The 13th annual Pine Meadow Charity Golf Tournament took place on June 21 at Hunter's Creek Golf Course on Hwy. 506 near Cloyne. As in previous years, this year's tournament was generously sponsored by numerous businesses and community members, raising over $16 900. These funds are used for a variety of items at Pine Meadow which cannot be included in the regular budget.

Over the 13 years of the tournament's history the items purchased have included a defibrillator, mobile shelving units, towel and blanket warmers, solo electric beds, wrought iron fencing and concrete walkways in the courtyard and garden areas, a picnic shelter, SARA and other overhead lifts, Hi-low beds, and more. The funds are also used for monthly excursions for residents at Pine Meadow. Funds raised this year will be used to purchase wrought iron fencing for a new courtyard space behind the Pine Meadow expansion and for this year's excursions.

This year 71 golfers participated in the tournament on a bright, sunny day at Hunter's Creek. The Flynn family was well represented with 16 participants. Raffle prizes included a beautiful quilt made by the Land O’ Lakes Quilters and valued at $1100, which was won by Marilyn Stewart and a propane barbeque subsidized by Lookout Building Centre in Plevna, valued at $660, won by Luella Foster. There was also a 50/50 draw with a prize of $130, won by the Flynn family, who generously donated the money back to the fund. The microwave, donated by Smitty's Appliances, was the prize for the ladder golf game and was won by Dave Anthony.

The members of the first place team at the tournament were Jeff South, John South, Miller Hodgins and Dave Anthony. The second place team was comprised of Mark Freeburn, Michael Wood, Travis McLuckie and Cory Andrew, who donated their winnings back to the charity. The men's closest to the pin was won by Gregg Wise and the women's closest to the pin was won by Barb Dion. The men's longest drive was won by Don Fobert and the women's longest drive was won by Freida Hynne.

The annual Pine Meadow Golf Classic is coming up on June 21 this year. The tournament raises funds each year for the comfort of Pine Meadow residents.

“The money always helps with some extras that are not covered in the home's budget,” said Jane Potyok, the outgoing Treasurer of the Pine Meadow committee.

This year the money will go towards a new wrought iron courtyard fence that will be needed once the home's expansion is complete in 2015. Pictured above,

The Land O'Lakes Garden club was started in 2005 by Lynn McEvoy of Cloyne.

The original members quickly joined up with garden clubs in larger centres such as Belleville as members of District 3 of the Ontario Horticultural Association. They remain members of the OHA and recently hosted the district at a meeting on May 3, which was held at Pineview Free Methodist Church and was very well attended by people from the other 15 clubs within the district, including Athens, Brockville, Bath, Ameliasburg, Trenton & Bancroft. At that meeting, a local expert, Coleman Boomhour, gave the keynote address on the subject of the Emerald Ash Borer, which is set to devastate Ash trees throughout Eastern Ontario.

The Garden Club has been associated with Pine Meadow Nursing Home ever since it started up, with the first project being to establish gardens at the home in 2006 and 2007. The club continues to maintain the gardens on a year-round basis, and each year they plant annuals in the early summer.

One of the largest projects of the Land O'Lakes Garden Club was the rehabilitation and beautification of the Pioneer Cemetery in Cloyne, a project that was undertaken in conjunction with North Frontenac Township. The cemetery had been in a state of decline and then was devastated by the Cloyne micro-burst in 2002. However, after a lot of work, dignity has been restored to the grave-sites of some of the early settlers along the Frontenac Addington Trail. The club continues to maintain the cemetery with twice-annual cleanups.

One of the most visible of the club’s projects is the ongoing planter project at locations along the Hwy. 41 corridor between Denbigh and Kaladar. Identical planters are located at businesses and other institutions in hamlets along the roadway, and each year the club puts in plantings in June to decorate the area throughout the summer months.

“This year we will be planting drought-resistant petunias to spill out of the planters as well as a plant called phormium,” said Mary Kelly of the garden club. Mary added that the hosts of the planters are responsible for watering and fertilising throughout the growing season.

The garden club meets each month between April and November at 7pm at Pineview Free Methodist Church before taking the winter off. They used to take July and August off as well, but there are a number of summer residents who wanted to take part in educational events so those months are now included. The meetings are announced in Northern Happenings and the next meeting is tonight, May 8. The topic is: "Permaculture" - how the right soil is important for gardens”, presented by Master Gardener Tom Mercantonio.

Among the more popular events the club has held have been two garden tour & tea events in Cloyne and Harlowe, which gave community members a chance to poke around in club members’ gardens and talk plants.

Last year the club held a Tea at Pine Meadow to mark the 20th anniversary of the home.

The motto of the Garden Club, is “you do not need to be a gardener to join the garden club”, all are welcome.

