Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Wednesday morning.
Paramedicine program saw 207 ‘just-in-time’ visits conducted in its inaugural year
At least 207 potentially life-saving home visits highlighted the inaugural year of Community Paramedicine for Long Term Care Program in Greater Sudbury. This builds upon prior indications of success, which the city’s elected officials praised a few months ago as helping seniors stay in their own homes for longer. A total of 1,456 patient contacts were made last year, including 940 home visits conducted from the program’s May 17 start to the end of 2021. The 207 “just-in-time” visits were initiated by the patient, their family or a health-care partner, and would have otherwise been calls to 911. Out of the 207 calls, 93 per cent of patients were able to remain home because of the interventions and follow-up care provided by the community paramedic. The Community Paramedicine for Long Term Care Program received $6.5 million in provincial funding in early 2021 to operate until March 31, 2024. Community paramedics provide 24/7 ongoing and/or episodic support to seniors who are either on a long-term care home wait list or are at risk of becoming reliant on hospital admission or needing long-term care.
Ontario college faculty reject contract offer again
Ontario college faculty members have reaffirmed their stand on the last contract offer from the province's 24 community colleges, which include Cambrian College and Collège Boréal in Greater Sudbury. Of the faculty who voted, 62 per cent rejected the offer from the College Employer Council. The forced offer vote – requested by the CEC – was completed last week and supervised by the Ministry of Labour. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says it hopes the result will trigger a return to the bargaining table. JP Hornick, chair of the faculty bargaining team, said it's no surprise the offer was turned down. "Faculty sent a clear message that this offer failed to address faculty concerns around time for students, fairness for all faculty, and education quality," Hornick said. "Let's get back to the bargaining table." OPSEU represents full-time and part-time instructors, professors, librarians and counsellors.
No red flags with Greater Sudbury debt, economist says, but rate of growth is unusual
There are no red flags inherent within the city’s anticipated $355-million debt load, but it is unusual how quickly city council has ramped up municipal borrowing. So described Lakehead University economist Livio Di Matteo upon reviewing the city’s plan to borrow another $103 million, which city council approved last week. While the city’s total debt load isn’t terribly alarming given its broader context, he cautioned, “what would raise eyebrows is just how quickly they ramped up debt from 2014 to 2022.” During this timeframe, the city’s total debt load increased from $18.98 million to what is now an anticipated $355 million once the latest round of debt is secured this year. Although the city has the ability to borrow a total of approximately $695 million under their self-imposed debt threshold and as much as $1.3 billion at the province’s limit, Di Matteo said that further borrowing should come with caution.
Some Similac infant formula recalled due to possible bacteria contamination
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a warning to Canadian consumers about a major recall of some powdered infant formula products. The U.S. manufacturer, Abbott Nutrition, has recalled certain lots of a number of its Similac brand products because of possible contamination by Cronobacter sakazakii and Salmonella bacteria. Anyone who has any of these products with specific product codes in their home should discard them or return them to the place of purchase. Affected products have a code beginning with first two digits of 22 through 37 and containing K8, SH or Z2 and have an expiration date of April 1, 2022 or later. The recall in Canada was triggered by a recall in the U.S. involving products made at its facility in Sturgis, Michigan. The CFIA says the affected products were sold nationally in Canada.
Totten Mine resumes operations after incident last fall that stranded miners
Vale announced today that Totten Mine has safely resumed operations and is ramping up production. Production at Totten Mine was halted in September of last year after a scoop bucket became lodged in the main shaft. In a situation that grabbed national headlines, 39 workers underground at the time were safely returned to surface via secondary egress. All have returned to work along with Totten Mine employees deployed to other locations during the disruption. A team of specialists has worked diligently since September to safely extract the scoop and make the necessary repairs to the shaft. “We’re pleased that operations have safely resumed at Totten Mine,” said Gord Gilpin, Head of Vale’s Ontario Operations, in a press release. “At the same time, we are doing everything we can to ensure an incident like this never occurs again. Safety is our top priority.”
Firefighters extinguish equipment fire at HSN's emergency department
The minor fire at the Health Sciences North emergency department has been dealt with and staff are currently working to reopen the affected area. “There was an appliance for cleaning medical equipment that caught on fire, and staff on site were able to extinguish it using fire extinguishers," Greater Sudbury Fire Services Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Oshell said of the morning incident. Firefighters worked with Health Sciences North staff to evacuate the affected area of the emergency department and ventilate it of smoke. "There was no significant damage to report," he said, adding that the damage appears limited to the malfunctioning piece of equipment. By approximately 11:30 a.m., Oshell said staff were working to reopen the affected section of the emergency department.
High of -12 but look out for the wind chill today
Expect a mainly cloudy day with a 40-jper-cent chance of flurries this morning. The skies will clear this afternoon. The wind will be out of the northwest at 20 km/h, gusting to 40, before becoming light late this afternoon. Bundle up because the wind chill is expected to be -29 this morning and -18 this afternoon. There is a risk of frostbite. Tonight, the skies will be clear with winds at 15 km/h. The overnight low is -24 with a -28 wind chill.
