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The one constant at Fairmount Home, through all its renovations and changes, from a 96-bed municipal home for the aged, to a Class D and then a Class A nursing home with 128 beds, has been the smiling face of Mary Lake.

As director of care, Lake has watched over the residents at Fairmount through all those years, and she will retire at the end of this week.

“I literally grew up in long-term care,” she said in an interview on Monday. Not only has she worked in long-term care for over 40 years, she started working summers in a nursing home when she was a young teenager.

“My grandmother owned the Picton Manor, and as soon as school let out each summer I would head over there to work. I changed beds, did cleaning, whatever was needed.”

A lifelong Frontenac County resident, Mary Lake was raised at Elginburg (in what was then Pittsburgh Township), where she attended public school. She went to Sydenham High School, and then studied Nursing at the Kingston General Hospital (KGH) School of Nursing. After graduating in 1972, she took a job at KGH.

In 1974, she started working as a long-term care nurse, and aside from a short stint at Kingston's Prison for Women in 1984 (as a nurse not an inmate) she has remained working in long-term care ever since.

She took on the job of director of care at the municipally owned Fairmount Home for the Aged in 1987.

She has seen a lot of changes at Fairmount over the years. When she first started there, the home was licensed, and funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services, not the Ministry of Health, which now oversees all long-term care facilities under a single set of rules under the Long Term Care Act of 2007.

“We were a country home, and we served the residents of Frontenac County mostly, at that time. The care we delivered was always excellent, but the facility was not what it was today,” she said.

All of the rooms at Fairmount had two beds, and the rooms did not have private bathrooms or showers. It was more of a dormitory-style facility with a single dining room for all 96 residents.

Improvements to the level of care came with new standards of care in the 1990s. As director of care, Lake was in charge of operations at the home, including nursing and personal support workers as well as all of the support staff in the home. The administration of Fairmount was taken care of by Frontenac County. She helped the home maintain its reputation as a caring facility, for families and residents to feel safe and well supported.

When municipal amalgamation took place in the late 1990s, Frontenac County decided to keep Fairmount Home, even though its location was becoming subsumed by the City of Kingston when it annexed Pittsburgh and Kingston Townships.

The Chief Administrators of the new County, first Bob Foulds and later Elizabeth Savill, became administrators of Fairmount, giving Mary Lake someone to report directly to.

When all long-term care facilities started to come under the same set of standards and regulations, Fairmount was designated as a Class D facility because of the physical limitations of the home. It was faced with a choice to upgrade or close, and this led to a long, sometimes difficult, set of negotiations with the City of Kingston and the province, funding partners of Fairmount, over plans to renovate.

The $17 million upgrade eventually got underway in 2003, and this led to a challenging period for Lake as director of care, ensuring that residents were well cared for and as well prepared as possible for the changes that took place.

“Through attrition we dropped to 78 beds, and when the new section was completed, the residents all moved there as the old section was completely retrofitted. In 2004 everything was complete and we became the 128-bed facility that we are today,” said Lake.

Once the new state of the art facility was complete, a new challenge faced Mary Lake.

“We had to get used to the change, and change is difficult, even positive change. We lost our culture of care for a while when the new Fairmount opened. Our staff took some time to transition, but we worked hard at it and we got it back. It took about a year,” she said.

Aside from the physical changes in the early 2000s, the home also acquired a full time administrator. Under the regulations, Class A municipal homes must have a full time administrator and full time director of care.

“If I ever wanted to be an administrator,” Lake said, "I would have been one, but I always wanted to be involved in the service end of things. I never wanted to have any other job than the one I kept.”

Ironically, however, that is the role she is retiring from. She has been filling in for Julie Shillington, the full time administrator, who has been on a leave of absence for health reasons and will not return until later this year.

As Lake looks back at her career, she says that while tightened up regulations were a good change in long term care, the ministry has gone too far, leaving homes with more concerns about rules and less time for care.

“They have really gone too far with regulations, because there isn't enough staff available to cover all the requirements and still provide the kind of care that we all want to provide. That is why we came into long term care in the first place, not just to comply with regulations but because we want to provide care,” she said.

Another issue faced by the home is the push for ageing at home, which Lake said is a good thing. However it has meant that people do not come into care until they are at a point where their needs are greater. As well, there is pressure on Fairmount, and other homes, to provide care for patients with mental health issues that are more severe than the home can handle.

“There is a gap in the health care system for these people and they get shuffled around,” she said.

One of Mary Lake's major professional and volunteer interests is providing service to those suffering from dementia. Many of the residents at Fairmount have dementia of varying forms and levels of severity. The home has a wing devoted to those with advanced dementia.

She has been a board member for years with the Alzheimer's Society and has volunteered with Southern Frontenac Community Services to run Alzheimer's support services.

“It is very trying on families, on other residents at Fairmount, and of course on those with dementia themselves and the staff who care for them,” she said, “but we have learned. The drugs are better and the techniques for helping people have advanced over the years,” she said.

While she said she has no plans for retirement other than a summer at the cottage, it will be impossible for her to stay completely away from her calling. She expects that by next fall she will be looking for a part-time volunteer role doing something.

