Frontenac County is one of the recipients of $6 million in provincial funding for community paramedicine pilot projects.

Community paramedicine is an attempt to make use of the skills and infrastructure of paramedic services to help serve the senior and chronically ill population before they require emergency services

It has been pioneered in Ontario by the Renfrew County Paramedic services, which conducts wellness clinics and an ad hoc home visit program; offers an exercise program; has trained thousands of people in CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation); and more.

Frontenac County will receive a total of $156,800 in funding over two years to establish a framework for future community paramedicine programs within the County of Frontenac and the City of Kingston.

In announcing the funding, Frontenac County communications officer Alison Vandervelde described the project in the following way: “The research project will focus on identifying solutions that could provide a more cohesive healthcare system for the residents of Frontenac County and the City of Kingston and has four main areas of focus: wellness clinics, community paramedic home visits, paramedic referrals and improved communication links between paramedics and other health care providers.”

The County applied for $195,000 in answer to the call for expressions of interest from the province. The main shortfall between the request and what was given is in salary dollars. Instead of the $116,000 that the county requested for a project developer, the province provided $83,000, which will fund the position for 18 months.

The rest of the application was approved as requested, with the exception of a $5,000 request for money to cover legal fees, which was denied.

In addition to the project developer's salary, $33,000 will be spent on project co-ordination.

Only a small amount of the overall money that has been received will be directed to existing or new programming.

$1,800 is earmarked for expanding the existing Wolfe Island Wellness Clinic project, and $3,900 will go towards a pilot wellness clinic project in the northern half of the county.

Another $30,000 is to be spent covering wages for four-hour training sessions for 140 paramedics.

The primary impetus of the project, in the words of the funding application, is to “establish a solid framework for future core Community Paramedicine Programs ... of critical importance is the development of a comprehensive communication plan, within the framework, between Paramedics and other healthcare providers.”

Healthcare providers who will be contacted initially by the project developer, once they are hired, are the Community Care Access Centre, Rural Kingston Health Links, Kingston Health Link, Northern and Southern Frontenac Community Services, Kingston General Hospital, and the Local Health Integration Network.

As part of the planning for the project, a staff member has been appointed by each of the above agencies to participate in the project.

Gale Chevalier, Deputy Chief of Performance Standards with Frontenac County Paramedic Services, will oversee the project.

“Our residents will benefit greatly from this funding,” said Warden Denis Doyle. “One of County Council’s strategic goals includes supporting our seniors’ efforts to safely age in their homes. This project will allow people to remain in their communities longer, maintaining their closeness to family and friends, and eliminate long travel times for routine preventative healthcare. Ultimately, this funding will make positive differences for our residents and enhance the strength and vitality of our communities.”

$35,000 for pulmonary pacemaker, Drew Cumpson soldiers on.

The 23-year-old, whose story is familiar to News readers, has been living in St. Mary's Hospital in Kingston and attending Guelph University through correspondence.

However, now he has a chance to move back home. That's where we come in.

A little over three years ago, on the last day of a 12-day voluntary labour trip to Peru with 11 other Guelph students, he was swimming in the ocean when a massive undertow sent him crashing to the ocean floor, breaking his neck and leaving him a quadriplegic.

Community support kicked in from Godfrey, where the Cumpson family lived, as well as from the Sydenham High School and Guelph University communities. For the next year, medical complication after medical complication added further stress to Drew and his family, who were also preparing to sell their house on Bobs Lake and build a fully accessible house close to Kingston because of the medical care that Drew requires.

Through all of this, Drew’s parents Jim and Heather worked tirelessly on his behalf, with Heather acting as a bulwark against a sometimes-intractable medical system, and Jim building the new house. Drew's health stabilized, he stopped having infections, and his body healed.

The house was completed in May of 2013, but by then Heather was herself very sick with cancer. She died a year ago this week at the same hospital where Drew is living.

“I would be dead now without the things she did in the first year after my accident. I learned from her that you need to take control over your situation, that you need to be clear about what you need and you need to be informed, and you need to turn a no into a yes sometimes,” he said.

It is in that spirit that Drew has carried on in his struggle for independence, and the next goal in front of him is to breathe on his own.

“Right now I am not eligible for enough home nursing care to leave the hospital so I have to stay here,” he said from his room at St. Mary's early this week.

