The new Ontario “rurality index” grades community health care needs primarily on the basis of population density and their distance from hospitals and other medical services, and will likely put doctor recruitment campaigns in places like Verona at a disadvantage.

The new index is slated to streamline the system for determining what kinds of funding programs communities and clinics will be eligible for. It replaces a rurality index that was established in 2004, as well as the 40-year-old “under-serviced area” designation, which “does not make sense at all any more” according to Andrew Morrison, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.

According to a Ministry of Health media release, “The government is proposing a financial incentive program designed specifically to attract physicians to northern and rural communities. This program would combine existing physician recruitment and retention funding from the Incentive Grant and Free Tuition Programs into a single fund.”

In order to qualify for some provincially-funded incentive programs that can help communities pay bonuses to doctors and medical students they are trying to entice into their communities, a minimum score of 40 is required on the new index. Verona scores a 25 on the index, while Sharbot Lake scrapes through with a 40 and Northbrook scores 56.

John MacDougall, a member of the Verona Doctor Recruitment Committee, takes issue with the geographic boundaries that were used to come up with the designations. South Frontenac as a whole was considered.

“Sydenham might be 20 minutes from KGH, but Verona isn't,” he said, “and the Verona clinic serves patients from Godfrey and beyond who are not well served by the new index.”

Lynn Wilson, the administrator for the Rural Kingston Family Health Organisation, which includes clinics in Northbrook, Sharbot Lake, Tamworth, Verona, Newburgh and Sydenham, also takes issue with the new index, but she acknowledges that the system it is replacing was seriously flawed.

“When the rurality index popped up in 2004, it became clear that it was difficult to determine what a rural grading might be for any township. Some of the scores that were assigned made little sense. Sharbot Lake was only one point higher than Verona and Northbrook was lower. One good thing that has happened with the new designation is that Northbrook is corrected to where it should be,” she said.

The winners in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington County, Northbrook and Sharbot Lake, are also the communities whose clinics are or will become Family Health Teams, which carry a significant provincial investment, and an improved range of services, all of which are seen as helpful in doctor recruitment. This is all in addition to doctor recruitment funding that will likely flow from the rurality index.

The news is not as good for the clinics in Verona and Tamworth, both of which are staffed by doctors who would like to retire in the coming years.

“It's not going to be easy for Tamworth or Verona,” said Lynn Wilson, “but then again in Verona's case the clinic has never been eligible for many rural benefits because it has always been on the borderline of the designations. But now it will not be eligible for any at all.”

The other two rural clinics north of Kingston, in Sydenham and Newburgh, are in a better position because their doctor situation is more stable at the moment, according to Wilson. “It can become even more difficult when you consider that the majority of the family physicians coming into the field are mothers with children. They tend to want a practice with a roster of 1,200 to 1,300 patients, not the 2,400 patient rosters that retiring doctors often have. So it can take two doctors to replace one who is retiring.”

The New “Rurality Index” will be finalised soon and will be brought back to Queen's Park. The new incentive program for rural and northern doctors is slated to be in place in 2011, according to Andrew Morrison.

The Verona doctor recruitment committee is planning to announce a new phase in their campaign involving the Verona clinic in the coming weeks.

Five-year-old Dylan Walker, of Plevna and Northbrook, has been fighting cancer since being diagnosed with neuroblastoma on Remembrance Day of last year. His treatments have taken him and his parents to Kingston for months, and now to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

Dylan has been weakened by the chemotherapy, and now his treatments are getting even more painful as he undergoes stem cell therapy. He is also facing radiation therapy after that.

“He is very weak,” said his grandmother Debbie MacLeod, who has been taking care of Dylan's three-year-old sister, Emily, at her home Northbrook. “He's been so upbeat throughout all of this nightmare, but now he is feeling weak, but they say that is necessary for this treatment.”

Debbie is asking people to keep Dylan and his family in their thoughts and prayers.

There are also financial considerations, because Dylan's mom and dad have not been able to work since his ordeal began 5 months ago. Donations to help the family cover their costs can be made at any Bank of Montreal branch to a trust account that has been set up by Debbie MacLeod. Anyone wishing to donate at the Northbrook Branch of the Bank of Montreal should ask for the account of “Dylan Walker, in trust”; if donating at another branch, people should ask for the same account, but specify that it is at the Northbrook Branch.

