 

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Looking for a Diagnosis at Toronto SickKids

Once again, the communities of South Dundas and South Stormont are invited to come together to do what we do best…help a neighbour/friend who is in need. In this case, it is a 13-year-old local youth who is progressively losing his eyesight.

The son of Melanie and Brent Whitford, Jeremy, has experienced a decline in his eyesight pretty much from birth says his mom.

As a toddler, Jeremy appeared in need of a nap. “But it wasn’t that he was tired, it was his eyelids,” explains Melanie.

Jeremy was born with severe bilateral ptosis, hyperopia and left esotropia which in simple terms means he was born with very droopy eyelids and a left eye that was turned inwards. In the case of ptosis, the muscles that control the eyelids do not function properly.

When Jeremy was two, surgery was performed to correct the ptosis and it was hoped that would be it. But it hasn’t been.

Every year, Jeremy’s eyesight declines, and doctors have been unable to provide the Whitford family with a diagnosis.

“We’ve been to doctors in Cornwall, to specialists in Ottawa and to the Ophthalmology Department at CHEO,” says Melanie. “Jeremy has had MRIs, CT Scans,  and all kinds of testing and still nothing.”

“Every year since he got his first pair of glasses at age two, we have gone through a pair of glasses, some years it was two. The lenses just keep getting thicker.”

“In August 2011, Jeremy lost most of the sight in his left eye. All he sees now through his left eye are shadows, and he has only five percent vision left in his right eye.”

“The doctors can’t figure it out, and every time we go it gets lower and lower. They can’t tell me why, and they can’t tell me if it can be fixed. Now it is migraines that he is getting, and they are getting worse.”

Melanie explains that what Jeremy currently sees is what a person with good vision would see if they smeared vaseline on their eyes. 

The surgery, when he was two, corrected the eyelids by lifting them into a permanently open position. As a result Jeremy sleeps with his eyes open, and when a migraine comes on he will disappear to his darkened room where he will cover his face to block all light from his unprotected eyes. The migraines are becoming much more frequent.

Ball caps protect Jeremy’s eyes from bright sunlight, and he must keep his eyes lubricated at night to prevent them from drying out and becoming painful. His eyes also tire easily.

Melanie is determined to get a diagnosis for Jeremy which she prays will lead to a treatment to slow or stop the problem. 

“At least, if we could get a diagnosis we could get help. Even if we can’t afford it, I will find a way. Right now, they figure that by the time he is 25, if we don’t get a diagnosis, his vision will be gone.”

The Whitford family was hoping the road to a diagnosis would begin last Wednesday, when they travelled to SickKids in Toronto, for an appointment with the Neuroptamologie department there.

“The Morrisburg and District Lions are paying our trip to Toronto, everything,” says Melanie. “I cried and cried when they told us, because I thought we would have to borrow the money for the trip. Bob Bergland, Keith Robinson, they have all helped out. They are all amazing.”

Also amazing are a group of friends and family who have organized a benefit dance at the Morrisburg Legion on February, 16 to help raise money for Jeremy’s specialized equipment needs at home and future travel and medical costs.

For more information on the benefit dance, see the accompanying story.

Growing Up With Vision Limitations

Thirteen-year-old Jeremy Masse-Whitford is a happy young man who hasn’t let the steady decline of his eyesight get him down.

He loves to cook and claims to be “a better cook than my mom Melanie because I use my sense of smell and taste.” 

A grade eight student at St. Mary-St. Cecilia School in Morrisburg, Jeremy enjoys pickup hockey and is a member of the South Dundas Minor Soccer Association. He plays the sports he can with his limited vision and assists the teams he can’t. 

“But I would prefer to be able to play all the sports.”

A special friend in Jeremy’s life is Leroy, a two-year-old Chocolate Lab, who was purchased two years ago and is being trained to assist Jeremy, particularly for his needs in the future. Currently, as Jeremy can still see reasonably well thanks to his glasses, Leroy is put to work fetching pucks.

Growing up hasn’t always been fun and games for Jeremy.

He speaks of how he was bullied by the older kids. “The last couple of years though have gotten better.”

St. Mary-St. Cecilia School in Morrisburg has been very progressive for many years in its anti-bullying programs and Jeremy’s classmates have grown up with him and come to naturally accept his limitations.

He worries, however, that the bullying will resume when he heads off to high school at St. Joseph’s in Cornwall.

Jeremy has also had to work extra hard and extra fast to stay on top of his schoolwork; and that too, he suspects will be more difficult when he gets to high school.

The Catholic District School Board and St. Mary-St. Cecilia have been really good, says his mom, Melanie. “They had a hearing and vision resource specialist come in who got him all the specialized equipment he needs.”

Special equipment includes a laptop with zoom text and various assistive devices including a Dome Magnifier (enlarges text) and a Daisy Mae Audio-Book player.

According to Melanie, the SMSC teachers and principal Joy Martell have all been great. The only problem is that “the specialized equipment is only available to Jeremy when he is at school. We have things sent to us on CDs, but we don’t have the equipment we need at home. The computer screens are bigger, the keys are bigger, everything is special, and it is very expensive. Just the Zoom Text program is $500. It’s crazy.”

With an increased work load that comes with high school, Jeremy worries about how he will be able to keep up next year without the means to complete his work at home.

