Oct 12, 2017


It has been a very busy few months for the Board of Land O' Lakes Community Services & Pine Meadow Nursing Home. As promised, the results of our May/June Survey for Community Services have been tallied and studied with the outcome being as follows.

First and foremost, there was a very positive response to the existing programs overall, especially the Seniors Adult Drop-in, men's and women's groups, Meals on Wheels, and Transportation. Seasonally, the Income Tax Service, Snowsuit Fund, and Christmas Hamper programs are readily utilized. Lesser used are the Warm Toes and the Backpack programs for children, Adult Protective Services, Caregiver, and Homemaking Services.

The number one area noted as needing improvement is better communication with the people living in our coverage area. When asked how information was received, two methods stood out, word of mouth, and through the local newspaper. We are in the process of redoing our website and are exploring other ways of keeping you informed. In the mean time, we ask that you continue to check up on, visit and talk to your senior neighbours, and continue to read the paper for upcoming events.

There were also requests for adult exercise/walking programs. While there have been independent exercise programs for Seniors in both Northbrook and Denbigh, no one responded that they actually made use of these. This could be due to a lack of communication.
The lack of child/teen activity programs was certainly seen as a need in our communities. Unfortunately, we are not provincially funded for this at this time. We will continue to search for possible funding sources. Meanwhile, if you would like to organize and run after school/homework clubs, teen movie nights, or other age appropriate programs, you could talk with either the Lions Club or the school administration to see if they can accommodate you.

The Mazinaw Lake Swim Program has been operated by dedicated volunteers for the past 45 years (originally as the Marble Lake Swim Program), and has been a program of Land O' Lakes Community Services since 1985. While costs have risen, efforts have been made to keep registration fees minimal. Registration fees continue to cover only a very small percentage of the actual cost of hiring instructors, lifeguards, bus drivers and bus rental, as well as insurance. Most of the costs to run this program are raised through fundraising.

Fundraising is done for many other programs running at Community Services and Pine Meadow. All aspects of Pine Meadow, Community Services, and the Mazinaw Lake Swim Program, require volunteers to assist with programming, and until more provincial funding is allocated to rural services, we appreciate the generosity of our community to help us run these very valuable programs. We continue to explore alternative funding.

If you find you have some time to volunteer, please contact the programs you may be interested in.
We thank you very much for taking the time to participate in our survey.

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