Cheques should also be made out to “Dylan Walker, in trust” and can be mailed to the Frontenac News, Box 229, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H 2P0. We will also be accepting donations through VISA or Mastercard. Phone us at 613-279-3150 to donate.

(Information for the following was gathered from the books “The Oxen and the Axe”, and “Lennox and Addington”, which was written by Orland French, although the sections that were used here were written by Marg Axford)

Photo right: Drive the Mississippi, courtesy The Oxen and the Axe

It takes about 45 minutes to drive the roughly 65 kilometres between Kaladar and Denbigh on Highway 41. Starting with the push up Kaladar Hill, the route meanders through rocky, swampy ground until it passes through Northbrook. It then passes over rolling hills, passes along the shoreline of Mazinaw Lake and then heads over hillier and hillier vistas until it reaches Denbigh Lake.

Highway 41 follows pretty much the same route that was laid out by the Perry brothers (Aylesworth B. and Ebenezer) back in 1854 when they oversaw the building of the Addington (a.k.a. Perry) Road. The new road opened up the “back” country to enhance the logging industry and encourage settlement on lands that were thought to have the makings of good farmland.

In the 19th century, the trip along the old Addington Road from Kaladar to Denbigh took the better part of two days to complete. In the book “Lennox and Addington” (Orland French – 2010) the trip is described in the following way: “It was a tiring and sometimes painful experience, up and down endless hills, over bumpy corduroy and around rocks and massive tree stumps.”

There was an easier route to the west, along a well-established Aboriginal trail that ran near the shoreline of the Skootamatta River as far as Flinton.

The region, which had remained in the same state for thousands of years, had been severely impacted by economic interests long before the Addington Road was built. In the 1830s and '40s, drawn by the abundance of white and red pine, logging companies came to the region and they found they could send logs to markets in several directions.

Mazinaw Lake is a headwater lake for the Mississippi River system, draining into the Ottawa River. Skootamatta Lake is a headwater lake for the Moira River system, which drains into Lake Ontario. Just south of Mazinaw, Story Lake is a headwater lake for the Salmon River, which also drains into Lake Ontario, while to the north at Denbigh the lakes drain into the Madawaska River.

This made for a number of water routes for logs to travel to sawmills at major centres, and the seemingly endless supply of lumber from what are now Addington Highlands and North Frontenac townships was decimated by the early years of the 20th century.

With the development of the Addington Road later on, settlement in the area was encouraged for farming purposes, under the mistaken belief that once the pines were gone the land left behind would be rich farmland. But with the trees went whatever topsoil had built up over the granite rock since the last ice age, leaving several generations of settlers with a hard rock existence, trying to eke out a living from an unforgiving land.

Until the loggers left, struggling farmers were able to sell goods to the logging camps, and pick up seasonal work logging as well, but the 20th century brought hard times to the settlements along the Addington Road/Hwy. 41 corridor, although the return of logging with the building of the Sawyer-Stoll sawmill and company town, which was a major employer between the 1930s and 1960s, provided some economic relief.

With rock comes prospecting, and there have been several attempts to establish mines in the region. The Golden Fleece mine near Flinton was started up in 1881 and remained in operation until 1940, but was never a particularly lucrative property because of low-grade ore. Two smaller gold mines, the Star of the East and Ore Chimney mines, were established in 1903 and 1902 respectively in Barrie Township near Cloyne, but never had much success. Near Denbigh, the Jewell Ruby mine was established. It was the dream-child of J.H. Jewell of Toronto and garnets were the rubies that were being sought, but again the grade of the ore was less than ideal. For a time the low-grade garnets were a viable commodity for use in sandpaper, but eventually even that demand dried up.

Tourism has turned out to be a more viable economic activity in the region, with the same lakes and woodlands that drew the interest of lumbermen a century earlier drawing the attention of canoeists, hunters and fishers, summer cottagers and campers.

The foundation of the tourism industry in the region had an unlikely early boost in the mid-1890s from an Ohio dentist's honeymoon. Although Dr. Weston Price lived and worked in Cleveland, he was originally from Newburgh.