Treatments, travel to medical appointments, regular replacement of eyeglasses at $500 plus per pair, and the dreamed of specialized school equipment for home means mounting bills for this young family. Jeremy also has a younger brother Tyson, 12.

February 16 Benefit Dance for Jeremy

A benefit dance to assist the Whitford family with the purchase of specialized equipment for Jeremy is planned for Saturday, February 16, at the Morrisburg Legion. 

Pegged the Can You See Me??? Benefit dance, it will run from 6:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. The cost is $5 per person and the dance will feature non-stop music with the band Rolly and the Nighthawks and DJ Jamie Jarvos Entertainment.

“A lot of people are buying tickets,” says Melanie. “It’s been wonderful, even people who are unable to attend are buying tickets to help us out. We are trying to fill the hall.”

Thanks to a big response from the community, 25 items have been collected for a Silent Auction to be held at the dance. 

A trust account has been set up in Jeremy’s name at Scotiabank in Morrisburg (Acct. #706020305286) to accept donations. Dance tickets can be purchased and Silent Auction items donated by calling Melanie at 613-543-0382 or 613-577-3332.

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Nothing is officially finalized, but there are tentative plans to fill the space now occupied by the Morrisburg Branch of the SD&G library, at the lower east end of the Morrisburg arena.

Essentially, the space will be divided up as a catch-all.

The primary tenant will be the Dundas County Food Bank. 

That means the Food Bank will eventually vacate its present home, in the neighbouring, municipally-owned Second Street building commonly referred to as the ‘old parks building.’ 

Since before this term of council, the municipality has expressed an interest in finding new homes for the tenants of the ‘old parks’ building, which is to be demolished. 

With that in mind, the municipality has spent minimal funds on that building’s upkeep over the last several years.

That building, 50 years ago at the time of the Seaway project was erected then as a temporary building. It continues to be used by the municipality as a home for the Dundas County Foodbank’s South Dundas location, temporary office space for the fire chief and the South Dundas Sports Lending Library.

Once the former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute redevelopment project is complete, transforming that building into South Dundas’ new administrative headquarters, the fire chief’s office will be located there.

The Dundas County Food Bank will take up about half of the current library space at the arena, according to South Dundas Mayor Steven Byvelds. 

“We have no formal agreement with them right now, so this is all tentative,” he said.

The tentative plans for the rest of the space that the library move will open up, are to provide space for the South Dundas Sports Lending Library, which freely lends sports equipment to South Dundas residents, and to take about 20 feet at the extreme north end of the space and partition it off to provide workshop space for the recreation department workers.

None of these tentative plans will materialize until the SD&G library moves into its new location which will be in the space vacated by the St. Lawrence Medical Clinic.

Once the clinic moves into its new home inside the high school building, in about a year’s time, the current clinic location will be renovated for the library.

Byvelds is not yet ready to discuss what plans are in store for the land that will be left vacant when the ‘old parks’ building is demolished.

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Looking for a Forever Loving Home

Still a young fella, this Husky Mix was rescued just over a week ago in the Riverside Heights area. Small for a husky, he is brown with tan &white markings and is extremely friendly. He has one beautiful blue eye & one beautiful brown eye. 

Two advertised dogs (and one we didn’t advertise) were adopted this past week. The four year old ‘pretty lady’ shepherd & the little brown shepherd husky mix have found homes!

Still looking…large Hound mix (PIc 4),  young Yellow Lab mix male (Pic 3) (Adopted as of Sunday, February 10)

Seven year old, White Shepherd male named Casper (Pic 2), & special needs Bull dog (not pictured).

Interested in adopting a dog??? Call Kevin at the South Dundas Animal Shelter at 613-543-2980 to find out what dogs are available and to arrange a meeting. This could be one of the best phone calls you will ever make!!!

Join our Facebook family at South Dundas Pet Rescue. We are now pushing 1,500 Facebook contacts!

The South Dundas Shelter is always in need of blankets, towells, dog beds, bowls, collars etc. Thanks to the support of the Morrisburg Animal Hospital, these items can now be dropped off there. Anyone wishing to donate money to help with the support of the animals, particularly with the purchase of their food, can do so by cheque made out to the Municipality of South Dundas and specifically marked for the use of the shelter. Rescued dogs are kept by the municipality for four days after which they are signed over to Kevin Casselman (the municipality's animal control officer) who tries, on his own and with the help of a small group of dog lovers,  to find them homes. 

This is a public service column. The Leader accepts no responsibility for the dogs or the adoption process.

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South Dundas now has a tourism strategy with a focus.

South Dundas council adopted “A Passport Forward:  A Tourism Product Development Strategy for South Dundas” in January.

Contained in that report are South Dundas’ priority tourism sectors, now identified as history and historical attractions, arts and culture and cycling.

History was identified as a priority, because history is the second largest draw in SD&G with 12.5 per cent of visitors going to historic sites during their stay. South Dundas has a unique historical narrative, which is an integral part of the community identity.

Identifying the arts and culture sector as a priority builds on thriving assets such as Upper Canada Playhouse. It responds to the increasing desire to experience the community and supports both local visitors and the family/relatives market while enhancing the quality of life for local residents.

Cycling tourism is the primary focus for sector development for Cornwall and the Counties Tourism. South Dundas identifying this too as a priority will facilitate the attraction of a new visitor market here in a format that is ideal for South Dundas as it links businesses and experiences throughout the entire community.

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