For further information about the Land O' Lakes Garden Club contact Mary Kelly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Photo: Garry Rosenblath, Jean MacLean and Mallory Wionzek

On November 4 the residents at Pine Meadow Nursing Home were very excited to open up their new coffee shop, Top-Up! The residents purchased a Tassimo Coffee Maker in October and turned our hair dressing shop into a Coffee Shop as well! We painted and primped and now the room looks like a small café. They sell their coffee (or tea, or cappuccinos or lattes) for $1.50 each, with all proceeds going to the Residents' Council.

If you do not know much about Northbrook, you should know that there is no Tim Hortons or Starbucks with a 60 km radius. So having a fresh-brewed coffee to your liking at the nursing home is a huge treat! The shop has already made well over $300 in sales! The residents even sell coffee cards ($15 for 10 coffees) for those staff who do not always carry change.

The name Top-Up came from our resident, Garry Rosenblath, whose submission was picked in our naming contest. We already have a few staff addicted; one likes her cappuccino at 9am every morning, while two of our kitchen staff are in every day at their two o’clock break. Staff and residents alike are very excited about our new shop, and we look forward to seeing the benefit of something new and fresh in our home. 

There were smiles all around at the ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction phase of the Pine Meadow Nursing Home redevelopment.

The target date for the completion of the project is the spring of 2015. Once completed, the home will have two wings, each with capacity to house 32 residents in single and double occupancy rooms. Each wing will have its own nursing station and dining room.

Currently, the 20-year-old home has capacity for 60 residents in single, double and four-bed rooms. There is one nursing station and a large dining room for all the residents.

“It will be much more homey once the changes are made,” said Barb Ellsworth, a six-year resident of Pine Meadow and the chair of the residents' council, “especially for those who live in the four-bed rooms. That's too many people living in one room.”

Before the ceremony proceeded, presentations were made that demonstrated two of the major fund-raising commitments that have made the project possible. Doug Bearance, warden of Lennox and Addington County, presented a ceremonial cheque of $250,000 to mark the 10-year commitment of $25,000 per year that the county has made to the project. As well, Marilyn Bolender presented a $50,000 cheque to mark the commitment that the Land O'lakes Lions Club has made. Also on hand were Paul and Martha McLean, summer residents on Mazinaw Lake who have donated $30,000 to the Pine Meadow redevelopment fund.

Ernest Lapchinski, along with North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, has been involved with the project as a member of the Pine Meadow Management Committee for the 12 years it has taken for the project to get final approval from the Ministry of Health, and financing from Infrastructure Ontario.

He thanked a number of people who have been instrumental in bringing the long-anticipated project to this stage.

“I would particularly like to thank Land O'Lakes Community Services, the parent body of Pine Meadow Nursing Home, for their trust and confidence in our management committee,” said Lapchinski.

In addition to thanking some of the people who were involved with the project when it was originally conceived in 2001, Lapchinski also thanked the home's administrator Bonnie George, and committee member Bill Cox. Lapchinski said that Cox, as deputy reeve of Addington Highlands Council, has “given considerable support to our funding proposals at Lennox and Addington County and continuing moral support for the project.

“I would also like to thank the local fund-raising committees, the special needs committee for Pine Meadow, the annual golf tournament, our local quilting groups and merchants, who have all given so much in time and funding,” said Lapchinski.

Pine Meadow Nursing Home is a community-owned home. It receives funding support from the Province of Ontario on a per patient basis, and patients pay rent as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis under the umbrella of Land O'Lakes Community Services. Unlike municipally run homes such as the John Parrot Home in Napanee or Fairmount Home in rural Kingston, Pine Meadow does not receive any operating funds from municipal tax dollars.

Residents of Addington Highlands and North and Central Frontenac will finally have the benefit of a Class “A” Nursing Home, no thanks to Frontenac County.

A class “A” home is something that residents of Kingston and the southern portion of Frontenac County have enjoyed for a number of years. That’s because Fairmount Home, which is owned by Frontenac County residents, was the subject of a $17 million upgrade in 2004, an upgrade that we are still paying for through a debenture that remains part of the annual Frontenac County budget to this day. Fairmount Home’s operating costs are also subsidized by municipal tax dollars, in addition to provincial funding and resident fees. And this year Frontenac County Council has decided to go ahead with a $2 million upgrade to the Fairmount Home auditorium, an ancillary building attached to the home.

Municipal taxes are spent on many different priorities, from roads to waste to social services and education, and the fact that a relatively small amount goes towards maintaining a comfortable, caring long-term care facility located in rural Kingston just outside the county’s borders is fine by me. The residents of Fairmount Home deserve the best we can offer as a community, and that costs money. If that means some of my tax dollars help someone who lives south of the 401 get better long-term care, that’s ok too.