The Prices spent their honeymoon camping in the shadow of Mazinaw Rock on the narrows of Mazinaw Lake, near the Tapping family farm. They became so enamoured with the place that they purchased the land around the narrows and built the Bon Echo Inn by the end of 1899. The Inn attracted wealthy tourists from the United States and Canada and gave the region a profile in major cities throughout the Eastern Seaboard. The Inn was sold to Flora MacDonald in 1910. MacDonald was an ardent spiritualist and admirer of Walt Whitman, and although Whitman never visited Bon Echo, she went so far as to have a memorial to him chiselled on the Mazinaw/Bon Echo Rock on the occasion of his centenary in 1919. After Flora died her son Merrill Denison inherited the hotel, and during the 1920s it became a host to members of the Group of Seven and others.

As it turns out, just last week an Arthur Lismer painting called “Bon Echo Rock” sold for $778,750 at a Sotheby's art auction, demonstrating the enduring public fascination with the Group of 7 and Bon Echo.

The depression put an end to a prosperous decade for the hotel, which burned down in 1935. Merrill Denison continued to spend summers at Bon Echo and he was involved in the conversion of his property, and other surrounding lands, into Bon Echo Provincial Park, which to this day remains the singular most popular tourist destination on Highway 41.

KALADAR – Transportation Hub

Photo right: The kaladar Hotel, c1925, courtesy The Oxen and the Axe

The history of the village of Kaladar is connected to the era of motorized transport. Until the Canadian Pacific Railway came through in 1884, there was only sporadic settlement in the area, but with the arrival of the railroad, lumber began to be transported to Kaladar to be loaded onto rail cars. The first post office was established at the start of 1885. For 30 years after that, there were a number of jobs, both manual labour and office jobs, available in Kaladar with the railroad and lumber companies. The CPR shifted its focus to the south in 1915, building a line on Lake Ontario, and with the lumber industry having already fallen, Kaladar suffered. When Highways 7 and 41 were built in the ‘30s, the good times returned, and commercial ventures sprung up at the north end of the village on the highway. There were several garages in Kaladar in the 1950s and the Kaladar Hotel, which had been moved to the edge of Highway 7, thrived. The hotel closed in 2007. The Kaladar Planing Mill, a division of the Sawyer Stoll Company, operated in Kaladar until 1968.

Among the businesses that have come and gone in Kaladar, Bence Motors, founded in 1946, continues to operate as a family-run Ford dealership, garage and service centre. The Kaladar Public School, which was closed in 1971 when North Addington Education Centre in Cloyne was opened, was sold to the Kaladar Community Club. The club, which was founded in 1944, took possession of the Kaladar Community Centre on its 30th anniversary year in 1974. By making judicious use of government grants, the club has been refurbished a couple of times since then, and a youth centre was added in the early 2000s. It is also the headquarters of the Land O'Lakes Tourist Association, which was also founded locally in the 1940s.

Glenda Bence was the president of the association when the centre was established in 1974, and remained in that position until her death in 2007.

To this day, as the population is scattered throughout the countryside, the Kaladar Community Centre is the glue that knits the community together.

NORTHBROOK

Northbrook is a community that owes its existence to the Addington Road. Until the road was built, Glastonbury, located to the east along what is now Glastonbury Road, being located on Beaver Creek, was the site of the local mill, and other commerce built up around it. The two communities were both active until the school in Glastonbury burned down in the 1920s and a new one was built in Northbrook. Some of the businesses that have made Northbrook the commercial and administrative centre of the township of Addington Highlands today, were originally started up by families that are still prominent in the local community. Cas and Lulu Thompson started a grocery store in 1915, a business that was later purchased by Alf and Lulu Northey, who added it to their undertaking business. In the 1950s, John Bolton senior ran the major tourist hotel in Northbrook.

In the 1990s, community members teamed up with Land O'Lakes Community Services to obtain government approval and support to build the Pine Meadow Nursing Home. Today, the nursing home is the largest employer in the town, and is working hard on upgrading its services. This will not only secure Pine Meadow’s existence and provincial funding well into the future, it will also build on the home’s role as a health care centre. The recent announcement that the Northbrook Medical Clinic will become a Family Health Team underpins the role of Northbrook as a centre for medical and social services.

