2 - Southpoint Sun
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
MAYORS - From Page 1
by the province, the EMAT is made up of medical professionals. This team was the group who led the quarantine and repatriation of Canadian citizens who were stranded abroad and on cruise ships when the pandemic began. They are also the same team that led the fight against SARS in the province about eight years ago. “They’ve been a great help in co-ordinating efforts locally and that has allowed us to re-adjust our focus back to the assessment centre,” said Santos.
On-farm testing continues and local officials are re-opening the Agri-food Assessment Centre at the former Sherk complex gymnasium this week. Locally, positive test results continue to come in with high daily numbers, compared to a month ago, when they appeared to be tailing off. The mayors hope that the presence of the EMAT and possible government mandates will help curtail the virus and eventually reduce the numbers in this area.
Kingsville councillor asks WECHU to provide transparent data KINGSVILLE — Councillor Kim DeJong made a motion at Monday’s Kingsville Council meeting to request that the Windsor Essex County Health Unit begin disclosure of more detailed data regarding COVID-19. DeJong’s motion called for the area’s positive cases to be broken down in more detail regarding close contacts, agri-farm, long term care, travel, hot zones and outbreaks. After reviewing other regions such as Durham, Hamilton, Peel and Toronto, it was noted that those areas provide an interactive website which allows the public to look directly into neighbour-
decisions based on possible outbreaks and cases within their community. “There are cases attributed to Leamington and Kingsville farm workers, but some of them live in Windsor,” she said. “We need to know where they live.” DeJong’s motion was to send a letter to Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Medical Officer of Health for Windsor-Essex, to request a similar information method be set up as in those other regions. Council voted unanimously to pass the motion and will send the letter to the WECHU, local MPPs and the other municipalities in the region.
hoods. DeJong believes that the municipalities in this region should have that information at their fingertips to better manage municipal services. The public needs to be able to see the data trending over time within the areas of the municipality. “We don’t know where the community spread is coming from,” she said. “Do we open our beaches? Our splashpads?” She believes that the current method of publishing a basic pie chart of percentages within all of Windsor-Essex, does not provide enough information for the public or the municipalities to make
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The COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Erie Shores HealthCare is open and ready to do your testing. Stop in and see one of these local heroes at the hospital. Photo submitted
Hospital Assessment Centre still busy after 15 weeks By Mark Ribble LEAMINGTON — The COVID Assessment Centre at Erie Shores HealthCare is still busy on a daily basis, with members of the community coming forth to be tested. “We want people to know that they don’t need an appointment,” said Arms Bumanlag, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the hospital. Erie Shores HealthCare has been running the Assessment Centre since April 16. Bumanlag wants to stress that getting tested is as easy as ever. “Normally, it’s about a 15-minute turnaround from the time you park until you’re on your way to the car,” he said. As stated , there’s no need for an appointment. You just need to bring your health card, go through the screening process and get tested. Results are available after about 72 hours through the Ontario Ministry of Health website. The Assessment Centre currently sees about 120 patients per day, and is open seven days a week from 8 am until 6 pm, even on holidays.
Anyone with a scheduled surgery is required to be tested prior to admittance and they’ve set aside an early dedicated 8-9 am time for those people to get through the process quickly. Any larger groups, like workplaces who want to test their staff, are asked to contact Assessment Centre Manager Annette Scott via email at annette. scott@eshc.org. The Erie Shores HealthCare team has been busy throughout the pandemic with many different aspects of healthcare and Bumanlag says that staff morale remains high, despite the grinds of almost six months of COVID. “That’s part of my job,” he said. “The staff here are wonderful and I want to help them any way I can.” The Erie Shores team is currently monitoring the situation with the Agrifood sector and is ready to help with the re-opening of the Agri-food Assessment Centre at the former Sherk Complex. “We will assist where we are needed,” he said. The Erie Shores team has taken the lead on the field health assessment team as they work with
their healthcare partners to help those who have tested positive and those who might need follow-up care or hospitalization. Meanwhile, the hospital is going through its final process for the changeover to Erie Shores HealthCare from LDMH, by changing email addresses within the hospital. All emails will now go to a eshc.org email address. “You can still reach us through our ldmh. org emails, which are being forwarded to our new ones, but we’re asking everyone to update their contacts to enable a smooth transition,” he said. If you’ve been tested at the ESHC Assessment Centre for COVID-19 and awaiting results, you can find a link on their website at www.erieshoreshealthcare.ca to the ministry results portal. If you don’t have access to a computer, you can call the hospital at 519-326-2373, extension 4263, Monday through Friday form 8-4. Please keep in mind that you will need your health card handy and test results won’t be available for 72 hours after the test.
Scheibner fundraiser underway in Wheatley this weekend KINGSVILLE
PHARMACY
15X REWARDS POINTS ON ATOMA PRODUCTS Aug. 1st & 2nd kingsvilleorders@sunshinedrugs.com
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519.733.6541
WHEATLEY — Wheatley resident Connie Scheibner’s Great Cycle Challenge will officially launch this weekend as she begins her trek to cycle 500 kms during the month of August. Scheibner will be cycling around Wheatley as part of her kickoff event. As well, The Pogue will be donating $1 from each meal to her cause. A silent
auction will also kickoff on her Facebook page. The Great Cycle Challenge raises funds to fight kids’ cancer. Scheibner has dedicated her ride to Michael Laliberte, a local teen who passed away recently. You can support the cause by visiting www.greatcyclechallenge.ca/Riders/ ConnieScheibner.
