8/6/2019 Merger Money Comes Through

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/merger-money-comes-through 1/1

Wednesday, April 6, 2011 FORT FRANCES TIMES A5

Children’s aid merger given funding to proceedBy Peggy RevellStaff writer

The merger between the region’sChildren’s Aid Societies is movingahead now that provincial funding has been confirmed.

While April 1 was the originalmerger deadline between Kenora-Patricia Child and Family Servicesand Family and Children’s Servicesof the District of Rainy River, the process was stalled as the agencieswaited for the province to officiallysay it would finance both FAC’sdeficit and debt, as well as amalga-mation costs.

This was a requirement beforeKenora’s agency would agree tothe amalgamation.

But last week, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services offi-cially informed both agencies that these costs will be covered, mean-ing the new combined agency willstart out debt-free.

“Both agencies are excited that the end toward our new begin-ning is near fruition,” Bill Leonard,executive director of the KPCFSand Vic Nowak, Executive directorof FACS, said in a news releaseissued on behalf of both agencieslast Friday.

With this funding secured, thetwo agencies now can proceedwith formal board motions affirm-ing their intentions to amalgamate,then signing and submitting the re-quired legal documents to variousregulatory authorizes for approval.

This process should take six-eight weeks.

The new organization will beknown as Kenora-Rainy River Dis-tricts Child and Family Services.

Its logo, vision mission, and val-ue statements also were unveiledlast Thursday—the culmination of months of work by amalgamationcommittees made up of peoplefrom both organizations.

“Like any good logo, the more  you look at it, the more yousee,” FACS board president BobMcGreevy said in explaining themeaning behind the new logo.

As a way to reflect the “geo-graphical reality” of the organiza-tions, the logo has a tree motif withthree leaves on a branch in variousshades—with the leaves also repre-senting people with outstretchedarms and circles as their heads.

The three leaves also represent the three branches of the newagency: family services, children’sservices, and clinical/communityservices.

And with “such a long name,”the new logo features “Child andFamily” as the largest focus, withKenora-Rainy River Districts/Ser-vices in smaller fonts.

Meanwhile, the organization’snew vision statement will be “Chil-dren and families reaching theirfull potential,” with their mission

statement to be, “We are dedicatedto ensuring the safety and well-  being of every child by providingeffective services to children andfamilies.”

The outlined values for the orga-nization include positive attitude,relationships, integrity, diversity,and excellence.

“Even though the vision, mis-sion, and values remain words on  paper, they’re aspiring words but words nonetheless,” Leonard saidat the unveiling.

“So as we move forward as oneorganization, it will be incumbent on each of us working on withinthe new organization to bring lifeinto these words, to ensure that they are a true reflection of our  beliefs and that they will guide  how we will provide service,” hestressed.

“We must prove this to be sothrough our individual efforts,through our work with each other,

and, most importantly, through ourwork with the children, families,and communities to whom we areultimately accountable,” Leonardadded.

There will be no cuts to frontlinestaff or services with the merger.

The move to amalgamate cameafter FACS, along with dozensof Children’s Aid Societies acrossthe province, faced deficits rang-ing from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions in the 2009-10financial year.

FACS, itself, faced a deficit of   just over $600,000 before receiv-ing one-time mitigation funding of $430,000 from the province backin February, 2010.

In an interview this past fall,McGreevy said the total estimateddeficit and amalgamation costs are$900,000.

The amalgamation also willmean a combined budget of $17million—$12 million from the KP-

CFS, $3 million in funding for thechild welfare portion of FACS’child welfare in Rainy River Dis-trict, and $2 million for FACS’integrated services (i.e., children’smental health).

Once merged, there will bean estimated annual savings of $400,000 due to “economy of scale” kicking in as costs—suchas administrative ones, which aremore burdensome on smaller agen-cies like FACS—would be reduced.

An estimated 250 children will be under the care of the new orga-nization.

The combined staffing levels areestimated to be at 250 full-timeand 100 casual workers.

Leonard will remain on as execu-tive director, with FACS’ executivedirector Nowak becoming directorof service for the new organiza-tion.

At left, Nolin Spuzak, of J.W. Walker School,demonstrated his science project, “How Hot Is Your Shot,” during the regional sciencefair there Saturday. He and his partner, TylerVanUden, earned top honours for their proj-ect, while fellow J.W. Walker student HaileyBeaudry, above, received an honourable

mention. These students now are eligible toto attend the national competition in Torontonext month, along with Stephen Stechishen(Red Lake) who earned silver, and Tay-lor Whitehead (J.W. Walker) who captured bronze.

—Heather Latter photo

Science projects

 What’s ina name?

Years ago, I loved gardening. Iwasn’t a wonderful gardener, but spent many happy hours diggingin the dirt.

I loved the feel of the soft, mel-low soil on my bare feet.

When we first moved to Kansas40 years ago, it took a while tofind out how different it is to gar-den in Kansas than Canada.