Although it sparked a certain amount of controversy, a stop light was put in by the Ministry of Transportation at the corner of Hwy. 41 and Peterson Road a couple of years ago, right in the middle of Northbrook where the Foodland and Bank of Montreal branches are located. The stoplight was put in to address the needs of seniors who live up the road at the Pineview Seniors apartments, but as the only traffic light on Hwy. 41, it marks the central role that Northbrook has established for itself in the region. Not bad for a town that once was called Dunham and only boasted 25 inhabitants.

FLINTON 

Photo right: The Skootamatta River at Flinton

Its location on the Skootamatta River made Flinton a settlement earlier than any other village in what is now Addington Highlands. In fact there is archaeological evidence that it was a seasonal Aboriginal settlement before the coming of European immigrants. Before roads were built and the land grant system was set up in the latter half of the 19th century, squatters made their way along an ancient trail on the route that is now County Road 29 between Flinton and Actinolite.

There is also a possibility that Samuel Champlain spent a winter on the Skootamatta River at Flinton, although he may have been further to the southwest on the Moira.

In the 1850s, a Belleville-based entrepreneur and future member of the Canadian senate, Billa Flint, built a grist and sawmill in what became known as Flints Mills. In 1859 the town was named Flinton and 98 small building lots were laid out in a grid formation along seven streets, forming a core village that remains intact to this day.

Unlike much of the land along the Hwy. 41 corridor, there was some reasonable farmland in the vicinity of Flinton, and a number of families raised sheep, but wolves/coyotes were a constant problem.

When the lumber industry collapsed early in the 20th century it hit Flinton harder than some other communities because Flinton is located several kilometres west of the Addington Road (and later, Hwy. 41). The Stewart Hotel, which was built just outside of the village boundary when Billa Flint was still a force (Flint maintained Flinton as a dry town) burned down in 1989.

No longer a centre for business and commerce, Flinton remains a population and recreation centre thanks to the existence of Flinton Recreation Centre and the fact that the Flinton Recreation Club is alive and kicking. Flinton is the location of a thriving Jamboree on the August long weekend, and as of this week, has also become the regional host village for the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

CLOYNE 

Photo right: Wheelers Store, Cloyne, courtesy Cloyne Historical Society

When North Addington Education Centre opened in 1971, it established Cloyne as an education and training centre. The village also is the home of the Pioneer Museum and is the closest centre to Bon Echo Park, which brings a steady flow of people through Cloyne all year round.

In addition to the tourist population, seasonal residents on Mazinaw, Skootamatta, Marble, and Mississagagon lakes spend up to five months a year living in the vicinity. Cloyne is unique among the villages along Hwy. 41 in that it straddles two townships (and two counties as well) and is the hub community for the Barrie ward of North Frontenac Township, as well as being one of the largest population centres in Addington Highlands.

The Irish heritage of many of the early settlers in Cloyne is reflected in its name, which is taken from a Village in County Cork, Ireland.

The first post office in Cloyne was opened in 1859, and the village grew quickly after that. The first hotel, the Wickware Hotel (which burned down in 1963) was built in 1864. The first school was opened in 1868 and a number of other trades and businesses necessary for a self-sufficient village in the 19th century (blacksmith shop, general store, etc.) all followed in due course. Many families that continue to be active in Cloyne today can trace their routes to pioneer days. For example, there are a number of Sniders in Cloyne today, and they can trace their family heritage back to Charles Snider, who built a sawmill and log slide on Marble Lake at the end of what is now Head Road. The business was sold to Peter McLaren (of the McLaren/Caldwell feud that is so prominent in the logging history of Lanark County). Although Charles returned to his home in Ernestown, three of his sons so preferred the rugged life in the 'back' country of the north to the easy life in the 'front' country to the south, that they stayed behind.

Today Cloyne is a centre for the building trade, as seasonal residents continually upgrade their cottages and year-round homes. There are three hardware/building supply stores in the vicinity of the village (Cloyne Home Hardware, Hook’s Rona, and Yourway Lumber) as well as numerous trades-people. Within the village itself, Cloyne Village Foods, Nowell Motors, and Grand’s Store are all going concerns.

DENBIGH - A community that stands alone

Photo right: The Denbigh Grist Mill, courtesy The Oxen and the Axe

In pioneer days the people who settled in Denbigh found that anything they could not make themselves or access locally was basically out of reach, unless they were able to travel for several days over rough terrain to Renfrew, or to the south on the Addington Road.

