The Ross Memorial Hospital’s Board of Governors is pleased to report the progress of the Board’s search for the next President and CEO.
Ross Memorial’s Chief Operating Officer Veronica Nelson was appointed Interim President and CEO after former President and CEO, Dr. Bert Lauwers, announced he was leaving the role to take a position at the Scarborough Health Network.
A submission to form a City of Kawartha Lakes Ontario Health Team (OHT) to better coordinate care and services in the City of Kawartha Lakes has progressed to the status of ‘In Development’ as announced by the Ministry of Health on July 18.
It is the provincial government’s intention to better connect the health care system through the phased implementation of Ontario Health Teams. Ontario Health Teams are groups of providers and organizations that are clinically and fiscally accountable for delivering a full and coordinated continuum of care to a defined geographic population. The designation of ‘In Development’ means that the Ministry will provide additional resources as the partners further develop their submission.
The owner of a new pharmaceutical plant in Lindsay that will open in six to eight months, Dr. Ghulam Khan, says he will be focusing on providing local jobs as much as possible which he calls “very good for the community.”
Fleetwood Pharmaceutical Inc., producing medicinal marijuana, will be up and running in two planned phases. In phase one, there will be a retrofit of the old 78,000 square foot Fleetwood plant. In the second phase, a half million square foot greenhouse will also be built. He says when both phases are fully operational it could mean between 550-600 jobs.
The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team has welcomed a new Nurse Practitioner to its team in Fenelon Falls.
Cherisse Young, RN(EC), will begin collaborating with Dr. Bruce Allin, Dr. Kesang Pema, and the team’s family health nurse, Kylie Pankhurst, RN, at the Fenelon Medical Centre on Francis Street East as of July 2nd. A long-time resident of Fenelon Falls, Young comes to the team with almost a decade of experience as a registered nurse in the emergency department at the Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay. She holds a Masters of Nursing in Primary Care degree from Athabasca University, having completed her training placements here locally.
At the June 21 City of Kawartha Lakes Paramedic Recruitment Ceremony, the focus shifted briefly from 11 new recruits to a group of citizens present at an emergency in Cambray. When Ronald Goodhand collapsed from a heart attack at the four corners, citizens took action until the paramedics arrived.
Some directed traffic, some communicated with the 911 operator, some notified family, and one started CPR. Goodhand was revived and transported by ambulance to Ross Memorial Hospital.
Free memberships to Ross Memorial Hospital are now available again for a very short time. Since inception, RMH had public memberships where for a low annual or lifetime cost, people could have a vote on issues related to hospital decisions.
These public memberships were revoked at an AGM meeting on June 21, 2012. At that time, the board and 42 members of the community voted to end this option. Currently voting for issues related to hospital changes are now restricted to the hospital’s board of directors.
From the Kawartha Lakes Health Coalition
On April 18 this year The Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) posted a notice in the legal section of the weekly Metroland corporate newspaper. The notice stated that the hospital will apply to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to enact special legislation to change its name to “Ross Memorial Hospital” (dropping “the”), as well as “change its objects, its powers, the composition of its board and membership, and to repeal certain existing Acts.”
What could be more Canadian than a road hockey game? Well, how about a tournament with no fewer than 12 road hockey rinks and games running all day?
The Wards Lawyers Kids’ Road Hockey Tournament in support of youth mental health is set for Sunday, May 26. According to lawyer and organizer Jason Ward it will probably be the nation’s largest kids’ road hockey tournament.
All that will be missing when it gets underway at 8 am will be game-pausing cries of “Car!” (Kent Street, from Cambridge to York, will be closed to traffic for the event.)
Happy International Day of the Midwife this coming May 5! Not that long ago, only a few generations, most babies were delivered by midwives. Today, modern midwifery is making a positive impact by supporting families to safely give birth in home or hospital settings, while paying close attention to social and cultural factors to support a heart-warming and profound but usually quite normal event. Midwives in Ontario deliver about 17 per cent of the babies in the province or around 24,000 per year.
The Ross Memorial Hospital Auxiliary made a special donation to support needs including the purchase of hysteroscopes for the Perioperative Suite, a specialized echocardiography stretcher, computers and monitors, and kitchen wares for the Nutrition Services Department.
Volunteers Evelyn Morrow, Rhona Bryant and Joyce MacCormack presented the cheque for $55,000 to RMH Interim President and CEO Veronica Nelson and RMH Foundation Executive Director Erin Coons.