Peas and spinach have to be planted in late February or earlyMarch, when our garden in Cana-da was still covered with snow.

And it’s impossible to grow let-tuce in Kansas in the middle of the summer.

I also found that the north-ern asters and snapdragons didn’t take kindly to our hot summers.Gradually, I began planting nativegrasses and flowers with goodresults.

During that experimental stage,I tried all kinds of unusual things.Blueberries, which failed becauseour soil was too alkaline and theweather too hot.

After that, I tried garden huck-leberries as a substitute for blue-  berries, a plant from the tomatofamily. But no one wanted to eat them!

Then I planted a few “exotic”  plants: burdock and dandelions.Yes, I actually bought seed from agarden catalogue!

I planted the burdock for nos-talgia purposes. It reminded meof a time long ago, when I used tosit on the ground and play house,using the huge burdock leaves for plates.

Today, when all my other “ex-  periments” are long gone, thesetwo sturdy plants still flourish. Just 

last week, in fact, we had a deli-cious salad of dandelion greens.The dandelion is a perennial

 plant with a long, sturdy tap root,which means you can cut it down before it flowers and the plant willcome back next year with morefresh, nutritious salad greens.

A serving of dandelion greensgives you iron, calcium, and po-tassium, as well as vitamins A, C,and K.

While we only use the leavesfor salads, the flowers often areused to make dandelion winewhile the roots can be ground androasted as a coffee substitute.

The dandelion also has medici-nal properties and traditionallywas used by the native Canadians,the Chinese, and European herb-alists, and it still can be bought in health stores today.

Dandelion root sometimes isused for liver and gallbladder  problems, and dandelion leavesare a natural diuretic.

The dandelion also is used to help normalize blood sugar levels,lower cholesterol, assist with uri-nary tract infections, and support kidney function.

Of course, as with all herbs, you have to be careful about interac-tions if you are taking prescriptionmedicine.

With all of its nutritional andmedicinal properties, I would liketo know why the dandelion isseen as a “pesky weed” today!

It makes me think of the star-crossed lovers from feuding fami-lies in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

Juliet lamented, “What’s in aname? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smellas sweet.”

What’s in a name? Capulet or

Montague? Weed or vegetable?Take a few moments this springto really look at that “pesky weed”  before you pull it. Pick a fewleaves and make a tasty salad.

Then think about other namesthat might be limiting what yousee in the world around you.

 Addictions treatment centre plans moving aheadBy Heather LatterStaff writer

The Atikokan Addictions Com-mittee will move ahead with plansto build an addictions treatment centre there after results from a re-cently-launched survey show thereis a need for one in Rainy RiverDistrict.

“There’s a lot of work involved,  but that can’t stop us from mov-ing ahead. We need to try and dothis for the people that we serve,”stressed Donna Kroocmo, executivedirector of the Rainy River District Shelter of Hope, which facilitatedthe needs assessment survey beingfunded through Justice Canada.

Kroocmo said the committee willmeet to review the survey findings,which also were discussed duringthe “Shelter of Hope” conferencelast week.

Connie Terlesky, who was hiredto collect the data through the sur-vey, presented her final report at that time, which showed the needfor an addictions treatment centrein the district.

“The biggest thing was that pre-scription drugs [had] surpassed al-cohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs, by far, as a problem,” Ter-lesky noted from the data collect-ed, citing a 65 percent misuse of 

 prescription drugs compared to 30  percent for inhalant, 36 percent for street drugs, and 46 percent foralcohol.

The survey, conducted over afour-week period, also highlightedsuicide and bullying as major prob-lems locally.

All organizations dealing withtreatment referrals from communi-ties across the district were invitedto participate in the survey.

Terlesky said more than 60 peo- ple attended the “Shelter of Hope”conference while a total of 113 people completed the survey—a 96 percent response rate.

She added plenty of people in-dicated they had referred othersfor treatment in the past, with 19  people saying they referred morethan 30 people and another 34noting they had referred one-five people.

“These are big numbers,” Ter-lesky stressed. “And they are all

going out of town because there isnothing here.”

Kroocmo said given the inter-est from an investor willing to  put forth $1.5 million to build atreatment centre in Atikokan, theyneed a business plan—completewith data and research—to acquirefinancing from the bank since thisamount won’t completely cover theconstruction cost.

She noted the committee hassubmitted a proposal throughthe Community Giving Programthrough Green Shield Canada.

Next, they will do more researchinto the normal rate for beds at aresidential treatment facility.

“The private investor wants areturn, so at least some of the beds  have to be set aside as for-profit   beds, which means they would  have to pay the going rate, what-ever that might be,” Kroocmo ex- plained, noting so far they have de-termined this could be anywhere

from $400-$800 a day.“So we’d have to find something

in the medium range, I wouldthink.”

She said they also have to con-sider the cost of ongoing opera-tions. “We have to have this beself-sufficient,” she remarked.