This led to a spirit of self-sufficiency, and at the turn of the 20th century there were a number of blacksmiths, a very busy grist mill, hotels, two churches and two stores in Denbigh to serve the population. A description of life in Denbigh in 1900 that was reprinted in the Oxen and the Axe illustrates what life and travel were like back then: “They used to gather all the produce that could be spared in the fall and drive to Renfrew to trade. They had butter in 90 pound firkins or in prints, potatoes, grain, beef, pigs, geese and wool in fleece and spun into yarn. The journey took three days down and back They traded their produce for sugar, flour, and meal by the hundred pound bag to do them a year.”

Until 1903, Denbigh had a lot of competition as a centre from the village of Vennachar, which is located only a few kilometres away, but a massive fire decimated Vennachar, and Denbigh has been a larger centre ever since. Not that Denbigh is large; it has 176 year-round households along with many seasonal residences on Denbigh, Ashby, and other smaller lakes. But the community is tightly knit, and community events are often better attended than those in communities ten times as large.

Located as it is at the junction of Highways 41 and 28, at the very top of Lennox and Addington (L&A), Denbigh is also somewhat isolated politically. Denbigh residents are understandably more oriented to Renfrew County, which is on its doorstep, than to L&A County, which has its administrative centre 90 minutes away in Napanee.

On Halloween night, October 31, students from North Addington Education Centre canvassed the community in their costumes; not for candy or treats, but for non-perishable food items. Students and adults were stationed in Flinton, Northbrook, and Cloyne. The response was overwhelming. Most homes had a bag or box of food ready, and were not reluctant to contribute to the community. The event and pick up were supervised by a staff member.

In total, students collected approximately 700 items, which will help the food bank through the winter season. Darian Asselstine, an NAEC student, said, “I couldn’t believe how much fun I had! A lot of people recognized the Campbell’s soup can costumes right away”. School Council chair Sarah Collins said, “I want to do it again next year- I think the supervising adults had just as much fun as the kids.” The items were then taken over to the food bank and unloaded by some of the grade 10 Careers and Civics students.

While this event helped stock the shelves, the winter and holiday seasons are a busy time for the food bank. An attempt was made to go to as many houses as possible, but if your donation was missed, please call North Addington at 613-336-8991 and ask for Candice Bovard; we will pick up your item(s). For those requiring assistance, please contact Land O’ Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934. Those wishing to donate food, please call Karen Anderson at 613-391-1408 (leave a message if there is no answer).

Angela Salmond, the principal of NAEC, was excited to show her support for the event: “I am so proud of our students and would like to extend my thanks to their families and the community. Our students are able to contribute because of the support we receive from the community. The kids are happy and the shelves are full; that is success. Thank you for investing in our students - I am very grateful.”

 Under a bright sky and a brisk, chilly wind parade goers lined Highway 41 in Northbrook for the annual Santa Claus parade on November 24. Sponsored by the Land O'Lakes Lions and the Kaladar Community Club, the parade began with a spritely and impressive version of Frosty the Snowman courtesy of the RCSCC marching band. Judging by the thrilled faces of the youngsters who filled the curb sides and collected treats from the numerous colorful floats, the parade did not disappoint. Photo: members of the local Brownie troop enjoyed participationg in the parade.

The cold wind on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 24 provided the perfect environment for Santa’s return to Northbrook.

Together, the members of the Land O’ Lakes Lions and Kaladar Community Clubs coordinated another successful Santa Claus Parade. The annual parade has become a shared venture by the two clubs in recent years, alternating between the communities of Northbrook and Kaladar. The residents of Northbrook, especially those residing at the Pine Meadow Nursing Home, were very happy that their village was hosting this year.

At 10 a.m. the OPP blocked of a section of Highway 41, allowing parade participants the opportunity to delight young and old with Christmas joy. Parade Grand Marshall Lion Ric Godard organized numerous floats and marching groups. Among those represented were Land O’ Lakes Community Services, the township of North Frontenac, local Cadet Corps, 1st Cloyne Girl Guides, and many more.

