College residences open to health care workers
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes cancelled; Peterborough Pulse postponed to 2021
Fleming College has opened its empty residence buildings campus as temporary housing for front-line health-care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea is to offer a place to live for health-care workers who need to isolate from their families while continuing to care for patients during the pandemic.
The college is proud to help with community efforts to keep people safe in the COVID-19 pandemic, Fleming College president Maureen Adamson stated in a release.
“We must do our part for those fighting on the front lines,” Adamson stated.
Fleming’s student residence buildings on the main Sutherland Campus on Brealey Drive in Peterborough will be available for health-care workers from Peterborough Regional Health Centre, Omni Health Care Long Term Care, Peterborough
County Paramedics and the nearby St. Joseph’s at Fleming long-term-care home.
In Lindsay, Fleming College is preparing its Frost Campus student residences to temporarily house workers from Ross Memorial Hospital.
Meanwhile, Trent University in Peterborough took a similar initiative in late March when it opened about 100 rooms for PRHC workers in the empty Gzowski College residence building at the main Symons campus. In other COVID-19 pandemic announcements Friday:
Walk a Mile in her Shoes permanently cancelled
The annual Walk a Mile in her Shoes event in support of the YWCA Peterborough Haliburton has been permanently cancelled after 11 years.
The annual fundraising event has been held in downtown Peterborough every May since 2009. In the early years, men only would don red high heels and walk in a parade down George Street, and in latter years women joined too.
The event raised a total of about $103,000 for YWCA Crossroads shelter.
While the event would have been cancelled for this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it isn’t expected to make a return in future years.
No Peterborough Pulse this summer
Peterborough Pulse, the event that turns much of the downtown into a massive pedestrian mall for one day every summer, has been cancelled for this year due to COVID-19.
It was planned for run on July 18. It would have been the annual event’s sixth year.
“Public health must come first — now and always,” stated Terry Guiel, executive director of the Downtown BIA Pulse cochairperson, in a news release.
The event will return, the DBIA also announced.
Health Canada licenses Harco Enterprises shields
Plastic face shields manufactured in Peterborough at Harco Enterprises Inc. are now licensed for use by Health Canada as COVID-19 medical devices. Harco has long manufactured plastic items such as cookie cutters from their plant on The Parkway, but recently retooled to make faceshields.
Under the new license, Harco can make 2,000 components daily and can increase or decrease production depending on demand.
The announcement was made Friday by Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef, the MP for Peterborough-Kawartha.
“Peterborough-Kawartha is stepping up to be part of the solution,” Monsef states in the release.
Harco collaborated with local manufacturers Merit Precision and Ventra Plastics, as well as Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development, to retool.
Harco vice-president Terry Harris thanks Monsef for “going above and beyond for us” as Harco worked toward a Health Canada licence. Clinics, hospitals or long-term care homes in need of face shields, Harco Enterprises can reach Harco at sales@harco.on.ca or 705-7435361. Manufacturers looking to retool can reach Monsefat Maryam.Monsef@parl.gc.ca or 705-745-2108.