However there is a solution. A diaphragmatic pacemaker has been successfully used on patients in Drew's condition. It works on the lungs the way a pacemaker works on the heart, sending an electrical signal to stimulate breathing. It can cut down or eliminate the need for a ventilator entirely. The procedure to implant the device has been approved in Canada, and with the help of his doctor at St. Mary's, Drew has a surgical team lined up to do the operation in Toronto. The only problem is that, while the surgery will be covered by OHIP, the device will not be paid for. It costs $35,000.

A few weeks ago Drew started up a fundraising campaign on the website Indiegogo to raise that money. He has raised $7,000 since June 27, and he called the News this week to help get the word out about it. A benefit concert at the Grand Theatre in Kingston is being contemplated for the fall, but the Indiegogo campaign runs until August 27. The Indiegogo posting includes a 6-minute documentary about Drew and some further information. It can be accessed by going to Indiegogo.com and searching "Help Drew Breathe" or by pasting the following in: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-drew-breathe

In the meantime Drew is not waiting. He is initiating the surgery regardless; trusting that he can find the money for the device by the time the surgery is scheduled. At the same time, he continues to take courses at Guelph though correspondence. He expects to obtain his degree in the Tourism and Hospitality Program in 2016 and hopes to start working after that, likely specializing in the accessibility aspects of the industry.

“Eventually I want to open a bar and restaurant in Kingston some day, a southern, Cajun-themed place.”

You can almost taste the Filé Gumbo already.

On February 28, the day of the Olympic semi-final game with the United States, many of us had one ear, or both eyes, on the fate of the Canadian men’s hockey team.

February 28 is also Rare Disease Day in Canada and to mark the day, Jacqui Bowick, who suffers from Pulmonary Fibrosis (known as IPF Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis) marked the day by presenting a petition to MPP Randy Hillier in his Perth office.

The petition, which had 650 signatures gathered mostly in Smiths Falls where she lives, asks the provincial government to add a drug, pirfenidone, to the Ontario Drug Plan. Pirfenidone has been approved for use in Canada as a treatment for mild to moderate IPF, but at a cost of $42,000 per year it is unaffordable for many IPF patients.

Jacqui Bowick took a two-week course of pirfenidone, but she had an allergic reaction to it, so it is not an answer for her, but nonetheless she has continued to advocate for it to be covered by the Ontario Drug Plan.

“A lot of other people can be helped by it, but at that cost it is out of reach for so many sufferers,” she said, when interviewed over the phone after presenting the petition.

Jacqui Bowick, who is now 49, did not always suffer from IPF.

She worked as a nurse's assistant and in a pharmacy in the 1980s and 90s. Then she went back to school and eventually landed what she calls her “dream job”, working in the administration office of the Ottawa-Carleton School Board.

A few years ago she developed breathing problems, and in 2010 she was mis-diagnosed, twice. At first, doctors thought she had bronchitis and then they thought she had asthma but she did not respond to treatment.

“Because rare diseases are so uncommon the system is not set up to detect them. They naturally look for the common diseases first, and until I got a diagnosis I did not know what was wrong,” she said.

Since then she has been learning a lot about how to live with her condition, which is not easy to treat and does not have a good long-term prognosis.

The website Pulmonaryfibrosis.org describes it as a condition in “which the lung tissue becomes thickened, stiff, and scarred. The medical terminology used to describe this scar tissue is fibrosis. The alveoli (air sacs) and the blood vessels within the lungs are responsible for delivering oxygen to the body, including the brain, heart, and other organs. All of the body’s functions depend upon delivery of a steady supply of oxygen. As lung tissue becomes scarred and thicker, it is more difficult for the lungs to transfer oxygen into the bloodstream. As a result, the brain, heart, and other organs do not get the oxygen they need to function properly.”

Because there is no known cause for the condition doctors call it Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

Although treatments range from using steroids and other drugs, including pirfenidone, lung transplants give the most success in prolonging the lives of those with the condition.

Jacqui Bowick has been able to use the swimming pool in Smiths Falls where she does a water aerobics class with the aid of an oxygen machine that they have allowed into the pool area for her, and she travels weekly to Ottawa to participate in a pulmonary rehab program that is designed for patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD), which has been helpful to her.

In May she might be travelling to Toronto to undergo a battery of tests in order to try and get on the lung transplant list.

“The problem is that sometimes you are not sick enough to get on the list and then you can be too sick or can have to wait too long, so it is difficult,” she said.