The parade route wove around by the local nursing home, allowing all its residents an opportunity to enjoy the holiday event. The procession finished at the Land O’ Lakes Lions Community Hall, were Santa continued to spread his joy to the children of the community by listening to their wishes and giving out treats and advent calendars. For all those who attended, spectators, volunteers, and participants, members of the Kaladar Community Club served donuts and hot chocolate. The warmth inside the hall was shown through the smiles on all the faces.

Land O’ Lakes Lions president, Marilyn Bolender, greeted and thanked all those in attendance, and announced the winners of the float contest; 1st to Yourway Home Centre, 2nd Land O’ Lakes Emmanuel United Church, and 3rd to Land O’ Lakes Horticultural Society.

The Land O’ Lakes Lions would like to thank generous donations by COFA (Conservationists of Frontenac and Addington), the Township of Addington Highlands, and the Township of North Frontenac towards the 2012 Santa Claus Parade.

 Under a bright sky and a brisk, chilly wind parade goers lined Highway 41 in Northbrook for the annual Santa Claus parade on November 24. Sponsored by the Land O'Lakes Lions and the Kaladar Community Club, the parade began with a spritely and impressive version of Frosty the Snowman courtesy of the RCSCC marching band. Judging by the thrilled faces of the youngsters who filled the curb sides and collected treats from the numerous colorful floats, the parade did not disappoint. Photo: members of the local Brownie troop enjoyed participationg in the parade.

The cold wind on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 24 provided the perfect environment for Santa’s return to Northbrook.

Together, the members of the Land O’ Lakes Lions and Kaladar Community Clubs coordinated another successful Santa Claus Parade. The annual parade has become a shared venture by the two clubs in recent years, alternating between the communities of Northbrook and Kaladar. The residents of Northbrook, especially those residing at the Pine Meadow Nursing Home, were very happy that their village was hosting this year.

At 10 a.m. the OPP blocked of a section of Highway 41, allowing parade participants the opportunity to delight young and old with Christmas joy. Parade Grand Marshall Lion Ric Godard organized numerous floats and marching groups. Among those represented were Land O’ Lakes Community Services, the township of North Frontenac, local Cadet Corps, 1st Cloyne Girl Guides, and many more.

The parade route wove around by the local nursing home, allowing all its residents an opportunity to enjoy the holiday event. The procession finished at the Land O’ Lakes Lions Community Hall, were Santa continued to spread his joy to the children of the community by listening to their wishes and giving out treats and advent calendars. For all those who attended, spectators, volunteers, and participants, members of the Kaladar Community Club served donuts and hot chocolate. The warmth inside the hall was shown through the smiles on all the faces.

Land O’ Lakes Lions president, Marilyn Bolender, greeted and thanked all those in attendance, and announced the winners of the float contest; 1st to Yourway Home Centre, 2nd Land O’ Lakes Emmanuel United Church, and 3rd to Land O’ Lakes Horticultural Society.

The Land O’ Lakes Lions would like to thank generous donations by COFA (Conservationists of Frontenac and Addington), the Township of Addington Highlands, and the Township of North Frontenac towards the 2012 Santa Claus Parade.

RFP for new office/fire hall complex: While they are not exactly at the groundbreaking stage just yet, Addington Highlands Council has taken the next step in a process that may lead to the construction of a township office and fire hall on a lot that the township has purchased on Hwy. 41 south of Northbrook (next to Addison’s Restaurant). The space requirements submitted by township and fire staff and council have been included in a Request For Proposal for a site drawing of the proposed building. Once a design is accepted, the project will be costed, and Council will then be tasked with finding the money for it.

$13,000 for Denbigh Community Centre – Council approved $13,000 in spending on the new community centre in Denbigh. Councilor Tony Fritsch said that the project has been progressing well thus far. Council appointed a two-member committee to oversee the Lakelands Family Health Team locations in Northbrook and Denbigh.

Joint Fire Board meeting cancelled, Reeve Hogg perturbed: “I was rather perturbed because they didn’t choose to consult with us,” said Reeve Henry Hogg about an email he received from North Frontenac Council last month cancelling a scheduled meeting this week of the Joint Fire Board, which oversees the Kaladar/Barrie Fire Department, which serves both townships.

“I am the chair of the Joint Fire Board, so I should be the one who cancels a meeting, but I guess we’ll have to re-schedule,” he added.

