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Vol. 19, No. 35, Wednesday, July 24, 2024 www.LamontLeader.com
92-year-old Kent Harrold serving as LHCC board chair for 48th year Board members excited for $43.8 million long-term care building replacement BY JANA SEMENIUK Long time Lamont resident Kent Harrold, 92, was acclaimed as board chair for the Lamont Health Care Centre board during their annual general meeting on July 15. Harrold was first elected in 1976 after then board chair Mr. R. B. Christie resigned, according to Trudy Harrold’s book on the history of LHCC titled ‘On Highest Mission Sent’. This year will be Harrold’s 48th year as chair. Other board members include Rev. Debbie Brill, Linda Mills, David Diduck, Connie Newgard, Trudy Harrold, Linda Knowles, and vice chair, Mae Adamyk. Attendees of the AGM included elected officials from several municipalities and Fort SaskatchewanVegreville MLA Jackie ArmstrongHomeniuk. Armstrong-Homeniuk spoke to the crowd of approximately 40 people and praised LHCC’s many years of good work in the community. Harrold said the LHCC have wonderful staff and shared that during the centre’s advent meeting they recognized 22 long service awards. “A few less than last year, but nevertheless remarkable,” he said. “We have
replace our longstaff, including part term care,” he said. time, of about 250 “We have 101 people. Quite hard to long term care beds imagine, that’s a lot that are going to of people. Wonderful change to 93 long folks doing wonderterm care beds. We ful work.” will have 25 type A Dr. El Haj, Chief beds and the rest of Staff, spoke to will be type B.” plans for replacing Bharmal said the hospital’s long the type A and type term care centre with B labelling will keep a new building. in accordance with Plans were Kent Harrold has been acclaimed the continuing care announced in Oct. after the LHCC as board chair of the Lamont Health act which states, received a $43.8 mil- Care Center board during their according to the AGM July 15. This will make 48 provincial governlion grant from the years for Harrold as chair of the ment’s website, that provincial governhospitals' board. ment. Photo: Jana Semeniuk type A beds are for people with com“We are all excited about our new project which is com- plex medical needs while type B are for ing,” said Dr. El Haj. “We will have people with various other medical new wings for long term care that will needs. In both cases, the person is serve our elderly people with more unable to remain safely at home or another facility. comfort.” Questions arose from the crowd as LHCC Chief Executive Officer, Shahad Bharmal, also spoke to the to where current patients will be project and said the number of beds placed while construction is ongoing. Bharmal said plans are still being will go down slightly. “Our new long term care project is developed to address this issue. He an upcoming project. It's going to said construction will begin next year
and finish in approximately 2027 Meanwhile, Harrold said age hasn’t stopped him from continuing to work on his farm and he is looking forward to more years on the LHCC board. “I was bailing on (the weekend) and cutting hay,” he said adding he works up to eight hours some days. “I don’t do any physical work anymore. I make sure the machines work properly.” Harrold said he comes from a family where longevity is the norm. He said several of his ancestors worked into their 90s and a brother who still flies a plane. “He’ll be 90 in Dec. He’s still flying, still has his commercial license and flies people around up North. He’s had a license since he was 17,” he said. Harrold reflected on his time with the board and said he hopes to serve a while longer. “I’ve had a really interesting time. It’s been a good time a lot of the time, but sometimes it hasn’t been fun at all. (We’ve) had some big problems from time to time, but nothing we couldn't figure out and work our way through and make better,” he said. “I hope it sticks for a little longer.”
“I held a governance and strategic planning session where all members of council were invited for training and strategic planning on how Council can move forward in a respectful and pro-
fessional manner,” she said. When asked if materials from the training session would be made available for public viewing, Forsyth said Continued on Page 10
Public not notified as Bruderheim CAO calls training session with council for a ‘path forward’ BY JANA SEMENIUK Residents in the town of Bruderheim noticed when a number of cars were parked in front of the firehall last week on July 17. According to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) all meetings of council must be made available to the public, which prompted several questions from the Lamont Leader to Chief Administrative Officer Phyllis Forsyth. While the MGA states a council may close part of their public session for
discussion, it says they must return to public session to pass any resolutions. All public council meetings, including special meetings, must include at least 24 hours notification to the public. Forsyth responded and said she called for and chaired the meeting with council but said it was a training session, not an official ‘meeting’, which is why the public were not notified. She said she called for the session shortly after the July 3 meeting, where tempers flared leading to one councillor abruptly leaving the meeting.
Several vehicles were spotted outside the Bruderheim firehall July 17. It was later revealed to be a session between the town council and CAO that was not communicated beforehand to the public. Jana Semeniuk photo.