Over a number of years, municipal politicians from North Frontenac Township have asked Frontenac County to contribute to another home that is located just outside of Frontenac County. Pine Meadow Nursing Home is in the hamlet of Northbrook in L&A County. It is a not-for-profit long-term care facility that is community owned. As such, it does not receive operating funds from municipal tax dollars. It must get by solely on provincial funding and resident fees.

Land O’Lakes Community Services, the owner of Pine Meadow, does not have the kind of resources that Frontenac or L&A County have. Its reserve funds are measured in the thousands, not the tens of millions. It took a long time for them to get financing in place to upgrade Pine Meadow to the “A” class.

L&A County Council recognised this situation several years ago and in addition to handsomely supporting the John Parrot Home, a class “A” home they own in Napanee, they committed a small amount of money, $25,000 per year for ten years, to be put towards the Pine Meadow upgrade.

For a half dozen years, politicians from North Frontenac made an annual plea for a 10-year, $25,000 annual commitment to the Pine Meadow redevelopment project from Frontenac County Council, but the request was always refused.

The reasons that were offered were never convincing. On one occasion North Frontenac councilors were told that Pine Meadow is not located in Frontenac County - not a really good answer, when you consider that Fairmount Home is not located in Frontenac County either. They were also told Frontenac County was not inclined to support a private sector home, which Pine Meadow is not.

Frontenac County Council was also asked to help with the fund-raising for Kingston General Hospital’s capital project several years ago. Noting that KGH is the regional hospital, Frontenac County said yes, and have made an annual payment of $40,000 ever since.

Even when it was demonstrated that almost half of the 60 residents of Pine Meadow come from Frontenac County, that same Council turned a deaf ear to a similar argument that Pine Meadow is the regional long-term care facility that serves the northern part of Frontenac County.

The bottom line is that Pine Meadow has received no support from Frontenac County for its redevelopment. With a $40 million annual budget, and over $5 million in its working fund reserves, $25,000 per year was too much for the majority of Frontenac County councilors to commit to the comfort of the frail elderly who happen to live closer to Highway 7 than to Highway 401.

Nonetheless, Pine Meadow will continue to welcome Frontenac County residents with open arms. 

The icing on the cake said it all - ”Pine Meadow - the Home of Caring Hands and Hearts”.

That motto was at the forefront of Pine Meadow Nursing Home's special 20th anniversary celebration, which took place at the home in Northbrook on July 7. Though inclement weather forced the celebration indoors, staff quickly prepared the dining area for the event and members of the Land O'Lakes Garden Club served residents and guests with home-made scones with lemon curd and strawberry jam, tea and fresh lemonade. Residents and guests also enjoyed live music courtesy of Ray and Friends.

Pine Meadow resident Barbara Ellsworth emceed the ceremony, in which 18 certificates of thanks were given out to various community groups, organizations, service clubs and individuals, each of whom have played an important role at Pine Meadow. Bonnie George, administrator at the home for the past five years, stressed that the home “is truly a community owned home that has a ton of community support and volunteers.” She added, “If we were to try to thank everyone, it would be nearly impossible.”

The home has 60 residents and over 70 staff, and the densely packed events board in the main foyer highlights the many regular weekly events, which include yoga, cards, bonfires, church services, birthday parties, numerous social events and club groups. A vision statement mounted on an entrance wall of the home states the staff's vision and speaks of the staff's dedication to providing “a unique and loving environment for those in need of specialized care, recognizing and nurturing the essence and integrity of the individual while striving to be on the leading edge of the evolving needs of those we care for with a commitment to continuous quality improvements ...”

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, who received one of the 18 certificates of appreciation and who is the chair of the home's management committee, spoke about the concept of staying on the cutting edge. Clayton said the facility has continually improved over the years since it opened in 1993. It now has many updated services and amenities and that trend will continue this year with the home's slated upgrade from a "B" class to an "A" class home, a project that will cost $ 6.5 million. Clayton said that the construction upgrades would “bring more dignity to the residents by doing away with the four-bed wards, which will be replaced by double ward rooms.” The upgrades, which also include a new dining room, activity space and tub room, should take roughly 18 months and are to be completed by the summer of 2015. Mayor Clayton stated that the facility is an important one in the community since it “allows local people to stay close to their families while they receive long term care”.

Funds for the project are coming from reserves at Pine Meadow, private donations, and loans from the Ontario Infrastructure and Land Corporation. Bridge financing is being offered for the project in the interim by the Bank of Montreal.

Ernest Lapchinsky, who chairs the building committee at the home and who has been involved since 1999, said construction could begin any day now. “Right now we're just waiting day to day while Infrastructure Ontario reviews our information and all of the contracts are set to go. We're just waiting for the approval letter to arrive.”

He added, “The building committees and its various members have been very patient but diligent through the years in the hopes of getting this project going and finally it's going to happen.” He expressed his thanks to the many local organizations and community citizens involved in the project along with Extendicare Canada for their continuing support.