Fire department busy – Fire Chief Casey Cuddy reported that so far in 2011, his department has responded to 112 fire calls, up from 97 at the same point last year. “There have been number of brush fires this summer, but fortunately they have been small ones,” Cuddy said, adding, “we are looking forward to the cooler fall weather.”

Dumping request – The new owner of a property on Hwy 41, formerly owned by the late Winnie Gutsell, has requested that the township waive the dumping fees for 50 trailer loads of material that is lying out on the property.

“If you start doing this for one person, it will spread” said Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath.

“The only thing is we want the property cleaned up,” said Councillor Adam Snider. “What if we waive the tipping fee for up to five loads, a $150 maximum.”

(One trailer costs $30 to dump)

Council accepted Snider’s proposal.

Northpoint Square in Northbrook is for sale, and owner Murry Northey attended the meeting in Denbigh to give council information about the complex, which contains several offices, since the township is looking to establish a new office/fire hall complex in or near Northbrook.

Council considered a request from two teachers from NAEC (North Addington Education Centre) for a $2000 grant to buy equipment for an Outdoor Learning Centre, which they are hoping to establish at the school. Councilor Helen Yanch said that while she thinks the proposal is a good one, she does not think that the township should be paying for it, but that the Limestone School Board has to step up to the plate. Deputy Reeve Bill Cox brought forward a motion to deny the request for the money, which was defeated in a 2-2 vote, with Yanch and Cox voting for and Councilors Tony Fritsch and Adam Snider voting against it. Reeve Henry Hogg did not vote in that round.

Councilor Fritsch then brought forward a motion to give $1,000 as a one-time grant to the project, and in a recorded vote, with Reeve Hogg and Councilors Fritsch and Snider voting for, and Yanch and Cox against, the motion passed.

Council denied a request for $1,000 from the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association to support their upcoming Vision awards.

Council discussed a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Northbrook municipal building/firehall project. Councilor Fritsch requested that plans for a covered parking area in the RFP be removed as an unjustifiable expenditure. Deputy Reeve Cox also asked if air-conditioning would be needed in the whole building, and Fire Chief Casey Cuddy, who was in attendance at the meeting, replied that it would not be needed in the truck bays. With those and some other amendments, council voted to proceed with the draft, which will come back to council for further consideration before being put out.

Two requests were received for the township to assist with maintenance on the Hunt Road and Cross Lake Road, which are unmaintained township roads. Councilor Snider suggested that if the property owners were willing to share half of the costs, “It would be hard to say no” to the requests. However, except for Councilor Yanch, the other councilors felt that the township should obtain cost estimates first. Helen Yanch said that up until the last few years the roads had been “reasonably maintained”. Roads Superintendent Royce Rosenblath confirmed that in the past work had been done on a case-by-case basis, but a few terms of council back, he had been instructed not to do any work on roads that were not in the roads system.

Council voted to obtain cost estimates for the requested roadwork.

Council acceded to a request to waive dump fees for a cleanup of Skootamatta Lake.

Royce Rosenblath said that some people are still bringing black garbage bags to the waste sites – 20 bags were brought in recently - and asked if council could write letters to the parties in question reminding them that the township only accepts clear garbage bags. Council agreed.

Council awarded a tender for a tanker replacement for the Denbigh fire station, for $183,739, to the Dependable Truck Company. The price includes ULC certification.

The contractor who is presently working on the Northbrook Fire Hall had also won the tender for repairs to the Denbigh Fire Hall; however, he has since doubled his quote for one of the items. Fire Chief Cuddy asked if the tender could be awarded to the next highest bidder; however, council decided that the only fair way to proceed would be to re-tender the project. The tender already has been put out twice, as there were no bidders the first time around.

After hearing two presentations concerning the need to keep the Denbigh ambulance service, Lennox and Addington County deferred a proposal to begin the process of finding a location for a new base in the Northbrook/Cloyne vicinity.

The Northbrook base, which is located in a rental property, must be vacated within two years, and in a report to Council, County Emergency Services staff recommended “engaging the services of an architect to assist staff and council in determining the land requirements”, and at the same time make landowners with suitable properties located between Northbrook and Cloyne aware that the County is looking to buy property.