Jacqui Bowick says that she used to have an "A" type personality, but IPF has taken that away from her. She has, however, become an “A” type active advocate for those with the condition. In addition to participating in pubic functions and delivering the petition to MPP Hillier, she also keeps a blog about the trials and successes of people facing the daunting prospect of fighting for every breath, which comes with IPF. The blog is at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

June's Angels, the North and Central Frontenac Relay for Life team who are entering their third year of participation in the Canadian Cancer Society's (CCS) annual fundraiser, are starting their efforts off early this year.

They held a chili lunch and bake sale on March 1 at the IOOF hall in Parham that was very well attended. The team is made up of close to 30 members of the Fox family and is named for June Fox of Parham, who succumbed to cancer on March 2, 2012 when she was 82 years old. She left behind a very large family and their goal is to keep her memory alive by raising funds for the Cancer Society through the annual Relay for Life, which this year will take place on June 20, 2014 at the Parham fairgrounds.

Rose Lapointe, one of June's daughters, said that cancer has hit her family hard. Her brother, Roger Fox, succumbed to the disease and passed away in 2013 and her sisters Merilee and Janice both have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are currently undergoing treatments. Six-year-old Kylie Babcock is another relative who has fought a long and hard battle against the disease. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was just two years old.

Rose said that the team last year raised over $1500 for the cause and that this year they will be holding a number of events that will help them reach their fundraising goals. Saturday’s event included a chili lunch and bake sale and numerous tables were loaded with a wide array of tasty baked goods that were prepared and donated by the team’s members. Glenn Fox, June’s widower, attended the event and at 89 years of age, he is the oldest family member on the team. The youngest is one of Glenn’s 26 grandchildren, nine-month-old Emerald, who sat on her granddad’s lap for part of the event. Glenn is the proud father of 12, grandfather of 25 (or 26) and has that many great-grandchildren as well.

Lesley Merrigan, who will be chairing the North and Central Relay for Life again this year, was in attendance to show support for the team. “I'm here to support the team because without the teams there can be no relay.” Merrigan said that she is looking forward to another great Relay for Life this year. “We are in full swing and have tentatively booked our kick off date for March 29.”

Merrigan said that there will be bit of a change in focus this year although fundraising for the cause will still be number one. “We are hoping to focus and theme our committee functions this year so that they are more preventative and education-based. We are also striving this year to be more proactive. We can fight cancer with dollars but we have to fight it with education as well. This year we want to highlight certain important issues like the issues that lobbyists are fighting for.”

Merrigan gave the example of lobbyists helping to implement the law that was passed recently making 18 years the mandatory age for use of tanning beds. “The CCS is not just about a group of people raising money. They also lobby and advocate for important changes to be made in society as well as offering many services to members of the community. We are aiming now to be more than one event a year and to be broader based by helping people realize what they can do in their own homes and businesses to help the cause.”

Rose Lapointe said that she was pleased with the turn out for the event and all of the support the team has received from the community. The Angels are planning more fundraisers this year including a dance in May and a Family Fun Day in June as well as an upcoming movie might. Watch for listings in the Northern Happenings.

For 12 hours a day, unless they are called away, two Frontenac County paramedics sit in their vehicle on a parking lot next to the former Palmerston Township garage, which is located near the ghost town of Donaldson, Ontario.

This was the status quo for a long time before Paul Charbonneau took over the Frontenac Paramedic Services in 2006.

“One of my first priorities was to deal with the situation in the north,” Charbonneau has repeatedly told Frontenac County Council.

Yet, five years later, despite the collective efforts of the paramedic services, the county, and the Township of North Frontenac, the ambulance is still parked on that lonely lot far from any services or population centres.

A resolution was passed by county council 15 months ago directing staff to sort out how this project could be completed, but differences over how to share costs have stalled the project thus far.

Central to the disagreement has been a proposal by county staff that, based upon the understanding that the proposed ambulance base/fire hall in Ompah would include a 1,500 square feet ambulance base and a 3,000 square feet fire hall, the county would pay 1/3 of the total construction costs.

The township has balked at this, for two reasons. First, estimated construction costs are higher for ambulance bases ($195 per square foot) than for fire halls ($125 per square foot) and secondly the township does not want to commit to any size for the fire hall because they want some flexibility in costing the project. The county has set $300,000 aside for the project and the township has $395,000 set aside. The Ompah fire crew has also raised money that can be used, but the crew is waiting to see the plans for the hall before they make a commitment.