Following the presentations residents and guests were invited to share an anniversary cake baked specially for the occasion by Mrs. Kennedy.

The 12th annual Pine Meadow Charity Golf Tournament took place on June 22 at Hunter’s Creek Golf Club on Hwy 506 near Cloyne. This year’s tournament, as in previous years, was generously sponsored by numerous businesses and organizations in the community and raised a record $15,500. The funds are used to support the Pine Meadow Nursing Home and to help purchase items for the home that cannot be included in their regular budget.

Items purchased by funds raised over the tournament’s 12 year history have included a defibrillator, mobile shelving units, towel and blanket warmers, solo electric beds, concrete walkways in the garden area, a picnic shelter, SARA and other overhead lifts, Hi-low beds, and more. This year 70 golfers took part and goodies up for grabs included a Sterling propane barbeque donated by Snider’s Sand and Gravel, valued at $500, and a gorgeous hand-made quilt donated by the local quilting group Treadles, valued at $900. There was also a 50/50 draw, and a game of “ladder golf” in which the lucky winner took home a bar fridge donated by Smitty’s.

This year’s tourney was made even more special by the participation of the Flynn family, 12 members in all, who took part as a way to celebrate their 50 years at Lake Kashwakamak and who donated more than $500 to the cause.

Laury Hitchcock, who is part of the Pine Meadow Special Needs Committee and takes care of sponsorship for the tournament, said that the money raised this year will be used to help with monthly excursions as well as acquiring new overhead tracks and lifts.

Twelve years ago, Ernest Lapchinski, a member of the Pine Meadow Nursing Home management committee, asked Kim Harvey, who was then the administrator of the home, what kind of project would be beneficial to the home.

Kim Harvey said that what Pine Meadow most needed was an upgrade. It was a B class facility and would provide an improved environment for residents and receive more operating funding if it was an A class facility.

Lapchinski drafted Bud Clayton, who at the time was a North Frontenac Council appointee to the Pine Meadow Management Board, to join him on the redevelopment committee. Kim Harvey and Donna Anderson, who had been integrally involved in the committee that worked on building Pine Meadow back in the early ’90s, also joined the committee.

Twelve years later, Kim Harvey has moved on from Pine Meadow and Donna Anderson has passed away; but Ernest Lapchinski and Bud Clayton have been waiting all summer for final confirmation from Infrastructure Ontario that a $5.5 million loan is in place and construction can get underway.

That confirmation came in an email last Thursday, and the contractors that have been waiting patiently since their bids were accepted months ago, will be on site this week to start work.

“The whole thing will be done in stages,” said Lapchinski. “The new construction will be the first stage, and then piece by piece the existing building will be worked on and brought to a higher standard.”

In the end the new Pine Meadow will have two 32-bed wings, and it will not have any four-bed dormitory style rooms. At this point the redevelopment is only slated to have the approval to house 60 residents, the same number as it houses now.

The changes will include revamped nursing stations, as well as community-oriented facilities for a physiotherapy clinic and a satellite renal dialysis clinic. In conjunction with the local family health team and a new ambulance base, Northbrook will be even more firmly established as a hub for medical service along the Highway 41 corridor.

But it has been anything but an easy road getting there, as Ernest Lapchinski can recall all too vividly. “We went to a lot of meetings and had a lot of promises made to us, only to see the approval fall through at the last minute several times."

One of the requirements for approval was a fundraising campaign aimed at raising $300,000 locally. “We had to show the province that we had local support, and we were able to do that,” said Lapchinski.

Major support came from the County of Lennox and Addington, which kicked in $25,000 per year for 10 years. The Land O’Lakes Lions have promised $5,000 per year for 10 years. These commitments, along with a host of private donors and fundraising events, have brought in a total of close to $400,000.

About a year ago the project was set to get underway but tenders for construction came in too high. This spring the tenders came in a little lower and everything was seemingly ready to go again, but the final approval from Infrastructure Ontario ended up being delayed.

“It turned out that they had not developed a template for funding this kind of project,” Lapchinski said.

That hurdle has finally been cleared now and it's all systems go.

A formal ground breaking ceremony will take place later in October.

Ernest Lapchinski and Bud Clayton are sure to have their hands on that silver shovel. Hopefully Kim Harvey will be on hand as well, and certainly a tear or two will be shed for Donna Anderson, whose efforts over the years will not be forgotten.

Pine Meadow receives another three-year accreditation award from CARF International. CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) International is a private, non-profit organization that was founded in 1966. Its mission is to ensure quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. In the report received by Pine Meadow many strengths are listed. One of those strengths is that Pine Meadow takes customer service very seriously. This is evidenced through employee training, direct observation, statements made by the persons served and other stakeholders as well as comments by Family Council. We are very proud of our recent award and always strive for quality improvement at our Home.