But Kroocmo said her hope isto have at least two of the beds asnot-for-profit.

“That’s my dream,” she noted.“We just want to make this avail-able to everyone.”

She said the committee also must decide the approach the treatment facility would take. They have two  preferences—to serve youth andto have several beds for family-centered treatment.

“Twelve- to 16-year-olds are us-ing and we know that,” Kroocmosaid. “You don’t want to see young person sent away for treatment.”

As well, a family-centered ap-  proach would allow family, chil-dren, or whoever is needed as asupport group for the person beingtreated.

This also would allow the facilityto be more culturally-appropriateto First Nation communities, whereinvolving family and extended fam-ily is important for treatment.

In addition, Kroocmo said thetreatment facility could offer an

out-patient clinic or day program.“We thought that would be a

really excellent way to service the people who couldn’t otherwise af-ford a residential treatment pro-gram,” she explained.

“And they could access the treat-ment they need with very little cost to the client.”

With additional programs, Krooc-mo said the centre could be muchmore than just a residential treat-ment centre.

“We could do much more withit, and that’s our hope and our  plan,” she insisted, adding they have a very active committee withcommunity service providers frommany sectors, which will be ben-eficial to assist with all the workahead of them.

Terlesky, meanwhile, conced-ed the committee is aware othergroups also are trying to get a facil-ity going.

“Whoever gets it first, let’s just  build it and get it going because astrong need is there,” she stressed.

Currently, the closest treatment centres include Thunder Bay andKenora while the closest family-centered one is in Winnipeg.

Staff 

In response to an article in last week’s Times, the Rainy River Dis-trict Social Services Administra-tion Board said uploaded savings  have been used to offset budget increases for other programs sincethey first began in 2008.

In a press release to the Times,DSSAB administration said they  have analyzed information thetown received from the Ministryof Finance (which was partially printed in last week’s edition) anddo not dispute it.

“The ministry indicates the es-timated total benefit of 2011 pro-vincial uploads for the Town of Fort Frances to be $420,400,which we do not dispute,” therelease said.

“Contrary to [Coun. Ken] Perry’s

statements in the article in theMarch 30, 2011 edition of theFort Frances Times, the RRDSS-AB has not ‘turned a blind eye’to ‘all the verifiable facts,’ and weconcur with the figures from theMinister of Finance.

“We have taken a ‘good look’ at this and have not gone astray, orlead the board astray, nor has the board led us astray,” it stressed.

“Not reflected in the provin-cial numbers is, since 2008, theRRDSSAB members had, by board resolution, utilized amountsfrom these upload savings to off-set budget increases for other  programs in 2008 and 2009 tolessen any increase in municipallevies,” the release added.

“This, in turn, decreased theactual amount of the municipalupload savings for those respec-

tive years.“As a result, there is a difference

in the figures provided by the  province and the amounts leviedto municipalities by the RRDSS-AB as the province is not notifiedof local RRDSSAB decisions onutilization of savings.”

The local DSSAB said it is com-mitted to working with both the  province and the municipalitieson this issue “as it appears furtherdiscussions are required as to howthis information applies to theRRDSSAB budget.”

Meetings with the province andthe municipalities are taking placeto review this issue, they noted.

All information has always been,and will continue to be, availableto the DSSAB board members forreview and further discussion.

Irish singer taking stagePress release

A reminder for all members of the Border Concert Associationthat songwriter, masterful pianist,comedian, and one of Ireland’s  best vocalists, Cahal Dunne, willappear at Backus Auditorium inInternational Falls this Saturday(April 9) starting at 7:30 p.m.

Dunne possesses a certain magi-cal quality that comes from deepwithin a great entertainer andwashes over his audiences, capti-vating them.

His vocal style is rich and deepas he takes you on a musical jour-ney to his homeland.

Accompanying himself on the pi-ano and with full orchestral tracks,  you will be amazed at the soundcoming from the stage.

With an easy rapport and a great sense of humour, Dunne appealsto audiences of all ages. He is truly

an entertainer extraordinaire.This will be his first mid-Amer-

ican tour, although Dunne’s con-cert schedule takes him all overthe country.

Dunne is a native of Cork, Ire-land and received a Bachelor of Music degree from University Col-lege of Cork.

He has won a number of prizesin Irish song contests, includingIreland’s National Song Contest.

His winning song, “Happy Man,”earned him the right to represent Ireland in the International Eurovi-sion Music Contest in Israel.

“Happy Man” became numberone in Europe and Ireland, withrecord sales topping the quarter-million mark. This gave him thetitle that most people know him by: “Ireland’s Happy Man.”

Don’t miss this exceptional con-cert—the fifth in the 2010-11 Bor-der Concert Association series.

DSSAB defends ‘uploading’ position

“There’s a lot of work involved, butthat can’t stop us from moving ahead.We need to try and do this for the peo-ple that we serve.”

—Donna Kroocmo