“It is now May 18, and we have short building season. I think we need to get on with this project now. That's why I propose that we approve today, an RFP [request for proposal] for project management for a design/build combined fire hall ambulance base at a site that has been prepared in Ompah. We will put an upset limit of $300,000 for the county contribution and share the costs on a 50/50 basis until that point,” said North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton.

“It is not only the capital costs that concern the county. It is the ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs and how those will be divided that we need to work out,” said Liz Savill, the Chief Administrative Officer of Frontenac County.

“I agree the building opportunity is short, but we do need to work out the ongoing costs,” said County Warden Gary Davison.

“To me the operating cost split is not a big deal. This is the first time anyone has mentioned it. I would like to see a resolution passed today to get the ball rolling and we can work out the operating cost later. The construction needs to start,” said Councilor John Inglis.

“I hate to hold this thing up,” said Warden Davison, “but I think we need to take the next step first and have Liz contact the CAO of North Frontenac to do that so we can get this underway after our next meeting.

Savill said she would contact North Frontenac CAO Cheryl Robson after she returns from holidays.

Because of travel plans of members of county council, there will be no June meeting. So the progress on the ambulance base/fire hall project will be stalled until at least July 6, which is the date of the next meeting.

Once the Ompah project is approved and built, the county will be committed to relocating the current Parham ambulance base in the vicinity of Sharbot Lake within three to five years.

The county does not have money in reserves to cover that project, which is estimated to cost up to $1 million.

Photo: Mayor Janet Gutowski, Dave Smith and Gale Chevalier with the defibrillator

The North Frontenac Telephone Company head office in Sharbot Lake is the latest Frontenac County recipient of a Public Access Defibrillator, thanks to the efforts of Frontenac Paramedic Services Deputy Chief Gale Chevalier.

Chevalier, who was on hand last Friday for the presentation of the defibrillator to North Frontenac Telephone General Manager Dave Smith, raised the $2,500 cost of the unit in the 2010 Becel Ride for Heart EMS/PAD challenge last summer. She gathered pledges from her friends and colleagues to cycle on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto last June.

The paramedic services work closely with the volunteer fire departments, and Bill Young, a member of the Central Frontenac Fire Department who works at North Frontenac Telephone Company, suggested locating a defibrillator there.

“North Frontenac Telephone Company has a free-to-use facility in our basement, which any community organization or person may use for any sort of function they may be having. It can range from only a handful of people, to sometimes upwards of 50. We understand that the public use defibrillators save lives, and we can't begin to express the thanks to Gale, and all of her hard work in obtaining the defibrillator to donate to us.”

There are quite a number of public access defibrillators in the county now, some funded as part of MP Scott Reid’s campaign and others through the efforts of the paramedic services.

And more are on the way. The Frontenac Paramedic Services will be entering a team in this year's Becel Ride for Heart on June 5. Eight team members will ride, with the goal of raising enough money for three more defibrillators for distribution throughout the county (see the ad on page 6).

Editorial by Jeff Green

It seemed like it was only a matter of time before Frontenac County Emergency Services Manager Paul Charbonneau and the Council of North Frontenac Township would end up at loggerheads over the location of a new ambulance base to serve people in the northern part of Frontenac County.

Lennox and Addington County has recently confirmed they will be maintaining a 24-hour ambulance based in Northbrook and a 24-hour ambulance based in Denbigh. Until recently, Charbonneau had been advising that the best option for a new Frontenac County base is the intersection of Ardoch Road and Hwy. 509 in Central Frontenac. His position was supported by a consultant’s report and statistical information about call locations, volumes, and average response times.

North Frontenac rejected Charbonneau’s position, and called his statistics into doubt. When the matter was floated at Frontenac County Council in the fall, it appeared that the council did not want to pick a fight with North Frontenac over the matter.

Now, Paul Charbonneau has come up with what appears to be a rather elegant solution to the problem, although the people in Parham and Kingston City Council may have something to say about it.

In a report that is being presented to county council this week, Charbonneau is proposing to build not one, but two new bases, one in Sharbot Lake at a cost of $750,000, and one Ompah which will be co-located with a new Ompah fire hall, and will cost $300,000. This solution would bring response times to within the 30-minute framework, the standard for rural ambulance service, throughout the county.

With a new base coming in Sydenham, moving the current ambulance base in Parham about 15 minutes to the north becomes a viable option, and politicians will be happy because there will be a shiny new base in each of the townships.

That’s something to run for re-election on.

But there are political and financial complications.