“Isn’t this is a little premature, given that the Denbigh base is not yet decided?” asked Bill Cox, a member of L&A County Council from Addington Highlands. A motion to defer consideration of the staff report was accepted and the matter will return at the September 14 county meeting in Napanee.

Janice Powell, Executive Director of the Lakelands Family Health Team, which is based in Northbrook and operates a satellite clinic in Denbigh, made the first presentation.

She started by saying: “The Denbigh ambulance was started in 1982 by the province because it was necessary. The need has not gone away.”

She then took exception to a claim that was made in a consultant’s report, which was received by the County in June. The report, by the IBI group, recommended shutting the Denbigh base and opening a new base in Loyalist Township.

The report is an update of a report from 2008, and claims that the addition of the Family Health Team to Addington Highlands is an improvement in service that will alleviate the impact of the closing the ambulance base.

“The Lakelands Family Health Team is a family practice which focuses on chronic care. Neither the main site nor the satellite in Denbigh offer emergency clinics,” she said. “It is somewhat deceiving that the IBI group cites Lakelands in the context of an emergency services report … we request that all references to Lakelands be removed from the report.”

She added that if the Denbigh base is removed, “Ambulance response times will be greater than 30 minutes, 80 per cent of the time. The survival of patients rostered to the Family Health Team hangs in the balance.”

In her presentation, Vennachar resident Rosemary O’Connor said, “I find it strangely curious that a consultant who failed to consult the stakeholders has recommended that an ambulance base be closed. The very thought of closure leaves me filled with dread.”

She went on to describe how her husband Barney developed post-stroke seizure syndrome in 1998, and ended up requiring ambulance calls on several occasions for transport to Victoria Hospital in Renfrew.

“The first time I called he was in very bad shape. The response time from Denbigh was very good, but it was touch and go when we got to the hospital. The second time was good also, but on the third call the ambulance came from Northbrook and it took a long time. If that first ambulance had come 30 minutes later than it did, he might well have died in the ambulance. Fifteen years later Barney is still here with us, able to live at home and enjoy a reasonably good quality of life.”

Before moving forward with any planning for a new base in Northbrook, Emergency Services have been requested to prepare a response to the presentations by Janice Powell and Rosemary O’Connor.

Photo: Anne Wilson (centre) flanked by North Frontenac Deputy Mayor Fred Perry (left) and Addington HighlandsReeve Henry Hogg (right) and staff from the family Health Team, family members and members of council.

Anne Wilson did not go in for rural family medicine in order to be in the limelight.

“I really don't like to have my picture taken,” said Wilson, who is currently a resident with the St. Michael's Family Health Team in Toronto, but was in Northbrook in December to sign a five-year contract with the Lakelands Family Health Team.

She was greeted by most of the members of North Frontenac and Addington Highlands Council, along with a number of newspaper reporters, who all witnessed as the townships each committed $15,000 per year for five years as an incentive for a new doctor to join the new Northbrook-based team. Wilson will begin practicing at the Lakelands Family Health Team on July 1, 2012, and is committed to remaining at least until July 1, 2017.

Wilson is no stranger to life in small town Ontario, and she has a local connection as well. She grew up in Havelock, and has relatives who have moved to the Cloyne area. She did a practicum at the Northbrook clinic last summer. “I really enjoyed my time here last summer, and family medicine in a rural practice is what I want to do. And I want to work in a group practice,” she said.

During her residency she has been involved in a large inner city group practice in Toronto, where she has been doing work in family medicine, as well as geriatrics, surgery and trauma.

“This is a great day for us,” said Doctor Tobia of the Lakelands Family Health Team, “it ensures medical services in our region for years to come.”

The announcement was the culmination of a process that began several years ago, when Doctor Tobia approached the neighbouring townships about setting up a doctor recruitment campaign. Eventually, a medical services committee was formed. The committee worked with Doctor Tobia in an application for a Family Health Team, which will bring funding for a basket of services in Northbrook. As part of that process, the Township of Addington Highlands purchased the Northbrook clinic from Doctor Tobia.

For Anne Wilson, the existence of the Health Team and the support it offers, seems to have been as important as the cash incentive. “The staff here were so helpful when I was here last summer. This will be a great place to work,” she said.

Anne Wilson will probably do another practicum in Northbrook this spring. She will start her practice when her residency in Toronto ends, in July of 2012.