No doubt it will involve looking after people in some capacity or another.

Published in 150 Years Anniversary

There is nothing like the sound of young singers to put a smile on your face. That was the case for residents at the Fairmount home in Glenburnie, who were treated to a performance by the Elginburg Public School Choir on May 14.

Melissa Clyde, who is one of two recreation planners employed at the home, said that intergenerational programming is one way to get youngsters together with residents at the home. In this case it was the school who contacted Clyde's associate Katie Johnson, asking if they could come and perform for the residents.

The choir, which consists of 38 students from grades two through seven, sang an impressive and lively repertoire under the direction of Jennifer Guild, who teaches grade three at the school. The choir performed seven songs that included a number of their own personal favorites, including “Firework” and “Roar” by Katy Perry, Serena Ryder's “Sing, Sing”, The Trews' “Highway of Heroes” and Cindy Lauper's 1980s classic “True Colours”.

The choir often performs Christmas concerts at local seniors’ homes and Guild said that it was the choir members themselves who asked to sing at the Fairmount Home this time around. Guild herself has been singing since she was in grade four. She attended a performing arts school in Sudbury and has studied music privately since then. She has been heading up the Elginburg choir for the last six years and said that she believes strongly that music gives children “a great and very positive way to express themselves”. Guild says she makes a habit of trying to chose songs that are inspirational and ones that the students are familiar with and enjoy singing.

The concert wrapped up with a special guest appearance by Kingston singer/songwriter Emily Fennell who, with the help of the choir performed one of her latest songs titled “Love, War, Hope, Change” from her newest CD, “Rise”. The song is one of two that she will be performing with the Elginburg choir at her upcoming CD release concert, where she will be performing with her full band, which includes Gord Sinclair and Rob Baker from the Tragically Hip. The family-friendly concert will take place on Friday May 30 at 7:30pm at the Ambassador Hotel at in Kingston.

Fennell said she chose the Elginburg choir to perform with her since she “fell in love with their sound” when she heard them perform years ago when her daughter was a member. She said she likes to give youth interested in music an opportunity to perform in front of an audience. “These kind of opportunities for young singers are few and far between and are experiences they can learn from and will remember for a life time.”

Tickets for the upcoming concert are $15 for adults, $10 for children and are available at the Taylor Auto Mall at 2440 Princess Street in Kingston.

Residents of the Fairmount Home thoroughly enjoyed the performance and resident June Gamble, who has three grandchildren and six great grand children of her own, said, “You can always count on youngsters to steal the show.” Resident Georgina Smith agreed and said that it's always a treat to hear the voices of young singers.

 

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 12 February 2014 19:00

Frontenac County Taxes Headed Up By 2.5%

Frontenac County will be taking more money from ratepayers in 2014 than it did in 2013

It won't be finalized until later this month, but after four sessions, Frontenac County Council is set to vote on a budget that is little changed from the one originally presented to them by Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen.

In December, Council passed a motion asking for two versions of the 2015 budget, one with a 1% increase, and one with a 1% decrease.

What they received, and this caused some friction, was a budget that included an increase of over 3.5%, with some proposed costs for Council to discuss.

“I'm confused and disappointed by this,” said South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison. “Maybe I missed something but we asked for 1%. Were there no meetings of senior managers to look for small savings in their budgets?”

“We brought items forward for you to discuss in closed and open session which would have brought that outcome about. You are aware that we started in a bit of a hole because last year $150,000 was taken from reserves to keep the levy down, which is not something that is sustainable as a budgeting practice,” replied Vanbruinessen.

“I suppose it was wishful thinking on our part, but we were hoping that staff could find a way to get the budget to where we wanted it without cutting service,” said North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis.

Among the cuts that Vanbruinessen proposed was the option of turning down a request for an extra $10,000 from Frontenac Transportation Services, but Council left the money in. Another option was to delete $12,700 for an end of term warden's reception; however that was cut to $5,000.

Although the bulk of the proposed cuts, none of which were approved, were discussed in lengthy closed session meetings, it did slip out in open session that one of them was to close the Wolfe Island ambulance base. This did not happen.

As well, sources indicated that downgrading some management staff in the county administration, which would have meant pay cuts for the people in those positions, was also on the table.

Vanbruinessen did find some savings and brought the budget from its initial 3.5% impact to 2.5%. She also said that growth, mostly in South Frontenac, would cover 1.5% of the increase, leaving the final increase at only 1% over growth.

The County budget represents about 20% of property taxation. The county increase is trending lower than the increase in most Frontenac township budgets. Central Frontenac and South Frontenac are both sitting at increases in the range of 5% and North Frontenac is just now starting to look at their 2014 budget. The county rate, at 2.5% along with a flat increase in education taxes, will end up tempering the cost for ratepayers in 2014.

Reserves freed up

While some members of council did not feel they had much success in reining in the 2014 budget, council did get a chance to deal with the state of the county's reserves. Of the 30 reserve funds the county has for various purposes, there are a half a dozen that have become larger than was ever intended. So, at a budget meeting on February 5, Council took some time to look at the reserve.