While overall response times would be improved throughout the county under this plan, the residents in the Parham and Godfrey regions are not going to be pleased because response times to them will increase. Frontenac County has also spent money upgrading the Parham base over the past few years, and they will be abandoning a perfectly adequate facility.

All of these factors may cause Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski to face some flak if she supports this plan, which is never a good thing for a mayor who is running for re-election.

Then there is the cost, and that is where the City of Kingston comes in. Ratepayers from the City of Kingston pay for 81% of the ambulance budget.

The new plan would cost over $1.05 million to bring about, more than $800,000 of which would be levied to the City of Kingston.

The original consultant’s report allocated $750,000 to a new northern base at the Ardoch Road. The new plan, allocating that amount to a new base in Sharbot Lake, is really only $300,000 more expensive, the amount necessary to co-locate a new base in Ompah with a new fire department there.

The ratepayers from the City of Kingston would pay $240,000 towards that and Frontenac County ratepayers the other $60,000.

If Frontenac County Council gets behind this plan, it will all have to be raised at the Rural Urban Liaison Committee, (RULAC) which is made up of politicians from the City of Kingston and Frontenac County.

Even though this solution is not included in the consultant’s report into ambulance service, there is some pretty good supporting evidence that it would be a good operational plan for Frontenac County, and although it involves substantial capital spending, it would have no immediate impact on the operational side of the ambulance budget.

RULAC has already approved a new 24-hour ambulance for the Sydenham base that is being built this year.

This northern solution calls for a 24-hour ambulance in Sharbot Lake and a 12-hour ambulance in Ompah, the same amount of service, and cost, as the current system. 

The Sharbot Lake Alzheimer office celebrates its first anniversary in April 2009. It has been an exciting and challenging year helping to support over 100 clients and caregivers in our area. We have shared many emotions together on their journey with Alzheimer disease or a Related Dementia. It is a privilege to promote awareness, offer education and provide counselling to clients and caregivers in our own community about a disease that affects one in 11 persons over the age of 65 years. With the population aging, the number of those affected increases along for the demand and need for services.

Alzheimer's is a progressive, degenerative disease that destroys vital brain cells. Alzheimer Disease eventually affects all aspects of a person’s life - how they think, feel and act. Since individuals are affected differently, it is difficult to predict the symptoms each person will have and the order in which they will appear or the speed of the disease's progression.

I would like to share the success of the new office with the community and our Fund Development Committee as we have raised $6000 for the Alzheimer Society of KFL&A, Sharbot Lake office. The support has come from hosting our own Alzheimer Society Calendar Events: the Door to Door Campaign in June; Alzheimer Coffee Breaks in September/October; January was Alzheimer Awareness Month, which featured an Awareness and Fund Raising Evening; a Special Caregivers’ afternoon; and the Walk for Memories.

The Alzheimer Society advocates and supports people living with and affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. We offer caregiver counselling, monthly caregiver support groups, Public Education to the community as well as health care professionals, Promote Awareness, make referrals to community support services and the Safely Home Program.

Please contact your Public Education Coordinator of the Alzheimer Society KFL&A, Sharbot Lake at The Seniors Centre, 1042 Elizabeth Street, Sharbot Lake, K0H 2P0. 613 279-WELL (9355).

Office hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9AM - 4:30PM. Candace Bertrim, PEC, Alzheimer Society KFL&A, Sharbot Lake <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>.

Rob Leverty executive director of the OHS spoke of the preservation of cemeteries at the Cloyne and District Historical Society’s AGM

Members of the Cloyne and District Historical Society gathered for their AGM on May 17 at the Barrie Hall in Cloyne and were treated to a presentation by Rob Leverty, Executive Director of the Ontario Historical Society (OHS), who spoke about current legislation regarding the preservation of cemeteries in Ontario.

His visit was an outgrowth of the recent restoration and rededication of the Cloyne Pioneer Cemetery, which took place last August. The Cloyne & District Historical Society partnered with the Land O’Lakes Garden Club and the Township of North Frontenac to accomplish that task.

After congratulating members on their accomplishment Leverty stressed the importance that the OHS places on protecting the intrinsic historical, cultural and educational richness held in these often overlooked gems of history. Leverty spoke of many cases where individuals and groups are battling against encroaching development to protect small cemeteries across the province, and of the time and energy the OHS has put into helping the fight for their preservation.

He outlined the current legislation in place and reviewed Bill 149, a private member’s bill submitted by Jim Brownell, M.P.P. for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, called the Inactive Cemeteries Protection Act 2009, which proposed that no one could relocate an inactive cemetery. The bill received all party support at second reading in the house but died on the table when the government was last prorogued.

According to Leverty there are 5000 registered cemeteries in Ontario and 1500 unregistered. Likely there are countless others that remain unknown.

Leverty emphasized the importance of individuals banding together to fight for the preservation of the cemeteries in their communities, stating, “It’s people like you and groups like yourselves that are saving the history of this province.”

Since the demise of Bill 149 the OHS and other private historical societies in the province have been circulating petitions in support of Bill 149. The petitions are being presented to the provincial government in the hopes of seeing something done to preserve these historic gems. Leverty brought one with him and invited guests to sign it.

Leverty then highlighted the options open for those still hoping to protect their cemeteries and listed all of the options, which included applying for heritage recognition. Unfortunately such recognition can be overturned after just 180 days.

Another option is for individuals to put a conservation easement on their cemeteries, which will ensure its protection into eternity.

Preceding his talk society members gave Leverty a tour of the Cloyne Pioneer Cemetery.

Two of the key figures in the development of the Lakeland Family Health Team in Northbrook brought a status report to North Frontenac Council last week.

The project manager, Janice Powell from Denbigh, and Kimberly Bain of the Bain Consulting Group reported about the prospects for the Plevna Satellite Clinic that was included in the Family Health Team application that received approval in principal late last year.

Janice Powell said that her involvement began when she agreed to join the Addington Highlands Health care committee “on a short term basis” in the summer of 2008.

“We were looking at doctor recruitment Family Health Centres, and other options, eventually decision with Doctor Tobia to apply for a Family Health Team,” she told Council.

Now Powell is spending a lot more time than she ever planned working on this project, with the help of Bains consulting.

Kimberly Bains been engaged to help prepare the operational plan for the Family Heath Team (FHT), which will include renovations to the existing clinic in Northbrook, as well as the construction of new satellite clinics in Denbigh and Plevna.

Both Kimberly Bains and Janice Powell pointed out that while the Lakeland FHT has been approved in principal, and the application included the two satellite clinics, until the operational plan is accepted by the Ministry of Health there is no guarantee that all of the plans that have been submitted will be accommodated.

“We are operating on the assumption that the three locations will be up and running by next year,” said Kimberly Bains, “but in the end the ministry will let us know what they will fund.”

Bains told Council that the Family Health Team Committee is planning to submit its operational plan by the end of April, which will make them the first of the 26 Family Health Teams that we approved last fall to summit their plans, so they hope to hear back before some of the others.”

The construction of a building to house the proposed Plevna clinic will be the North Frontenac townships major contribution to the project.

On that score, Bain was able to provide some detail as to what the planning group for the health teams will be looking for.

“In terms of size, we are looking for a building that is 2040 square feet at a minimum, and as big as 3116 square feet. All of the interior will be provided by the FHT, all we need from you is the shell and hopefully you will be able to build the rooms to our specifications,” Kimberly Bain said.

North Frontenac has applied for a grant to cover the cost of construction, and should know this week if the application was successful.

Otherwise it appears the township will need to fund the construction and recoup their costs by way of rent charged back to the FHT.

“The Family Health Team would be able to pay rent as high as $19 per square foot inclusive of utilities or $13 net for the space,” Bain said.

“If we don’t get the grant, is it possible for us to seek funding from the Ministry of Health to cover the construction costs?” asked Mayor Maguire.

“We could go to the ministry and ask for funding, and they may say yes, but the chances aren't that high,” Bain said. “They did that for some of the earlier Family Health Teams, and it was not seen as a good idea, so they are reluctant.”

Waiting for a decision would also cause some delays, and the planning thus far has been for the new facilities to be up and running by the beginning of 2011.

The estimated cost of the new building is about $400,000

Plans are being developed for a two phased approach to building the FHT. Since the construction would be minimal in Northbrook, as soon as funding becomes available hiring for the Northbrook clinic would start. A nutritionist as well as a nurse to run a Diabetes program will be hired, and other people as well, depending on which services are eventually approved. Once the satellite clinics in Denbigh and Plevna are ready, the staff will already be in place to provide part-time service to those communities.

Addington Highalnds is considering the former Denbigh School house as a building that could be retro-fitted for use as a clinic

Once the operational plan is submitted, it will take 6 to 8 weeks for the ministry to respond.