Based on recommendations from a consultant's report, they cut the working fund reserve to $1.2 million, enough to cover any potential cash flow issues without having to resort to borrowing. This left a pool of $2.7 million, which was parked temporarily in a holding fund. After going through the rest of the reserve funds, that pool now sits at $3.5 million.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle proposed that $2.7 million be transferred to the local township councils for local projects (roads, bridges, buildings, etc) but this was not supported.

County Warden (and North Frontenac Mayor) Bud Clayton said that the county should look at putting the money towards long-term replacement of capital assets to keep future residents from budget increases as ambulances bases, Fairmount Home and County offices age.

In the end, Councilor John McDougall, who was chairing the budget sessions, suggested that the allocation of the $3.5 million could take place after the budget is completed.

“My suggestion is that that discussion not happen during our budget discussion, our object is to get the budget straightened around,” said McDougall, and council concurred.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY
Wednesday, 12 February 2014 19:00

Sydenham Legion Poppy Fund Donations

Members of the Sydenham Legion Branch #496 work hard each year to sell poppies in the community, and last week the results of those efforts were marked with the donation of $2,000 each to Fairmount Home and to the Kingston Military Families Support Program.

“The money that is going to Fairmount Home will be spent on whatever is needed to improve the Veterans' lounge at the home. There are about 20 veterans living at Fairmount and it is nice that they have a lounge. If they need new couches, a TV, whatever it is, they can use this money. The military families support program runs many programs and they can always use money to help with their work,” said Jeannie Davis, the Poppy Campaign Chair at the Sydenham Legion.

The Legion decided to make the presentations so that the community can be aware of the local use that the poppy funds are put to. Jeannie Davis said that the campaign volunteers are the ones who are responsible for its success each year

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

Treasurer identifies potential cuts to cover the increase

In the preamble to the draft 2014 Frontenac County budget, Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen referred to a directive that Council passed in December. The directive asked her to present two alternative budget scenarios, one with a 1% increase in taxation and another with a 1% decrease in taxation. The directive also said that the practice of using reserve funds to offset taxation should end. In 2013, $150,000 (which translates to 1.86% of the budget) was transferred from reserves to offset taxation.

Describing the directive as “not clear in its wording,” VanBruinessen said that “as the strategies required to bring forward budget scenarios in line with Council’s direction involve substantial policy decisions, staff has provided discussion items for consideration … directions for discussion will provide strategies that might be pursued by Council to move towards the 1% reduction or 1% increase."

The draft budget that is being debated by Council this week provides for a requisition of $8.48 million, an increase of $316,000 (3.88%) over last year.

VanBruinessen also pointed to items that could be trimmed from the budget. The total value of those items is just under $300,000, which would cover almost all of the increase.

Among the discussions items are the elimination of $5,200 for council attendance at conferences and $7,500 for the end of term warden’s reception. A $10,000 increase in the annual grant to Frontenac Transportation Service is also on the chopping block. As well, the possibility of slowly weaning the budget from a dependence on reserve transfers could be considered. If $50,000 is taken from reserves it would still represent a 2/3 decrease while helping to balance the budget.

Another $220,280 in savings was identified in three different items that Council can only discuss in closed session because they “have contract implications”.

Taken together, these options would save $295,000.

The budget also includes a cost of $1.62 million to county ratepayers for the operation of Frontenac Paramedic Services, a 4.59% increase over 2013; $1.03 million to Fairmount Home, an increase of 2.12% over 2013; and $142,500 for economic development, an increase of 10%.

Frontenac County Council has two blocks of time set aside this week to discuss the budget. If necessary, they will meet again in early February with a view towards approving the budget at their regular monthly meeting on February 19

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

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. 

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

County councilors, staff, residents, volunteers and community members gathered at Fairmount Home yesterday to celebrate the success of the Auditorium Revitalization fundraising campaign.

The campaign’s $200,000 fundraising goal was exceeded earlier this year, thanks in large part to major corporate donors including: Shoppers Drug Mart Bayridge Drive, Homestead Land Holdings Ltd, and the Kingston Frontenac Rotary Club. The fundraising committee, along with Fairmount residents, also hosted smaller initiatives to assist in raising funds, including making and selling fascinators, and selling plant bulbs and gift cards.

“The support Fairmount Home has received from the community for this project is remarkable,” says Warden Janet Gutowski. “It is only through this support that the County is able to revitalize the Fairmount auditorium and enrich the lives of both the residents and the surrounding community.”

Don Hart, Gord Lindsay and Clay Elston from the Kingston Frontenac Rotary Club were on hand to present the Club’s donation with the first of three cheques that will total $75,000. The donation came about after then President Murray Matheson challenged the members last year to find a project deserving of a large donation. Mr. Hart spoke fondly of the Club’s 40 year relationship with Fairmount Home and the ongoing involvement of Rotary members in many Fairmount events.

In 1971, Fairmount’s auditorium was designed as a venue to host social and educational activities for residents and their families, staff, volunteers, and community groups. In the past few years, issues with accessibility, lighting and temperature control have significantly reduced the usability of the room. When the revitalization is complete, the auditorium will once again boast a healthy schedule of events from worship services and bingos, to dances, educational sessions and large scale dinners.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY
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